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Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a regular feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our past articles. Share these gems and insights with your colleagues and networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

Drawn from our comprehensive coverage of changemakers and gamechangers this year, we present 30 quotes on storytelling in action. We have divided them into six categories: Foundations, Founder stories, Branding, Digital media, Creator economy, and The road ahead.

See our earlier annual quotes compilation from 2021 and 2020, and YourStory’s Changemaker Story Canvas, a free visualisation tool for entrepreneurs and founders.

YourStory wishes all founders, innovators, changemakers and storytellers a Happy Holiday Season, and all the best for success and impact in 2023!

Foundations

Stories are layered, alchemical narratives which are deeply enmeshed in our cognitive and social fabrics. It is the most powerful invitation to a conversation. – Latha Vijaybaskar, ‘Talk Action’

Your experiences are a treasure trove of ideas, opinions and stories. Tell a story that is uniquely you – don’t try to mimic another author. – Rashmi Parekh, ‘Inscape’

Great storytelling begins with brevity and simplicity. – Ujwal Kalra and Shobhit Shubhankar, ‘Startup Compass’

Storytelling is a great skill to have. People will listen to concepts and frameworks, but stories have an undeniable power to bring all of it to life. – Janelle Estes, UserTesting

There are a lot of success stories that are built around emotional intelligence rather than IQ. – Manish Naidu, Brainwonders

Women are natural collaborators, storytellers, and nurturers, meaning we look for solutions and collaborate effectively. – Chitra Singh, Sales Womentoring

Founder stories

The storytelling part becomes key for founders when you’re actually attracting talent. – Roopa Kumar, Purple Quarter

It always starts with a story… And it’s extremely important to tell that story well. – Aishvarya Murali, The Unbottle Co

Share stories of your entrepreneurial journey with the world. You will be surprised to see how everyone loves passionate storytelling. – Prafull Billore, MBA Chaiwala

By processing our stories, we find meaning in the setbacks and craft narratives about our story that shape our leadership. – Bill George and Zach Clayton, ‘True North’

Your pitch is your first chance to make an impression…it should deliver your authentic story. – Sonam Srivastava, Wright Research

Be true to your story and 100 percent committed. Make a simple pitch deck and put important data points upfront. – Saloni Jain, SUNiCON Ventures

It’s the story that connects more with users when someone starts a new business. – Anubhav Dubey, Chai Sutta Bar

Branding

The customer would expect brands to be present across all touchpoints with a consistent offer or message that helps them to connect to a brand story. – Vikram Saxena, BetterCommerce

We are seeing a big evolution in storytelling with people building direct relationships with their consumers. – Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Pratilipi

Reimagine the very art of storytelling as everything around seems to be in a state of flux. Put the customer at the centre of all communications, putting people at the heart of the tale. – Pranab Pani, Talendeate beyond Border

The more relatable your story is the more effective your marketing campaign is. – Priya Patankar, PhonePe

As your brand grows, the story of your brand will also change. – Yash Gangwal, Urban Monkey

To be able to convert your visitors into customers is to first assume that the majority of people will not buy from you the first time they visit your website. But what they carry back will be your brand story. – Vargab Bakshi, Wix.com

Today’s customer, when purchasing fashion, is interested in buying the product not just because it will look good on them, but they are equally interested to know the inspiration and story behind it. – Ayushi Gudwani, FS Life

Digital media

Now you’re getting not just entertained by a two-hour movie but you’re getting entertained by a 15-second story. It’s hilarious where we have reached in this universe. – Ashish Chanchlani

Metaverse is storytelling and content first. So telling trans-media stories is a critical skillset of the future. – Namrata Singh, Sony Entertainment Talent Ventures India

Riding on the power of enhanced storytelling and precision targeting, digital ad campaigns are reaching millions of audiences. – Amitt Sharma, VDO.AI

The ability to tell a story over and over again to people across media platforms is important. – Shantanu Deshpande, Bombay Shaving Company

Creator economy

Algorithms are in place, but it is the storytelling that is winning. Whichever content creator is growing today is doing so by beating the algorithm with constant persistence and hard work. – Manish Pandey

Content creators are so special these days because they have the superpower of telling a story. – Ajay Yadav, Simplified

Anything that’s unique – could be your way of commentary or editing style or storyline or anything new to the viewers – is something that can help you go viral very soon. – Mansi Gupta, Magsplay

If you have a story that you believe in, do not listen to what others say. Put it out there and market it well. – Shravya Bhinder, ‘Something I’m Waiting To Tell You’

The road ahead

As society changes, cinema will tell stories from the female gaze and incorporate the female gaze. – Gul Panag

Art gives the power to create dreams as a story. – Pavan Dhananjaya

EV mass adoption is not a product story but an ecosystem story. Robustness, reliability, and service are at the core of this story. – Peeyush Asati, Vecmocon

The agriculture story in India is poised for multi-fold growth. – Pankaj Khandelwal, INI Farms

Life’s ups and downs give you something. At the very least, they leave you with a good story to tell. – Radhika Gupta, Edelweiss Asset Management

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).