How do you explain something that doesn’t exist yet?
It’s a challenge that every innovator, product leader, and founder faces. Whether you’re pitching an early-stage startup or prototyping a bold new feature, you’re asking people to believe in a version of the future that hasn’t arrived yet. When your idea is abstract, complex, or simply ahead of its time, logic alone isn’t enough. That’s where storytelling comes in.
Storytelling is often thought of as a marketing tool. Something to help brands connect with audiences on a more emotional level. But in the context of innovation, it plays a more fundamental role. It becomes a bridge. A way to turn ambiguity into clarity, and possibility into belief. It helps people grasp ideas that are intangible or unfamiliar, and it lets them imagine themselves inside the future you’re proposing.
Why it's hard to sell the future
When you’re close to a new idea and working on it every day, it makes perfect sense to you. You can see its potential, how it fits into the market, and the long-term impact it could have. But to everyone else, it’s exactly that: new. Meaning unfamiliar. Maybe even uncomfortable. Most people are anchored to what they know. Without something to ground them, they default to skepticism, confusion, or, perhaps worst of all… indifference.
This challenge becomes even more pronounced when you’re disrupting an existing category, introducing a new behaviour, or building something that combines emerging technologies. Think: AI therapists that deliver personalised mental health care, or biometric wearables that predict illness before symptoms appear. These ideas are complex by nature. And without a clear story, people might struggle to understand why they matter.
This is why storytelling is critical. Because when you’re working with ideas from the future, you can’t rely on evidence. Aside from your validation work, it doesn’t exist yet on a large scale. So you have to create a world your audience can step into in their mind.
We see this challenge all the time at The49. When you’re not selling what exists, but what could exist, storytelling becomes the most powerful way to generate buy-in. Whether it’s crafting the first pitch for a new venture, aligning a corporate innovation team around an internal product, or giving early adopters a reason to believe, the narrative is crucial.
Storytelling gives people something to hold onto
There’s a reason people remember stories more than stats. Stories organise information in a way that our brains are wired to understand. They provide context, characters, emotion, and resolution. In innovation, storytelling does three critical jobs:
1. It creates clarity
Storytelling helps people make sense of complexity. It transforms abstract benefits into tangible outcomes, answering the core questions: Who is this for? What problem does it solve? Why does it matter?
2. It builds belief
A good story moves beyond comprehension to conviction. It allows people to emotionally connect with your vision. And it lets them picture themselves as part of that future, whether as a user, investor, or partner.
3. It increases momentum
Internally, a strong narrative aligns your team. It sharpens priorities and fuels motivation. Externally, it attracts early believers who help you gain traction. People won’t support what you’re building if they don’t even understand it, let alone care about it.
This isn’t just theory. At The49, we’ve seen it in action. When helping early-stage startups refine their pitch or product vision, the turning point is often narrative. It's not about adding spin or changing course on a whim; it's about digging deep to find the story that already exists within the idea, and telling it in a way that resonates.
With Altering, for instance, the product isn’t just a creativity app, it’s a mindset shift. The story isn’t about features; it’s about helping people find their best, creative self. That emotional connection is what gets users to commit to the practice, not just try it once.
Storytelling helps people make the leap
Neuroscience research shows that storytelling activates multiple brain regions beyond those used for language processing. For instance, descriptions of scents, sounds, or textures in stories can activate the sensory cortex, making the listener feel as though they are experiencing the sensations themselves. Emotional content in stories engages the amygdala, the brain's center for emotion processing. This means when people hear a compelling story, they mentally simulate the experience.
That’s fundamental when you’re asking someone to adopt a new mindset, try a new product, or invest in an early-stage venture. You’re not just communicating information; you’re changing perspective. And the more future-facing your idea is, the more you need storytelling to bring people with you.
Airbnb’s early success is a great example of this. The idea of renting your living room to a stranger on the internet was once a pretty strange and uncomfortable concept for many people. But instead of focusing on features, Airbnb focused on stories. They described the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, when hotels were booked out and three guys decided to host guests on air mattresses in their apartment. That narrative grounded the abstract concept in a tangible human moment. It made people think ‘maybe I could do that’. As their co-founder Brian Chesky says, "You have the ability to design the world you live in and that is incredibly powerful”.
Techniques for future-facing storytelling
OK—you get it. Storytelling is essential if you want people to envision the future you’re building. But how exactly do you use it? What techniques help you go from statements to stories?
Here are some pointers…
Speculative scenarios
These are narrative prototypes. Instead of just describing a future product or feature, you tell a story from the perspective of someone using it. For example, imagine a user called Lara navigating her day with the help of your new AI-driven planning tool. What does her experience look like? What changes from before and after using the product? This brings the idea to life and helps teams test assumptions in a vivid way.
Narrative arcs
Imagine your product or innovation as a literal story, with a beginning, middle and end. What problem sets the story in motion (the inciting incident)? What tension does your product resolve? Who is the hero… the user, the founder, the team? And what’s the solution? Framing it like a story in this way helps build engagement.
Metaphors and similes
You’ve probably seen multiple ads for apps using messaging along the lines of “It’s like Duolingo but for [insert industry here]”, or “The gym for your [insert goal]”. These shortcuts work because they translate the unfamiliar into the familiar. They’re quick, sticky, and effective. With just a few words, they turn an abstract concept into something people can immediately picture and understand.
Visual storytelling
Let’s not forget the power of visual storytelling (and the idea of ‘show don’t tell’—more aptly ‘show, don’t just tell’ in this context). Prototypes, mockups, moodboards, or even short animations can give your narrative an emotional and visual edge. People process visuals faster than words. Paired with a good story, they turn abstract ideas into visceral experiences.
Why storytelling matters now, more than ever
We’re living through an era of accelerated change. AI is reshaping industries. Consumer expectations are evolving faster than most businesses can keep up with. In this landscape, the ability to clearly explain and rally people around new ideas isn’t a soft skill, it’s a strategic advantage.
But there’s something deeper, too. As more communication becomes automated and generated by machines, stories remind us what it means to be human. They help people feel connected to each other and to ideas.
Final thoughts
At its core, storytelling is how we design belief. It helps people grasp ideas they couldn’t see before, align around a shared vision, and move from concept to conviction.
Because when you’re asking people to believe in something that doesn’t exist yet, you’re not just selling a product or a change, you’re inviting them into a future. Storytelling is what gets them there.
So if you’re building something new, don’t just tell people what it does. Tell them what it means. Don’t just describe the thing, describe the world it unlocks. That’s the power of storytelling.
Need help shaping the story of your venture? At The49, we help turn early-stage ideas into believable, buildable futures. Let’s talk.