BanyanBoard, is a sports-tech startup leveraging the power of AI (that most legacy software / systems / solutions have been slow to roll out, if at all). Shyam started the company with his twin brother Shankar a little over four years ago. They mainly offer two solutions:
Sports Analytics (both on-field and off-field) - to sports clubs, leagues, teams and even federations (have around 10 customers presently + growing and the aim is to onboard bigger leagues) // their AI-led features helps them differentiate
Sports Broadcast Graphics - they provide this to TV networks and either smaller leagues or the bigger leagues (the rights holder); again have around ten customers for this (though this is seasonal)
Below are 6 things you can learn from Shyam about the role of storytelling for tech founders and how to be good at it.
If you are a tech / deep-tech / B2B founder (ideally 50-500 team size) - would love to feature you in this series. You can block Amrit’s time here.
1. Good storytelling > Product superiority
This is what Shyam believes in. And he is someone who has been "a tech guy out and out" his whole life (like literally has a tech PhD). He fundamentally disagrees with the notion that a great product will sell itself, calling it something "peddled by people who have never started a company". In a world rife with "attention deficit issues," a compelling story is what initially grabs interest and persuades customers with existing workflows to even consider a new solution.
2. Storytelling addresses real business needs
Early on when Shyam would start off his pitch with all the cool AI powered features, nobody would pay attention. But when the pitch changed to to a story around the customer’s need, they started closing contracts.
“We minimize the time between our customers wanting to tell a story and actually telling the story", is how today Shyam describes what they do. Getting the story right is super critical when you have customers like TV sports broadcasters who themselves are "live storytellers". In live sports telecast, you need to perform "extemporaneous storytelling" – quickly pulling up data or video proof for spontaneous narratives, all within seconds.
Shyam clearly has a deep understanding of his customer’s core operational need. Every tech-founder should have. Your solution cannot just be a technical tool, but an enabler of your customer’s performance.
3. Provocative pitch works too - but be careful / read the room
For their sports analysis product, Shyam’s team sometimes employs a "confrontational approach," telling tech-savvy sports analysts they are "living in a pre-GPT world".
Capabilities previously considered difficult are "being done by high schoolers" now, thanks to advancements like GPT.
This framing challenge the status quo. This kind of storytelling - while requiring careful execution - effectively piques interest and positions their solution as a necessary upgrade for those operating with outdated assumptions.
4. For tech-founders, storytelling requires a "mental reset"
Shyam, a "tech guy out and out," openly admits that transitioning from a development mindset to a storytelling one "doesn't happen naturally". It "takes a little bit of a mental reset" for those with technical backgrounds. Shyam was trained in rigorous data interpretation and ensuring system reliability, not narrative crafting. So it’s not easy. Investors / advisors keep giving this feedback to Shyam - that they do need better "storytelling" and "sales efforts" that does service to the amazing products that they have built.
5. Tell an innovation-story where the customer wins
On Banyanboards, users can host any type of code, including Python scripts (generated using AI), and interact with their data to create customised web applications and dashboards with "video evidence". AI enables all this. And this flexibility has now become a core part of their competitive story.
They offer what Shyam likens to "Microsoft Excel," providing the fundamental tool while customers build their own specific analysis on top, allowing teams to gain a unique "edge" by doing analysis "their own way". And something like this is critical in high-stakes environments where "if two teams... use the exact same data and the exact same dashboards in the exact same way," neither gains an advantage.
6. Storytelling opens doors, but reliability & trust keep you in
Despite storytelling's power, Shyam acknowledges that in high-stakes industries like sports, customers demand "99.99999% SLA" and only engage with "proven players". Their market entry post COVID-19 involved gaining trust through a significant breakthrough with the FC Madras youth football academy, where they underwent months of "rigorous benchmarking" to replace an incumbent software solution. This experience underscores that while storytelling opens the door, sustained success requires "staying power" and "proof of reliability". The story needs to be backed by unwavering performance.
BanyanBoard and Shyam’s journey definitely validates our core premise - that while innovation and a robust product are essential, the ability to articulate that value through a compelling narrative is, in many ways, even more critical for market penetration and growth. A good story can open doors that technical brilliance alone might not. Happy building and if you ever need any help / guidance around storytelling for your B2B / tech / deep-tech company, Story99.com is there for you!
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