Beyond the Elevator Pitch: Telling a Founder Story People Actually Feel

Most founder storytelling asks people to flatten themselves into something polished, certain, and easy to repeat. We want to do the opposite. This workshop is for founders who want to talk about what they're building in a way that feels human, clear, and genuinely their own. Not over-rehearsed. Not weirdly corporate. Not like they swallowed their pitch deck whole five minutes before stepping into the room. Together, we'll explore three things that make stories compelling: stakes, suspense, and relatable characters. For founders, the stakes are the real problem you're trying to solve. The suspense is already built in, because every startup is living inside the question, will this actually work? And the relatable characters are you: the humans building the thing, the values behind it, and the people you're hoping to reach. This will be a practical, interactive session with reflection, conversation, and story shaping. People will leave with a stronger way to talk about what they're building, one that feels more alive, more specific, and more connected to what actually matters to them. This session is a good fit for founders, early-stage teams, and people with an idea they're actively growing or still finding their way toward. Especially if you care about building something with real values underneath it. Especially if you're tired of sounding like everybody else. Especially if you want your story to feel like something you can actually stand in, not just perform. The workshop is led by Parker and Jarren of Harc Creative, a Vancouver-based facilitation and storytelling studio known for helping people get underneath the surface and find language that feels true. Their work brings together story, reflection, play, and deeply human conversation to help people speak with more honesty, more clarity, and more connection. They're especially interested in what happens when people stop trying to sound impressive and start sounding real. Because the best founder stories don't just inform. They let people feel something. And in rooms that can sometimes feel a little too transactional, that kind of realness goes a long way. If this sounds like your kind of room, come hang out with us. Bring your venture, your messy notes, your half-formed idea, your big hopes, your honest questions. We'll make space to help your story come a little closer to home. Speakers: Jarren MacDougall, Parker McLean Presented by Harc Creative