Learning about Ideas & how to Execute them. Engineering | Storytelling | Business

"You are the world you have created."

That line from Cormac McCarthy hit me at month 7 of unemployment. 68.8% rejection rate. 1 month of finances left.

I wasn't getting rejected because I lacked skills. I was getting rejected because 10 years earlier, I'd made a choice I didn't know I was making. I picked legitimacy over authority. Proof over interpretation.

Engineering credentials over storytelling instinct.

Every project after that: one more vote for a future I didn't consciously want.
By the time I noticed, the shape was drawn. I was at the crossroads thinking there was a choice, but the choosing was done a long time ago.

I stopped applying to jobs.

For 4 weeks, I wrote. Not to explain what happened. To see what I'd been building without realizing.
The answer showed up in 15 minutes.

Short story writing wasn't a hobby. It was the access mechanism.

Stories surface assumptions before they harden. They let you test futures without betting your life on them first. They show you the world you're building while you still have time to choose differently.

I built a workshop around it. Ran 6 sessions in 2 weeks bfeore I even had a job offer.

A 30-year scenario planning veteran at Morgan Stanley told me: "I've been trying to do this for three decades. You just solved it."

Here's the method:
- Write for 15 minutes. First-person future. One day. 
- Don't think. Let details emerge.
- Signals guide the writing. Your unconscious does the rest.

What surfaces:
- Assumptions you didn't know you were making
- Prereqs you hadn't considered
- The gap between what you think you want and what you're actually building

A computer programmer: "Blank canvas that made me rethink what was possible."
A marketer: "More engaging than mood boards or strategy docs."
A startup chief of staff: "Discovered new angles to a problem I'd been stuck on."

I spent 7 months learning what McCarthy meant.
Now I help people see the shape before acceptance becomes the only option.
DM me if you're building something and want to surface what's driving it.

Mohammad Khan

She followed startup advice perfectly & created a disaster. 

Elizabeth Holmes followed advice you’d find “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel
• Built a monopoly (proprietary blood testing technology)
• Eliminated competition (aggressive NDAs, patents) 
• Created switching costs (Walgreens and Safeway locked in multi-year contracts) 
• Owned her category (redefined blood testing)

Succeeding at everything Peter Thiel teaches. Except the technology didn't work. She was a fraud.

By the time anyone discovered this:
• $700M trapped in investments
• Partners locked in multi-year contracts
• Patients receiving false medical results
• Employees silenced by NDAs

“Zero to One” can't distinguish between a successful startup and frauds like Theranos.

Both can claim they have products 10x better than competitors, capture markets, and make money.

Thiel's framework has no test for "does the technology actually work?"

Because the framework assumes you'll exit in 5-7 years. Well before the technology has to prove itself long-term.

You can't "move fast and break things" in cancer therapeutics. You can't "exit" before your technology proves it works.
But that's what startup advice assumes you'll do.

So what can deep tech founders do? 

Instead of focusing on growth & exiting, focus on proof points & partnerships. 

• Instead of Gatekeeping > Educating the market 
• Instead of eliminating competition > Transparent tech demos 
• Instead of optimizing for growth rate > Optimize for customer success rate. 

Same goal of building a successful company but on different timescales. Different worlds built, a sustainable one instead of extractive.

Elizabeth Holmes followed the playbook & built an extractive monopoly.

But the playbook doesn't care if the technology works. It only cares if you can build power before anyone finds out.

Deep tech founders can't afford that gamble. 
You're building for 20 years, not 5.

Teaching professionals to navigate uncertainty through short stories | Engineer building future-prototyping workshops in public

I read "Zero to One" in 2019. It changed how I thought about building a business. 
I read it again in 2024. It's an indoctrination manifesto.

Then I read Octavia Butler. She predicted what Thiel was building, 21 years before he published his playbook.
---

In 2019, I was devouring business books.

"Zero to One" was high on people's lists. And it made sense. A concise book on growing your business and what to aim for.

Took some notes & moved on.

2022: ChatGPT launches

A question stuck in my head 
"What problem does this actually solve?"

I couldn't answer it.

2024: I reread "Zero to One" 

ChatGPT broke every rule Thiel teaches.

Thiel's thesis: build monopolies by making something so uniquely and often 10x better that they escape competition

OpenAI didn't build 10x better technology. They published first with better marketing & lower costs.

And Thiel funded them anyway.

That's when I realized Zero to One isn't methodology. It's business ideology.

An indoctrination manifesto from survivorship bias that built the world we live in today. 

2025: I read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler 

She wrote it in 1993 & set the story in 2024. And she showed me what happens when Thiel's ideology runs for 20 years.

Most startup advice assume you'll exit. But what if you can’t exit? 

What if these companies built themselves a monopoly they now have to manage and can’t exit? Something so entangled in the market where leaving risks collapse? 

What happens when you plan on exiting but can’t? 

In Butler's story:
• Corporations own entire towns
• Employees become debt slaves
• Technology serves monopolists only
• Workers can't leave (leaving means death)
• Corporations call this "providing value"

If “Zero to One” gives the extractive monopoly ideology, then “Parable of the Sower” shows you what happens when that ideology runs unchecked.

If you’re building technology that will take 20 years to mature, you should understand the world your advice is quietly trying to create.

A fiction book made me ask: What world am I building?
Then I rewrote my entire business model.

In 2025, I read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler

She predicted what "build a monopoly" creates after 20 years:
• Company towns for employees
• Employees indebted to the company
• Technology serving monopolists only
• Workers can't leave (leaving means death)

Then I looked at my own positioning company.

I was helping science and engineering companies:
• Lock in customers (switching costs)
• Dominate categories (eliminate alternatives)
• Become the "only" choice (build monopolies)

Butler forced me to ask: What world is MY company creating?

If everyone wins by becoming a gatekeeper, everyone loses.
Customers lose freedom. Innovation slows. Switching becomes punishment.

I didn't want to make money building a world I wouldn't want to live in.

So, I pivoted.

Just published a newsletter on What world are you building?

Deep tech founders don't exit in 5 years. You live with what you build for 20 years.

Make sure it's a world you want to live in. 

Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ggN9us6v

In 2025, I trusted my future plan because it was clear. Turns out clarity can be the problem.

I had just gotten back from a long trip. It was Christmas. While others were decorating, I was sitting with my laptop open, staring at a plan that still made sense.

8 months & no job and the plan was coherent and useless.

The plan said, 'network to find work', but it didn't say what happens when your contact gets laid off the week before your coffee meeting.

Every milestone assumed nothing would go wrong. Not one backup. Not one 'what if this fails.'

So instead of refining the plan again, I changed the test.

I wrote two stories from first-person perspective.

Two story lines:

I wrote Tuesday morning, best case. New job, coffee with the team, solving problems.
 
Then I wrote Tuesday morning, month 9 unemployed. Checking the bank account. 

My original plan never asked, "what if no one picks you?"

Plans optimize for clarity.
Stories expose consequences.

It's not about making a better plan for the future, but what you do when your plan gets punched in the face

Storytelling for Underestimated Founders | Startup Founder Mentor with Techstars & gener8tor

I move ideas from your brain into someone else's using a 100K+ year-old technology.

I'm a storyteller.

Founders, executives, and coaches by the 100s have trusted me to help them be heard, understood, trusted, and remembered.

Sometimes they hire me directly to interview them & build the story myself.
Others join my Storybuilding courses to learn to do it for themselves.

Either way...they see results.

I'm not a copywriter.
I'm not a ghostwriter.
I'm a story specialist. 
I build short, impactful stories that hold attention long enough to get to YES!

It's easier and faster than you think. In a free 15-min call, we can change your business.
Doubtful?  Check out my top recommendation below.

How did I become a storyteller?

I’ve done some crazy stuff. I’ve flown fighter aircraft. I’ve negotiated hundreds of times with the Russian military to ensure we didn’t shoot at each other (unless that is what we intended to do). I’ve lived in Central Asia where making friends meant I ate more sheep brains and eyeballs and drank more vodka and fermented mare’s milk than I care to remember.

I’ve been a speechwriter for the most senior officials in the US Air Force. I also took out the trash, swept the floors, and “embraced the suck” with everyone else.

I’ve spent a lot of time studying…to get an undergraduate degree, to be a pilot, to get a Master’s degree in International Relations, and to work towards a PhD in International Development—until I realized fighting the bureaucracy was not how I wanted to spend my life.

Now, I help people move their ideas to create the impact they dream of.

Let's chat: Dan@buildthestory.com

Dan Manning

I took a risk. Could I develop a world-class AI for Decision Makers workshop, without giving up storytelling?

I haven't posted as much here on LinkedIn over the past month or so, but I've been working.

A few years ago, before:
• ChatGPT
• Nano Banana
• I ruthlessly focused on storytelling
I built an AI for Decision Makers workshop.

Years later, people still quote parts of it back to me.
People enjoyed it.
But, I was too early.
I was teaching AI literacy to people who didn't use AI.

Eventually, I gave up.
My focus shifted to storytelling and teaching storytellers.
I've done over 900 stories since then.
I've written a book on startup pitch storytelling.
I've helped 100s of people build stories that work.

But, when Daniel Gomez and Hallie J. Stern asked me to teach my course at a conference of National Security practitioners, I couldn't say no.

But, the AI world of today isn't what it was a few years ago.
Everyone believes humans in the loop will save us.

But...
What does it mean to be a responsible human in the loop?

So, I dove back into the research:
• How are decisions being made with AI?
• How will Agentic AI increase the challenge?
• When does confirmation bias drive us?
• When does automation bias rule?

I wanted to do a workshop with no buzzwords, no hype, no fear, just first-principles thinking and instant usefulness.

That doesn't just happen.
It took some time locked in my office thinking.

But, in the end, it worked.
The most common feedback I received after delivering it this week: "The best I've ever seen."

The next most common was "let's chat to see if we can work together".

And, story was all over it.
I included elements of 20 different stories.
I built in 8 short, but powerful exercises.
One attendee: "It was a slap in the face...in the best way"

I loved it.
But, it's a risk.
Most people here know me as a storyteller.
And I am.
I love it.
I'm good at it.
And, it's the best way to communicate with humans.

So, think of this as "applied storytelling".
I'll be doing more of it soon.

I hope you'll make space in your brain to think of me as a storyteller...but not only.

If anyone is interested, I'm glad to share what I learned:
• About how people make decisions with AI
• The shift I see in AI consumers
• Building a near-real time graphic recorder with AI

Helping Founders Tell Stories to Drive Action | Startup Mentor with Techstars & gener8tor | Millions Sold, Millions Raised, Millions Spent With Stories

Solopreneur creators ask me why their good content isn't being seen. I start at the beginning.

The problem is in the 'HOOK'.

First, the IDEA of the hook.
'Hooking' the people you want to serve
...the people you want to trust you
...the people you want a relationship with
is a miserable way to think about it.

Hooks trick fish into thinking something is valuable.
Then pulls them from their home
...to a place they don't want to be
...and can't breathe.
It's uncomfortable (at best).

Instead, I started thinking about the idea of a fuse.

This quick 🎠explains what a fuse is
...and how to write one that makes your next customer WANT to read the post you've worked hard to write.

Does it work?
You're reading this one, aren't you. 😊

Have you found a type of fuse that works for you?

------------------
Hi, I'm Dan.
I'm a Storyteller.
I'm also a Storyteacher.

Next month will being the 4th year of my Storytelling Apprenticeship. It's not for beginners.

If you want to go deep into stories that actually move people, ideas, and action, let's chat.

HOW to make people WANT to read your posts (1)

I use AI coding tools often...but I didn't realize I was in the top 1% globally. Do I have a problem?  

Yesterday, I started a new project on Lovable for a client.
(It's a quick, custom AI-aided tool for resolving incidents.)

I noticed Lovable added a "Your 2025" wrapup.
I was surprised.

In 2025, I created 1.8 million lines of code for my projects.
They estimate it's equal to 60K+ hours of manual coding. 

And, by traffic to my projects, I'm also a "top creator".

FWIW, I'm also more polite when communicating to our AI overlords than 99% of users.

(Lucky for me they ignored my occasional expletive-laden rants when the bot wouldn't listen.)

What did I build?
Volola.app : a spoken word audio platform
StoryTeacher.app : tool that helps build & improve stories

I've paid for software development before.
Paying to have someone build StoryTeacher would have cost me between $100K (off-shore) to $500K in the US.

I also built a few private projects:
• An agent that finds news and new research for me each morning on AI, storytelling, and decision-making
• A game pitting LLMs against each other for testing
• A date-night game for me and my wife
• A simulation to test AI Agent coordination 

I also recently started using Replit to build some agents I'll use to add to my AI for Decision Makers workshop.

So, what have I learned:
• It's not possible (yet) for a non-coder to go from idea to production/revenue-ready app just with these tools.

• But, someone with a basic knowledge of programming, databases, and systems-thinking can. 

• I don't "vibe-code". I build a mini-Production Requirements Document for each project before I give it to the tool. A little thinking before saves time (and credits).

• I'm convinced we'll have far fewer SaaS products in a few years. I can build something custom, pay once, and use forever.

So, that's my experience, what's yours?
Have you tried these tools yet?

If you want some help getting started, just ask.

---------------------
Hi, I'm Dan.
I'm a Storyteller.

Storytelling is one of humanities oldest inventions.
But, I think it can be made better by the newest as well.

I read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" each year on MLK day. It is a master class in connecting a message to stories already in your audience's mind.

In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr wrote letter in response to criticism from Southern clergymen who thought his direct action campaign was ill-timed.

In the 9-page letter, he uses story-based persuasion tuned precisely to his audience to make his points.

He knew the stories these clergymen knew.
He understood the stories and 'heroes' they valued.
He knew the villains they abhorred.

He attached his story to the ones already playing in their minds, hearts, and psyche.

Because they already knew the stories, he didn't have to re-tell them...he just needed to call them to mind.

He referenced stories about:
• 8th Century prophets
• Apostle Paul
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
• Early Christians facing lions
• Socrates
• Jesus
• Martin Luther
• Abraham Lincoln
• Thomas Jefferson
• Rosa Parks
• Founding of America

Then he also told several 'new' short stories:
• Attempts to negotiate in Birmingham
• Telling his daughter she couldn't go to Funtown
• Inhumane treatment of Black citizens

His letter was 9 pages long when printed.
But, it contains a library of stories.

By referencing stories already in his audience's mind, he connected his message to them.

He silently asks: 
"Do you want to be like these heroes?"
"What do you want the story of YOU to be?"

Here's the stark truth.
People are going to connect whatever you are saying to SOME story playing in their brain.

We manage new information by saying:
"This is like That."

Whether your audience connects your story to one beneficial to you is a major factor in your success.

You can either hope they make a favorable connection.
OR
You remind them of the 'right' stories.

Make your story a new link in their existing story chain, and you'll concentrate your story power.

Think of your business or a cause that matters to you,
What existing stories could you connect to?

-------------------------
Hi, I'm Dan.
I'm a Storyteller.
Even beaten, isolated, and locked in a jail cell, no one can steal our stories...we're still telling his today.

If you're beginning to learn about storytelling, the basics are good enough. But, I don't teach beginners.

The Apprentices who join my Storybuilding Apprenticeship aren't looking for tired advice:
• Just tell your origin story
• The cUStoMeR is tHe hERo
• Use emotion in your story
• Start a post with [Storytime] so people know it's a story

The Apprentices I teach are:
• Journalists looking to move past pure facts
• Entrepreneurs who know storytelling is a key skill
• People tired of being ignored and overlooked
• "Good" storytellers who want to be great

I'm privileged to work with real pros.
And, they push me to deliver.

I go deep into understanding the science, and turn evidence-based research into practical advice.

This 2025 study looked at the research around Narrative Transportation (that feeling of being immersed in a story).

I decided to compare it's findings to what I teach.
Results; What I teach works...and is aligned with science.

What's holding you back from telling more immersive stories?

----------------
Hi, I'm Dan.
I'm a Storyteller.
I'm also a Storyteacher.

The next cohort kicks off in February.
The first new Apprentices have already joined.
If you want to check it out, just ask.
If I don't think it's right for you, I'll let you know.
I want your success more than I want your cash.

Meta-analysis of Narrative Persuasion

The doctor told my father not to make any decisions for 24 hours...Founder-Me: That would be awesome!

My Dad had a minor medical procedure.
He was mildly sedated...nothing too serious.
But, the Doc gave him a free pass on making decisions.

YES!  It sounds like paradise to my entrepreneur mind.

I am a student of human decision-making.
As a fighter-pilot, I had to make fast decisions.
As an officer approving air strikes, I had to make slow ones.
As an entrepreneur, I have to do both.

But, for entrepreneurs, deciding to act isn't enough.
There is almost nothing I can do alone.

But, getting others on-board isn't automatic.
They have to make a choice...a decision.
And DECIDING IS WORK.

I can be more successful if I make deciding easier.

I've learned to build research from Kahneman and Cialdini into the business stories I build for clients.

Not to be manipulative.
Not to "trick" into making the decision I want.
Not to "get them into this car today".

But, to give them what they need to make a choice.
To avoid distractions.
To simplify.
To make it easy.

If I attract the right people, they'll choose me.

But, even if they choose NOT to work with me, I've helped them make a decision and move forward.

When I teach Founders & Execs writers how to use storytelling to move people to action, I refer to Cialdini.

He's the world's leading expert on influence and best-selling author of how-to books on persuasion.

This little carousel breaks down how to use his 7 principles in storytelling.

I've used them in the 800+ stories I've written in the past 3 years...and taught 100+ others how to use them too.

Which do you think is the hardest for you to use in your work?

--------------------
Hi, I'm Dan.
I'm a Storyteller.
...and an Influencer,
 but not one who does unboxing or 'haul' videos.

Check out my Cialdini Ethical Influence Practitioner badge...it's proof. 🤣
Follow me here to never miss out.

Storytelling and Cialdini's Principles

Which is more powerful? Truth or Story.
We are finding out.

When most people talk about storytelling they focus on how to say things better...and that's where it stops.

They miss the deeper reason stories matter.
Stories shape our beliefs.
Beliefs shape our behavior.
Behavior reveals to the world who we are.

You can compel someone
...or millions of someones...by force.

But,
It's expensive.
Dirty.
A constant fight.

Force controls bodies.
Beliefs control behavior.
Stories control belief.

The way we interpret history, advertising, politics, and every human we meet is shaped by the stories we believe.

If you want to change minds, change the story.
If you want to control behavior, control the story.

This is why I work in story.
Not to sell things, though I've done lots of that.
Not to help people get hired, though I do that.
Not to be a great speaker, though I do that too.
But, to teach good people to use story.
Because there are plenty who use it for evil.


I go deeper into the links between story and belief in my Substack. You can check it out here:
https://lnkd.in/eT6EpbFC

Doctor: "Mr. Manning, I have your test results here..."
[Pause]
Me: "Sorry, Doc, your 8 seconds are up, gotta go."

Of course, this never happened.

Yet, if you believe the bunk 'science' you see online, it makes sense. "wE haVe thE aTteNtiOn of a GolDfiSh!" 

The same people who say this will then excuse themselves to binge a SEASON of their favorite show on Netflix.

We will gladly give our attention to things that interest us.

But, here's what matters to anyone who needs someone else's attention to sell, lead, persuade, or teach:
NOTHING,
[I'll say it again for effect]
NOTHING
is more interesting to us than 
ourselves and the pain we feel.

If you're talking to me about me, you have my attention.
AND my interest.

Attention is cheap.
A buzzing phone or barking dog can grab attention.

But interest is what brings me back.
Interest is what makes everything else a 'distraction'.

When I help an entrepreneur build a sales story for their business, we lead with a statement to grab attention.
But we can't stop there.
A buzzing phone or barking dog is imminent.
We have to quickly convert attention into interest.

How? We talk about the PAIN they feel.

If I'm talking about the pain you feel, a circus train of clowns and elephants in tutus won't distract you.

I'm giving away my secrets, but this is what is missing with 95% of content on LinkedIn.

Everyone is aiming for attention.
But, interest is where it's at.

What pain is most 'interesting' to the audience you are trying to get to hear your message?

-------------
Hi, I'm Dan.
I'm a Storyteller.
I'm also a Storyteacher.
I help good people share complicated ideas using story.

It seems "out-of-bounds" for a storyteller to be teaching about AI--until you see what you're missing.

A few years ago, I read an article by two computer scientists that changed the way I think--not about AI, but about story.

They were working in the '90s trying to build AI systems.
They wanted to understand human memory.
Then, they wanted to build that in a computer.

The mental model they came to was this:
Everything we know is stored in our memory as a story. 

When we answer a question...
When we imagine the future...
When we solve a problem...
When we decide to hug or harm...
We reference the stories we believe.

This is THE most powerful storytelling lesson I've learned.
Stories don't only explain the past.
We use stories to interpret the present.
And we use stories to predict the future.

So, when I updated my AI for Decision Makers workshop teaching people how to be responsible humans in the loop, I thought about how story intersects with AI.

I created a chart mapping out the methods humans use to solve problems
...and I compared it to the ways AI solves them.
(The methods are the same. We built AI in our image.)

Then I saw the pattern.
On the left of the chart are, what I call, closed problems.

These are problems solved by data that already exists ...we're using stories of the past to interpret the present.

On the right are open problems.
These are problems where no data exists.

These are problems where we use stories of the past to predict the future. 

The future is a data point that doesn't exist, yet.

But, then I noticed something interesting.
When humans use AI to help make decisions, we have biases...but different biases rule in different areas of the chart.

On the left, humans fall for confirmation bias more often.
If the AI reports what we already believe, it's BRILLIANT!
If it disagrees with us, it's TRASH! 

On the right of the chart, humans fall for automation bias.

If we don't have the stories to accurately predict the future,
(or we're under stress or social pressure)
we blindly accept what the AI tells us.

After digging deep in my own brain and trying to make sense of it all, here's what I've come to:

We believe the solution to AI failures, hallucinations, and behavior we don't understand is to put a human in the loop.

But, if we are honest, 
most humans aren't ready to be in the loop.

Being a responsible human-in-the-loop requires:
• Understanding faulty human thinking
• Understanding how AI actually works
• Understanding how the AI you are working with was trained
• Understanding the twin threat of confirmation & automation bias
• The patience to sit through 1000s of good decisions...and to still be able and willing to speak up when the 1 decision is wrong

Stories shape our beliefs.
Believes determine our behavior.
AI can confirm our false beliefs.
AI can refute what we know to be true.
The only way to protect ourselves from better AI is to become a better thinking human.

taplio

The Battle

Mohammad Khan

Dan Manning

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