Have you ever heard the story of how Ebay started?
The short version goes something like this; Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar built an on line auction facility to help his wife sell and trade her Pez dispenser collection. I believed this until yesterday when I read an excerpt from the Adam Cohens’ Ebay book, the perfect store.
Turns out Omidyar is a bit of a nerd (was there ever any doubt?) and a perfectionist who wanted to build a perfect market, with open bidding and perfect information. He didn’t just stumble upon Ebay.
If we can ignore the irony of perfect markets built on a PR lie, it’s a pretty cool story which has created some sustaining brand mythology. Another brand which has a leveraged a consumer myth was Redbull; speed in a can, illegal in some countries…’Gee, it must work’
If you can build a story at launch, it might just be the exposure your start up needs to get it off the ground.