Ep 2: Nathan Clendenin – CEO of StoryDriven

Nathan Clendenin is the Founder of StoryDriven, an 8-time Emmy Award winning video marketing firm that specializes in telling human centric stories. In this episode, Nathan tells how he develops stories for his customers, what a “brand journalist” is, how StoryDriven comes up with their core values and what it was like to get an Emmy. We also talk about what kind of stories he wants to tell.

Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy my interview with Nathan.

In this episode we explore:

  • Nathan describes StoryDriven’s videos and what makes them different [1:10]
  • How the Emmy-Award winning video of “Stop the Stigma” was created [1:49]
  • How to tease out stories from customers [4:16]
  • How StoryDriven used “The Odyssey” to explain the mission of a speciality hospital for the treatment of eating disorders [6:44]
  • Asking binary questions to create tension in videos [7:49]
  • StoryDriven’s company ownership [13:49]
  • What a “brand journalist” is [14:27]
  • How Nathan figured out how to price his services [18:04]
  • His first customer [20:53]
  • Newborn twins photoshoot [22:43]
  • When Nathan hired his first employees [27:24]
  • StoryDriven’s initial sales strategy [29:19]
  • Working through cash-flow issues [31:40]
  • Adding a partner to the company, and losing that same partner [32:53]
  • Getting an Emmy [41:07]
  • Nathan’s year in Africa and how it changed him [46:34]
  • “I want to tell stories at StoryDriven that give people hope.” [49:47]
  • The unexpected challenges and thrills of building StoryDriven [52:38]
  • How making the company has changed him [58:40]
  • How Nathan instills the values of the company into the company on a day-to-day basis [1:01:16]
  • The only way to come up with your company values [1:02:50]
  • What success looks like for Nathan and his company in the coming years [1:05:29]

Story Driven’s Website

One of Story Driven’s Emmy-award winning videos.