# I have a crazy true personal story about a billion dollar business...what is the best medium to tell it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154 "2021-03-03T01:07:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![edwin\_klockars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@edwin\_klockars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwin_klockars)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/1 "2021-03-03T01:07:12Z")
So a few years ago, due to a bizarre series of circumstances I found myself creating a zany consumer product on a reality-TV show. The show itself had a lot of big names attached and lots of drama on-air. Meanwhile, the product became a mega-hit but I (and the other co-founder!) were cut out of the company while the intern has gone on to achieve a billion dollar valuation for the business we started. It’s now endorsed by huge celebs and is on TV and all over the air/internet every day. It is the fastest growing product of all time in its category. Not so long along ago, I shared details of the story on a blog article. The article was immediately syndicated by a big publication, read by a large number of people and the proceeds even covered my rent for a month. The story of the company continues to grow and its nearly a household name at this point. My question is: I think many of the crazy quirky details of how the product was developed, how the company was stolen and how it went on to become a massive success are all quite interesting. I was very pleased with the success of the initial blog article but I think there is a lot more story to tell I just don’t know the right medium. I think it could be a fabulous book, screenplay or perhaps something else in between. My immediate goal is to continue to find ways to de-risk the writing project by finding ways to tell the story to increasing large audiences and prove the general interest. In other words…are there any baby steps I could take between ‘successful blog article’ and ‘screenplay’ to build an audience and test interest? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/2 "2021-03-03T02:07:29Z")
I guess you could tell us the name of the company and see if we have any interest. No links please, just a name would do. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/3 "2021-03-03T02:32:39Z")
Well, I’d certainly also be interested in hearing the other side of the zany true story. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/4 "2021-03-03T02:37:54Z")
My vote is for [a puppet show just off of Times Square](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK19zONpd04). It’ll get the word out for sure. It’s a tough business, though. “Nobody’s looking for a puppeteer in today’s wintry economic climate.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/5 "2021-03-03T02:37:58Z")
If they are that successful then they can afford much better lawyers than you can. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/6 "2021-03-03T03:09:18Z")
Pitch the story to business publications. Be warned, they’ve heard the “I had a billion dollar idea that was stolen from me,” pitch from a million different people, so the editors will be a tough sell. But if you can get one of them to bite, you’ll have the legitimacy to go for a book or screen pitch. ---
**Author:** ![edwin\_klockars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@edwin\_klockars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwin_klockars)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/7 "2021-03-03T03:28:11Z")
Thanks Kent. This is a solid idea. I think what might help set my story apart is that many of my claims are well-documented thanks to the TV show that captured the creation of the company as it happened. The nature of the product is also super weird and pretty funny so that should help a lot too. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/8 "2021-03-03T03:46:01Z")
I have a crazy true personal story about me and two gymnasts. What is the best adult magazine to sell it to? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/9 "2021-03-03T04:08:30Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I have a crazy true personal story about > me and two gymnasts… But you _have_ to start with “I never dreamed I’d be writing to you, but when I started my new job as a sausage delivery guy…” … Oh, and **edwin**? THIS is the best place to tell your story. We even flag confusing sentences and do grammar checking for free. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/10 "2021-03-03T10:45:16Z")
Just share it. It’s not like anyone here can steal it from you now, and you already wrote the blog. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/11 "2021-03-03T12:11:31Z")
I _knew_ this looked familiar. > [@I started a hugely successful product as part of reality show but got screwed.How to write my story?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-started-a-hugely-successful-product-as-part-of-reality-show-but-got-screwed-how-to-write-my-story/854014): > > So a few years back I had the opportunity to spend a summer on a high-budget reality show on one of the top networks. I’m a bit of a media geek and so it sounded like fun to me to see how a show like that is made from behind the scenes. My partner was one of the ‘stars’ of the show and I was her official business partner, a much less glamorous role but cool nonetheless. I flew up to California and had a pretty crazy time hanging with celebrities while wearing a wireless mic all day (they’re … ---
**Author:** ![half-elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@half-elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/half-elf)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/12 "2021-03-03T12:50:47Z")
Wow… now what? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/13 "2021-03-03T15:45:48Z")
I’m not sure why the story continues with a new username, but I have reasons to believe the story is true. If it’s what I think it is, I doubt if there’s really any big market for the behind the scenes story. If this had been on some blockbuster show where everyone knew about it, then maybe there would be enough interest, but the show I’m thinking of had a relatively limited audience. And the product I’m thinking of is niche. The basic plot is pretty common, where people go into business and one person gets screwed. You would have to be able to tell the story in a very interesting way. It’s like how the success of the Harry Potter series is not because of the plot of a boy wizard, but rather because the storytelling is engaging. If the interest in the blog article is petering out, that may be a sign that there’s not a whole lot of interest. I would think that if sites thought they could get traffic from the story, they would be trying to get more details and more pages written. But it may still be worth pursuing since you never know what will happen. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/14 "2021-03-03T15:49:10Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I _knew_ this looked familiar. > > [I started a hugely successful product as part of reality show but got screwed.How to write my story?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-started-a-hugely-successful-product-as-part-of-reality-show-but-got-screwed-how-to-write-my-story/854014) Nice catch, @tofor! So, socked-up troll looking to stir things up by dangling tantalizingly vague details of a made-up crazy story to pique everybody’s interest and lead us on from there? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/15 "2021-03-03T15:50:20Z")
Dear Straight Dope, I never believed this could happen to me … ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/16 "2021-03-03T17:15:16Z")
---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-a-crazy-true-personal-story-about-a-billion-dollar-business-what-is-the-best-medium-to-tell-it/934154/17 "2021-03-03T18:22:05Z")
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