Co-founder · Startup · Storytelling
Forbes Shannon
The storyteller who learned comedy by founding things and then finding the human in the pitch.
Startup and storytelling. Every pitch is a set. Every set is a pitch.
- Startups lived through
- Multiple
- Pitches turned into sets
- 100s
- Founder stories told
- Uncounted
The story
Forbes Shannon co-founded FUNNYAF from the other side of comedy: the room where nobody expects to laugh — boardrooms, pitch meetings, and the early-stage chaos of building companies from scratch.
He learned that startup storytelling and stand-up run on the same mechanics. A founder has ten seconds to earn attention, a minute to build trust, and a surprising twist at the end that makes the listener remember the idea. Replace 'runway' with 'callback' and the pitch deck starts looking like a set list.
At Arizona After Dark he brings that structure to the stage: personal stories with a clear engine, emotional stakes, and a punchline that re-frames what you thought you were listening to. His comedy doesn't mock the founder life; it exposes how absurd it actually is.
At FUNNYAF Forbes owns the narrative side of the system: founder stories, storytelling architecture, pitch comedy, and the translation of 'what happened to me' into 'what the audience can't stop repeating.'
“If they remember the story, they remember the startup. Make the story funny and they'll repeat it for you.”
What Forbes teaches
The part of the system he owns.
Founder storytelling
Turn your company, your failure, and your weird niche expertise into a story with stakes, surprise, and a repeatable takeaway.
Pitch as performance
Pacing, status, misdirection, and the callback that makes investors remember you after the deck is closed.
Personal narrative engine
How to find the story you already own, build it scene by scene, and know which details to keep because they do work the laugh does.
Signature moves
The Founder Callback
References an earlier pitch failure in the middle of a new story and the room suddenly understands the whole arc.
Vulnerability as Setup
Leads with the thing that should make him look small, then flips it into authority.
The Deck as Set List
Treats every slide as a premise and every transition as a tag.
“The best pitch doesn't convince anyone. It makes the room feel smart for getting it.”
Train with the people who actually do this on a Friday.
The other one
Aaron Bare →