Have you ever stared at clouds long enough to start seeing shapes? A sheep, a face, a familiar outline? And once you notice it, you can’t quite unsee it.

That’s a bit like the “curse of knowledge.”

When you’ve spent years immersed in a field, you can’t help but see the patterns, nuances, and intricacies everywhere. What feels obvious or fascinating to you becomes overwhelming to everyone else.

It’s why top experts struggle to communicate their work beyond their peers, entangling their audiences in a web of details, tangents and overcomplications.

Yet, that’s exactly what biotech founders need to overcome. 

At some point, you have to step out of the lab, zoom out from the research papers, datasets and trails, and identify the bigger picture. You need to tell a story that will resonate with investors, healthcare professionals, potential hires, and partners.

At Mars Media, we try to help our clients make that leap. In this installment of our blog, we explore the science of communication to find practical ways to overcome the curse of knowledge.

Stories all the way down

A first lesson: think in narratives.

A 2021 study found that narratives are easier to process than non-narratives. And when something is easier to process, it’s more persuasive, the researchers concluded after an experiment with over 500 participants.

If narratives are easier to process, the next question is: what do they actually look like? Interestingly, when you zoom out, you’ll find that stories tend to follow a surprisingly consistent shape.

One well-known model is Freytag’s “pyramid”: a structure that moves from exposition to rising action to a climax and then into resolution. 

Modern research analyzing tens of thousands of texts has found similar patterns. Stories tend to start with low tension, build toward a central challenge, and then resolve. This structure appears not only in novels and films but also in newspaper articles, TEDx talks, and, to some degree, even in legal judgments.

Now, this doesn’t mean your startup pitch needs a hero’s journey (though we wouldn’t stop you from trying). But it should have a clear sense of progression: a beginning, a problem, and a resolution.

From Science to South Park

One practical storytelling tool is the “And, But, Therefore” (ABT) framework, developed by scientist-turned-filmmaker-turned-communication-professional Randy Olson.

Olson breaks storytelling into three steps: ‘and’ to establish context, ‘but’ to introduce tension and ‘therefore’ to present a possible solution.

It’s strikingly similar to the structure of a scientific paper: This is what we know AND this is what we know, BUT there’s a gap, THEREFORE, we researched this and this.

And it works.
Even the creators of South Park, one of Olson’s inspirations, use a version of this rule: every part of a story should be connected by “but” or “therefore,” never just “and then.” Because “and then” adds information, but “but” and “therefore” create meaning.

The headline

You don’t need a full narrative arc to improve your communication. Sometimes, small storytelling elements go a long way.

Science communicator Brittney Borowiec outlines ten practical rules, such as avoiding jargon wherever possible. She suggests swapping technical terms like DNA’s “double helix” for something more visual, like a “ladder” or “spiral staircase”, which can instantly make your message more accessible.

But one rule stands out: write a clear headline message.

A single sentence that captures the essence of your work. It’s the line that sits at the top of your presentation, anchors your pitch, or leads your website. A few words that tell the whole story: You’re building solutions to real-world problems.