????像大多數創業者一樣，這兩位一手創建了Entre-SLAM的女性回顧起創業歷程的種種酸甜苦辣，有太多故事可信手拈來。

????她們可能會告訴你，她們正在為創業者故事大賽和交際活動尋找完美的場地或合適的主持人。但Entre-SLAM的這兩位合伙人、珍妮?巴盧和克里斯蒂娜?錢伯斯-普利斯也會很高興讓她們的故事大王來談談。

????總部位于密西根州安娜堡的Entre-SLAM鼓勵創業者通過分享故事和喝啤酒來拓展人脈。巴盧說：“我們被真實的生活故事所吸引，”巴盧曾寫過兩本小說，但都沒有出版。她還主持過當地一場電視海選節目。今年夏天她放棄了這些活動，以便在Entre-SLAM上花更多的時間。她說：“這就像電影《楚門的世界》（The Truman Show）一樣——關注普通人、他們的日常生活和遇到的問題。”講故事的人都是創業者，有些人有幾十年的企業經驗，有些人在上臺前幾天才剛剛創立了公司。

????巴盧和錢伯斯-普利斯正在拓展這一觀眾市場——美國國家公共廣播電臺（NPR）在十幾個城市舉行的每月故事大賽The Moth、Creative Mornings和TedX大會的觀眾。同時，她們還在吸引營銷人員對這些故事的興趣，通過這些故事銷售從汽車（比如Jeep）到威士忌（Jack Daniels，杰克?丹尼）等在內的各種產品。

????全美范圍內還有其他幾個講故事活動，但很少像Entre-SLAM這樣每月舉辦。活動還吸引了很多機構，紛紛提供咨詢、培訓、攝影服務，同時幫助進一步完善故事，增強故事對于客戶、投資者或潛在合作伙伴的吸引力。

????在某種意義上，Entre-SLAM結合了商會、The Moth和MeetUp活動元素。獲勝者的獎品從區域大廚親自掌勺的美食大餐到認證停車證，再到免費按摩，不一而足。

????2012年1月末，巴盧和錢伯斯-普利斯在討論如何在資深人士培訓課程上進行合作時，想出了Entre-SLAM這個點子。（巴盧的職業背景是培訓。）巴盧問錢伯斯-普利斯，是否想參加The Moth。“我去不了，”錢伯斯-普利斯回憶道。但她想到，她們可以為小企業家創辦一個類似的活動。

????三周后，她們決定成立一家新公司，公司名稱未定，但希望是能邀請到“坐在第五排，常常被忽視的人上臺。這些人有很精彩的故事要講給人們聽，但就是沒有適當的人脈”受邀上臺，錢伯斯-普利斯表示。

????兩人的相識是通過住所附近的書店店主。“他最先預見到了我們會面的潛力，”巴盧說。“但他對于這可能引發的美好瘋狂一無所知。”后來，巴盧成了錢伯斯-普利斯的公司KnowledgeCrush的客戶，這家公司幫助培訓獨立創業者并進行市場推廣。（除了講故事和社交業務，這兩位女性還在一起寫一本面向高管的書，它是巴盧寫書教育和編輯工作的一部分。）

????Like most startup founders, the women who launched Entre-SLAM have plenty of stories about the joys and complications of getting their business going.

????They could tell you all about their search for the perfect venue or the right emcee for their storytelling competition and networking events for entrepreneurs. But partners Jeannie Ballew and Christa Chambers-Price would be just as happy to have their storytellers do the talking.

????Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Entre-SLAM encourages entrepreneurs to connect over stories and a beer. "We are drawn to authentic, real life stories," says Ballew, who has written two unpublished novels and hosted a local public access television show. She gave it up this summer to spend more time on Entre-SLAM. "This is like The Truman Show -- watch everyday people and their everyday dramas and issues," she says. Except the people telling stories are business owners, some who have decades of experience and some who started just days before their storytelling debut.

????Ballew and Chambers-Price are tapping into the kind of audience that shows up for The Moth, the NPR monthly story-slams staged in a dozen cities, Creative Mornings, and TedX conferences. They are also drawing on marketers' passion for using stories to sell everything from cars (think Jeep) to whiskey (Jack Daniels) and much more.

????There are a handful of other business storytelling events around the country, but very few are held monthly like Entre-SLAM. The events also attract organizations that consult and coach, film, and fine-tune business leaders' tales so they appeal to customers, investors, or potential partners.

????In a sense, Entre-SLAM combines elements of a chamber of commerce mixer, The Moth, and a MeetUp event. Winners take home prizes ranging from a gourmet dinner from an area chef, to validated parking stickers, to a free massage.

????Ballew and Chambers-Price came up with the idea for Entre-SLAM last January 2012 while they were discussing how they could collaborate on a veterans' training course. (Ballew's background is in training.) Ballew asked Chambers-Price if she wanted to go The Moth. "I couldn't go," Chambers-Price recalled. But she thought that they could create a similar event for small business owners.

????Within three weeks, they decided to launch a new venture, which had no name but did have a hope to reach "that person on the fifth row, that guy or gal in the dark, who has a great story to tell, but never had the right connections" to get invited on-stage, said Chambers-Price.

????The duo met through a bookshop owner who lives in their neighborhood. "He first saw the potential in our meeting," says Ballew. "Little did he know what blessed madness it would birth." Ballew eventually became Chambers-Price's client, at her company KnowledgeCrush, which helps market and coach solo entrepreneurs. (Besides the storytelling and networking business, the two women are working together on a book-writing cruise aimed at executives, part of Ballew's book coaching and editing work.)

????They held their first Entre-SLAM on March 29 in a packed catering space, where some of their friends and a few surprise guests shared stories of their business setbacks.