????錢伯斯-普利斯在去年4月份的Entre-Slam中講了一個故事，分享了她18歲在美國陸軍里學到的一個教訓，那就是，不要將任何伙伴落在后邊。創業者也處在一個戰場上，她說：“為了夢想，我們匍匐前進、奮勇戰斗……我希望，我們彼此都能這么做，因為說到底我們同處一條戰壕。”

????最近的一次聚會中，在安妮堡市中心的一間酒吧里，約20名企業家坐在老企業家的身旁。除了講故事，那晚的活動還穿插了兩家印度餐廳的咖喱品鑒活動、一名按摩技師和中場一個即興表演團體的表演。有幾位講故事的人已經是第三次在Entre-SLAM登臺。

????“從這些聚會中衍生出來的故事值得一遍遍反復講述，”巴盧說。“我們期望建立一個繁榮的網上創業家社區，我們還計劃推出一系列的圖書。”

????巴盧和錢伯斯-普利斯為Entre-Slam設計了宏偉的藍圖。“我一直想象在日本建起Entre-Slam，”巴盧說。“我們完全有理由相信，它可以是國際性的。”

????但首先，他們計劃在美國中西部培養起大批追隨者：今年大部分時間，這兩人將以安妮堡為重點，然后可能是芝加哥、得克薩斯州奧斯汀，或者密歇根州大溪地地區。在大溪地地區，已經有一個企業團體表示有興趣引入創業故事大賽，活躍商界社交活動。她們已經爭取了安妮堡-伊普西蘭蒂商會(Arbor-Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce)X一代和千禧一代的參與。

????10月份，這群20-30歲的人聚在一起時，故事主題是“即興發揮”，我們聽到了一些有意思的故事：為了給一桌12人晚宴制作適合的調味汁，一位美食品嘗創業者不得不購買60顆鴨心。為了保證襁褓中的嬰兒能夠定時喂奶、尿布保持干凈，一位音樂家轉行搞起了無線電，然后是軟件開發，最后花了3個月的時間完成了機器模擬原本兩周就可完成的項目。建立起一家快速發展的繪畫營銷公司一年后，另一位創業者將公司交到了員工手中，然后選擇了離開，原因是父親患上了惡性癌癥。“當艱難變成平常，平常就會變成簡單，”獲得當晚頭獎的戴維?朗道說。

????Entre-SLAM的商業模式部分是基于企業贊助。迄今為止，大部分都是當地企業，包括一家月刊和一家旅游公司。最終，她們想獲得谷歌（Google）、紅牛（Red Bull）這樣的大牌企業贊助。錢伯斯-普利斯說：“這是一種讓創業者保持清醒的產品，紅牛也很有趣。”

????Entre-SLAM也是如此，特別是如果你有一位朋友正在講故事，或者你聽到一個故事，讓你想起一位老朋友。（財富中文網）

????Chambers-Price told a tale at an Entre-Slam in April, sharing a lesson she learned when she was 18 years old and in the Army, about the importance of not leaving any of your partners behind. Entrepreneurs are also on a battlefield, she said, "low-crawling, scraping and fighting for our dreams.… I hope that we all will do that for each other because at the end of the day, we're all in this together."

????At a recent gathering, 20-something business owners sat next to older entrepreneurs at a downtown Ann Arbor bar. Besides the storytelling, the evening featured a curry taste-off by two Indian restaurants, a massage therapist, and an improv group performance during intermission. A few of the storytellers were giving their third Entre-SLAM performance.

????"The stories that evolve from these gatherings are meant to be told again and again," Ballew said. "We envision building a thriving, online community of entrepreneurs but also we plan on releasing a series of books."

????Ballew and Chambers-Price have big plans for Entre-Slam. "I keep visualizing Entre-Slam in Japan," said Ballew "We have every reason to believe it can be international."

????First, though, they plan to build a strong following in the Midwest: The duo will focus on Ann Arbor for most of this year; then probably Chicago; Austin, Texas; or the Grand Rapids area, where a business group has expressed interest in the entrepreneurial story slam to reinvigorate its business networking events. They've already had the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce Gen X and Y group take part.

????With that 20- and 30-something group in the house in October, the story topic, "Winging It," brought some strange tales: A gourmet tasting entrepreneur had to buy 60 ducks' hearts as part of a quest to make the right sauce for a dinner party for 12. A musician moved into radio, then software development, and spent three months on what should have been a two-week machine simulation project -- all to keep his babies fed and in diapers. One year into building a fast-growing painting marketing venture, one entrepreneur left his company in the hands of his staff when his father developed an aggressive cancer. "When hard becomes normal, normal becomes easy," said David Landau, who later won the night's top prize.

????Entre-SLAM's business model is based partly on corporate sponsorships, so far most of them local enterprises such as a monthly magazine and a travel agency. Eventually, they'd like to land major corporate sponsors like Google (GOOG) and Red Bull. "It's a product that entrepreneurs use to stay awake. And Red Bull is fun," said Chambers-Price.

????So is Entre-SLAM, especially if you have a friend who's telling a story, or if you hear a story that feels like an old friend.