Andy Raskin

Andy Raskin helps CEOs align their teams around strategic narratives. His blog post 'The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen' (about Zuora) became one of the most shared articles in startup strategy. He has worked with companies including Gong on their core narratives. Their core argument: Frame the narrative around an undeniable shift in the world -- from the old game to a new game. Let the category emerge from the story rather than forcing it as a marketing exercise. The evidence is specific: Salesforce: Benioff declared 'software is over' and the cloud is the new game -- the 'no software' narrative created the cloud CRM category. Furthermore, zuora: Tien Tzuo (Salesforce employee #11) declared the shift from transactions to the 'subscription economy' -- the narrative preceded and enabled the category. Gong: declared the shift from 'opinions' to 'reality' in sales management -- 'goodbye opinions, hello reality' as the old game / new game frame. In Andy Raskin's own words: "The way I learned how to pitch in business school, and I think the way most people did is what I call the arrogant doctor. So you have a problem, a pain, I have a solution, a treatment, and I'm going to tell you why it's better than all the other treatments." (Contrasting the traditional pitch structure with the strategic narrative approach.)