Strategic Narrative

What It Is

Strategic Narrative is a framework for crafting the one story that drives everything: sales, marketing, product, fundraising, and recruiting. The core insight: don't pitch your product as the solution to a problem — position it as the path to winning a new game the world is playing.

The traditional pitch structure is what Andy Raskin calls "the arrogant doctor": You have a problem, I have a solution, let me tell you why mine is better. This sets you up for feature comparison and bragging.

Strategic Narrative flips this entirely. Instead of leading with pain points, you lead with a shift in the world — from an old game to a new game. You're not selling a treatment; you're defining a movement and inviting people to join.

The key shift: Move from "Here's your problem, here's our solution" to "The world has changed, here's how winners are playing, and we'll help you win."

When to Use It

Use Strategic Narrative when you need to:

• Create a sales deck or pitch that resonates beyond features
• Position a product in a crowded market where feature comparison fails
• Align company teams (sales, marketing, product) around one story
• Fundraise with a compelling vision investors can rally behind
• Recruit by articulating a mission people want to join
• Differentiate from competitors without feature-by-feature comparisons
• Scale beyond founder-led sales by giving teams a story to tell

Best fit: B2B enterprise technology companies with complex products and group buying decisions.

When Not to Use It

• Simple consumer purchases — people comparing specs on a shelf
• Pure commodity products — where price truly is the only differentiator
• Products with no real choice — employer-mandated software
• Very early stage — before you've talked to customers

Resources

From Andy Raskin:

• "The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen" — the viral post analyzing Zuora's deck
• The Bigger Narrative podcast

Related Reading:

• Story by Robert McKee
• Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller