Andy Raskin Strategic Narrative

Based on Andy Raskin's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Andy Raskin.

When to use

Use this skill when a company needs a coherent story about why buyers must change, what winning now means, and how its offering helps them get there. Typical requests include a sales deck, investor narrative, homepage story, keynote, launch story, or review of an existing pitch. The output is a compact narrative storyboard with evidence and unresolved assumptions, ready to adapt into the requested format.

The buyer is the protagonist. Start with a change in the buyer's world, establish the stakes, define a desirable buyer mission, and introduce capabilities as help with obstacles to that mission. This is also a strategic alignment exercise: the story should influence what the company builds, rather than merely decorate existing differentiators. [S1][S9]

For a narrow copy edit, apply only the relevant checks. Preserve the user's requested deliverable and constraints. A five-part storyboard is this package's drafting aid, not a mandatory slide count prescribed by Raskin. Read the detailed method when constructing or substantially reviewing a narrative; use the examples when the difference between product improvement and a buyer mindset shift is unclear.

Procedure

1. Define the assignment. Identify the audience, buying context, desired action, format, and available inputs. Separate a customer story from its investor adaptation. Capture these fields in templates/output-template.md before drafting; request missing information only when it materially affects the story.
2. Gather buyer language and evidence. Read the discovery guidance in references/method.md. Ask what changed that made action urgent, what winning used to mean, and what buyers must achieve now. Distinguish supplied facts, supported inferences, and hypotheses. Mark absent support as [needs source]; never invent customer quotes, statistics, winners, or outcomes.
3. Identify the change. Use the shift rules in references/method.md. Name the old and new winning mindsets compactly. Check that the change is happening, independent of the seller, and consequential. Reject a product before/after dressed up as a market shift. [S1][S4]
4. Make the stakes concrete. Follow references/method.md. Describe how adapting creates a positive future and how continuing the old mindset creates a material negative outcome. Use relevant, sourced examples where available; label proposed examples as research gaps. Avoid declaring every slow adopter doomed. [S2]
5. Locate the enemy. Apply the later clarification in references/method.md: the antagonist is the old mindset. Naming the shift can already name the enemy. Discuss alternatives through their assumptions and suitability, with support for factual comparisons. [S5]
6. Choose the buyer mission. Use references/method.md to state the future buyers want, without naming ownership of the product as success. Choose the highest useful level that still defines a distinct movement. State who might reasonably reject the mission and what strategic choices it implies. [S7][S12]
7. Map obstacles to help. Follow references/method.md and the mapping fields in templates/output-template.md. Explain why the mission is difficult, then connect each selected capability to an obstacle. Remove orphan features and promises the offering cannot deliver. [S1][S2]
8. Select proof. Use references/method.md. Prefer a relevant customer outcome in the customer's voice; otherwise use a demonstration or clearly labeled internal results. Keep proof boundaries visible. Place logos and investor credentials after the story has established relevance. [S1][S2]
9. Draft the storyboard. Fill templates/output-template.md with compact titles, on-slide text, speaker notes, evidence, and gaps. Compare the transformations in examples/worked-examples.md. Establish the concise narrative before expanding it into prose. [S10]
10. Tailor and challenge. Apply references/method.md. Keep the shared change while adapting missions, obstacles, and proof by audience. Test comprehension in conversations, record objections, and revise unsupported or untrue pieces. Surface top-message choices for leadership rather than claiming an agent can settle company strategy. [S3][S8][S13]
11. Review and deliver. Run checklists/review-checklist.md. Resolve failures or explicitly label remaining gaps and their impact. Deliver the requested artifact plus essential evidence notes. Verify method citations against references/sources.md; those sources support the framework, not claims about the user's market.

Files in this skill

• references/method.md: Detailed principles, decision rules, explicit warnings, and edge cases.
• references/sources.md: Fetched public sources and the contribution of each.
• examples/worked-examples.md: Two invented illustrations with weak drafts, improved storyboards, and rule explanations.
• templates/output-template.md: Fill-in storyboard with field guidance and evidence handling.
• checklists/review-checklist.md: Pass/fail review criteria, failure modes, and fixes.