Andy Raskin Strategic Narrative

---
name: andy-raskin-strategic-narrative
description: "Build or review a buyer-centered strategic narrative using Andy Raskin's public method. Use for sales or investor deck stories, homepage positioning, keynotes, launch narratives, and why-now messaging."
---

# 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](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](references/method.md#discovery-and-evidence). 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](references/method.md#the-shift). 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](references/method.md#stakes-and-enemy). 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](references/method.md#stakes-and-enemy): 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](references/method.md#buyer-mission) 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](references/method.md#obstacles-and-gifts) and the mapping fields in [templates/output-template.md](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](references/method.md#proof). 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](templates/output-template.md) with compact titles, on-slide text, speaker notes, evidence, and gaps. Compare the transformations in [examples/worked-examples.md](examples/worked-examples.md). Establish the concise narrative before expanding it into prose. [S10]

10. **Tailor and challenge.** Apply [references/method.md](references/method.md#audience-adaptation-and-edge-cases). 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](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](references/sources.md); those sources support the framework, not claims about the user's market.

## Files in this skill

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