Raskin: A company's movement is orthogonal to its product category
Andy Raskin · The power of strategic narrative | Andy Raskin · May 28, 2023 · at 43:45
Strategic narrative consultant Andy Raskin explains how HubSpot maintained its "inbound" movement while expanding its category from marketing automation to CRM.
0:00 / 0:30exact quote · 30.6s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I mean, I always almost see them as orthogonal, like, you know, with HubSpot, you know, HubSpot had this narrative around inbound, you know, it used to be just outbound. So now we're going to have inbound. And that, that wasn't really a category. There's still, I think if you, back then they were probably known as marketing automation. Now they're probably known as CRM because they broadened. But this movement is the thing that's sort of the constant and in some ways orthogonal to whatever category they're in, you know.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Andy Raskin
Raskin: Strategic narratives must define a movement, not just solve problems
“This structure really is about defining a movement.
And that's very different from, hey, I'm going to solve your problem.”
Problem-solution pitch structures trap founders into playing the 'arrogant doctor'
“And the traditional structure, the way I learned how to pitch in business school, 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, you know, a treatment, and I'm going to tell you why it's be…”
Raskin: The "Hero's Journey" framework is too theoretical for business pitches
“I found when I would talk about hero's journey and stuff, it's just like, it didn't really tell me what to do. Like, okay, yeah, I gotta do this pitch. So you know, in the hero's journey, there's like refusal of the call. That's actually that one thing where L…”
Raskin: Inventing a category label alone will not differentiate a company
“When people think about category creation, they tend to just focus on like, okay, what is this category name going to be that we got? What are these three words that are, or two words, whatever, that are going to sort of magically make us seem like we're total…”
Raskin: Strategic narratives only succeed if the CEO personally leads them
“When I looked after I did this work for a few years, I looked back and I was like, which were the ones where, which were the engagements I did where like, I can see it. And it just, the narrative is like really this true north star for everything. And it was a…”
Raskin: A strategic narrative serves as a North Star for company functions
“The one thing I say is like, it's this one story that the CEO uses
To drive success in, in marketing, sales, but also product, that it becomes like a North Star, strategic North Star for product roadmap, for fundraising, for recruiting, really everything.”