How can a single story drive success across a company—in sales, marketing, fundraising, product, recruiting, everything? I talk with CEOs about the power of strategic narrative.
San Francisco, CA
Learn why Nick Francis bet everything on a new business model—and about the new strategic narrative he built to make sense of it for his team, his investors, and his customers. With my mom on a rare vacation, my sister steps in to take the intro call.
Choosing the right enemy is critical for a great strategic narrative. Also, my mom proposes an tweak to Influ2's name.
A $6.5B services company adopts a new strategic narrative to convey differentiation in its market and guide employees. Also, my mom wants to get more personal.
How one of the world's largest medical device makers is using a new strategic narrative to differentiate its software offerings from those of its biggest competitor.
Foxglove's "Goodbye prototypes, Hello production" narrative became a strategic North Star not only for selling, but also for how CEO Adrian Macneil's team fleshes out product roadmap.
NorthOne started as an online bank for small businesses—it's backed by top-tier VCs including Redpoint and Battery Ventures—but the vision from the beginning was to go beyond banking to add automation/intelligence around things billing, cash management—all the stuff big companies take for granted, but that small ones still struggle with. As Northone began rolling out those capabilities, however, CEO Eytan Bensoussan and his team struggled to describe what NorthOne was becoming—to customers, investors, and job candidates. So together we built a narrative around what NorthOne now calls “Connected Banking.” In this episode we dive into what that means and how Eytan and his team got there.
As OneTrust grew through acquisition, CEO Kabir Barday craved a new narrative to help buyers, investors, and employees make sense of what it was becoming. My mom likes that I showed up to my first call with Kabir sweaty from ultimate frisbee.
How Redox evolved from pitching what was essentially a technology brag to a strategic narrative about a change in the world that starts with its customers' customers. My mom even gets what Redox does, sort of.
To power its next phase of growth, Kandji is telling a bigger story. My mom agrees you have to limit the number of people in a working group to achieve alignment.
Sloan talks about aligning Contentful's team and customers around a new strategic narrative about "composable content” to evolve the company, which has raised nearly $350 million, beyond its roots as a "headless" content management system.
After raising $240M, Nick crafted a strategic narrative that has not only made him more successful at selling 360Learning's vision to other CEOs, but also became his team's North Star for building and measuring the success of their product.
The strategic narrative behind a $70M fundraise. Also my mom defines entrepreneurship in terms of laundromats.
The new narrative that helped Grin raise a $110M Series B
Sales were growing, so why did Spot need a strategic narrative? Plus my mom has questions about cameras and climate change.
How a strategic narrative is powering growth for a bootstrapped SaaS company. Also, my mom discusses her "third career."
How a former NFL player's strategic narrative is helping rookies build their own brands
Selling the latest advances in network security in a way that even my mom says "didn't sound technical"
A strategic narrative pushed Emplify to get acquired. My mom wishes I hadn't told you that yet.
Abstract's strategic narrative is a North Star during a period of change. My mom calls this episode a "beautiful conversation that opened my mind to look at design in an entirely different way."
In this special episode, I interview my mom about her inspiring career. My sister helps connect the dots.
I finally meet the architect of The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen. My mom is also impressed by Zuora's "usership" narrative.
How to choose the right old game/new game frame. MedCrypt gives my mom hope for humanity, but she's still down about the bad stuff.
How SpotMe boosted average deal size with a new narrative, then evolved it for a COVID world. My mom likes Pierre's accent.
How Boldly moved into (what my mom calls) a "new box"
Pitch the new game, not the problem. Also, Dave inspires my mom to innovate.
Strategic narrative for getting buy-in from your team
How narrative powers differentiation. Also, my dad takes his desktop to class.
Why story is crucial for B2B selling. Also, Silvio tries to replace my mom.
A former engineer, Deepa sees a shift in how buyers want to be heard.
How Logikcull's growth is powered by narrative. Also, my mom disses the title of my podcast.
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