pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Sales

Zuora, 2016. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

Name the shift. Pick the winners. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Sales narrative

  • 24 slides
  • Product at slide 20
  • Andy Raskin, 2016
Play the 2026 deck See the original 2016 deck Steal the structure
2016 Sales narrative

Zuora

Name the shift. Pick the winners.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

24 slides→10

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

Zuora's sales narrative, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. Zuora deck, slide 1: Turning customers into subscribers. 01Turning customers into subscribers.
  2. Zuora deck, slide 2: We now live in a subscription economy. 02We now live in a subscription economy.
  3. Zuora deck, slide 3: People now buy outcomes, not ownership. 03People now buy outcomes, not ownership.
  4. Zuora deck, slide 4: In 15 years, 52% of the Fortune 500 disappeared. 04In 15 years, 52% of the Fortune 500 disappeared.
  5. Zuora deck, slide 5: The survivors moved from products to relationships. 05The survivors moved from products to relationships.
  6. Zuora deck, slide 6: Winners sell the subscription experience. 06Winners sell the subscription experience.
  7. Zuora deck, slide 7: Put the subscriber at the center, and everything changes. 07Put the subscriber at the center, and everything changes.
  8. Zuora deck, slide 8: CRM sees a sale. Zuora sees a subscriber. 08CRM sees a sale. Zuora sees a subscriber.
  9. Zuora deck, slide 9: Companies like yours already made the shift. 09Companies like yours already made the shift.
  10. Zuora deck, slide 10: Not the end. Your story starts here. 10Not the end. Your story starts here.

Then · 2016 · 24 slides

The original

See the original 2016 deckAndy Raskin, The Mission
  1. Title: "Turning customers into subscribers" (Tien Tzuo, CEO)
  2. The shift: "We now live in a subscription economy"
  3. History: from products to relationships, 1970s to today
  4. How people buy: outcomes, customization, constant improvement
  5. A global phenomenon: four sourced stats
  6. Every industry is shifting: an 8-tile grid
  7. Losers: 52% of the Fortune 500 gone in 15 years
  8. Winners: GE, IBM, Unilever and Dollar Shave Club
  9. Winners: Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, Salesforce
  10. Winners: Uber, Spotify, Box, Airbnb
  11. Promised Land: "the subscription experience"
  12. A new way of thinking: the subscriber at the center
  13. This changes everything: pricing, marketing, sales, finance, culture
  14. Magic gift: the subscriber identity record (#beyondCRM)
  15. That's why we built Zuora: the capability map
  16. Evidence: Box, the FT, Schneider Electric
  17. The End (#startyourstory)

Now · 2026 · 10 slides

What we changed

  • The shift plays itselfSix things you used to own flip into Spotify, Box, Uber and friends as a timeline runs from the 1970s to today. Drag the scrubber to replay it.
  • The extinction splits on screenA hundred dots, one per 1% of the Fortune 500, break into 48% survived and 52% gone. Toggle back to before and watch it happen again.
  • The Promised Land asks a questionThe five criteria become buttons. The buyer taps the ones that matter to their customers, and the pitch turns into discovery.
  • "The End" became a planThe last slide is a mutual action plan with owners on both sides and steps you tick off together, because next steps are where deals speed up.

Steal the structure

Build your sales narrative like Zuora did.

  1. 01 Name the shift Open with an undeniable change in the world, not the buyer's problem.
  2. 02 Why it's happening Show how buyers behave differently now, old next to new.
  3. 03 Losers One hard number for what happens to those who ignore the shift.
  4. 04 Winners The companies that adapted, grouped so the common thread is obvious.
  5. 05 The Promised Land The future state, as criteria the buyer picks from. Not your product.
  6. 06 A new way of thinking The mental model that has to change to get there.
  7. 07 The obstacle Why the old tools cannot reach the Promised Land.
  8. 08 Magic gift Your product, introduced as the thing that gets the hero past that obstacle.
  9. 09 Evidence Customers like this buyer who already made the shift.
  10. 10 Mutual action plan Dated steps with owners on both sides. Never "Thank you."

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