When you’re deep in the build of a product or service, it’s natural to fixate on the details. You obsess over the feature set, the interface, the stack. You know the mechanics inside out, and you know what makes it different from what’s come before. But the truth is: no one else really cares. Customers don’t really buy into products. They buy into the promise of what a product can offer them.

What people care about is how your product makes them feel, what it helps them become, and the future it enables. In other words, they’re not buying the thing. They’re buying the story of what that thing unlocks.

This is a principle that holds across categories, markets and business models. From early-stage startups to corporate product teams, it’s easy to lose sight of the emotional, aspirational reason people make decisions. And in an era of accelerated innovation, with technology rapidly reshaping what’s possible, it’s more important than ever to connect to the future your customers want, not just the features you’ve built.

Features fade, futures resonate

Features are transient. They get copied, updated, or replaced. But a vision of a better future? That’s what people remember.

Take Slack. In its early days, it didn’t talk about channel-based communication or integrations. It promised to make work simpler, faster, more human. That emotional pull was what got teams to try it—and what made them stick. Then they made ‘customer feedback the epicenter of [their] efforts’, sharing customer comments and testimonials on a ‘Twitter Wall of Love’ that became the driving force behind team efforts and product development. 

Or look at Nike. The features of the shoes aren’t what make them iconic. It’s the idea that wearing them gets you one step closer to a new reality. The tagline “Just do it” says it all. You’re not just buying trainers, you’re buying motivation. You’re buying a mindset. You’re buying a new version of self—one that just does stuff.

The same principle applies in B2B. Decision-makers may rationalise purchases with logic, but their final decisions are driven by emotion. They’re not buying a dashboard or a faster pipeline. They’re buying the confidence that they’re making progress. They’re buying proof that they’re moving in the right direction. That they’re doing something future-focused. That they won’t be left behind.

Make the customer the hero, not your product

In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller makes a compelling case: brands tend to put themselves at the centre of their own stories. They talk about their history, their values, their technology. But customers don’t want a hero. They want a guide.

In Miller’s framework, the customer is the protagonist facing a problem. Your brand is the guide that helps them solve it and transform. The product or service is just the tool. The real story is the shift it enables in the customer’s life.

This is crucial when you’re working in the innovation space. When you’re building something new—often something that doesn’t have social proof or familiar context—you’re asking people to take a leap. To step into the unknown. To adopt a new behaviour or bet on a new mindset. You’re not just selling usability. You’re selling belief. To get traction, you need to sell the transformation, not the tech.

At The49, this thinking informs how we shape early-stage ventures. Whether we’re developing AI tools for customer service or daily creative practice apps, the story always starts with the user: what problem are they facing? What future do they want? And how does this product become the catalyst for that future?

Sell the destination, not the vehicle

When you pitch a product, it’s tempting to lead with functionality. But think about it like planning a trip: when you book a holiday, you don’t obsess over the plane. You picture the destination. And how you’re going to feel once you’re there. Your product is the plane. But your brand’s job is to sell the beach. The brands and businesses that win are the ones that help people imagine where they’re headed. They give their audience a picture of what life looks like once they get there.

That’s why narrative is so crucial. When we work with founders at The49, we spend time developing narrative prototypes alongside product prototypes. That might mean writing speculative user journeys, visualising the before-and-after states, or crafting a pitch deck that opens on the future world the product makes possible. With Contested, for example, we didn’t just build a marketplace for athlete partnerships. We created a platform for underrepresented talent to rise and for brands to be part of something culturally powerful. It’s not just about access. It’s about impact.

This storytelling doesn’t just help with marketing. It helps the product team stay focused. It rallies stakeholders. It unlocks strategic clarity. Because when you’re clear on the future you’re building towards, you make better decisions today.

If you’re launching something new, try reframing your pitch using this lens. Ask yourself:

  • What does success look like for your user?
  • What transformation are you enabling?
  • What world does your product make possible?
  • How do people feel before vs. after using it?

These answers will give you the foundation for a story that resonates. Then go back to your pitch, website or deck. Are you leading with this vision? Or are you lost in the weeds of feature lists? You can still talk about features. But they should serve the story, not be the story. They should act as proof points that this future is real, tangible, within reach.


Products as tools for transformation

The most powerful products are those that sell more than functionality. They help people imagine a better future. And feel like that future is theirs. They turn products into tools for transformation.

We see storytelling not as the final polish, but as the foundation. It’s not just how you communicate what you’ve built… it’s how you decide what to build. It’s how you turn insight into impact.

Storytelling is strategy. It’s how you design for belief, not just usability. And when you’re building ventures that challenge the status quo, that belief is everything.

Need help shaping the story of your startup or product? We help founders and teams design narratives that create traction, clarity and conviction. Reach out.