# Positioning Statement

## Purpose
Create a clear, compelling articulation of who your product is for, what problem it solves, and why it's different—the foundation for all marketing and sales.

## When to Use
- Refining your value proposition after customer discovery
- Creating marketing and sales materials
- When product-market fit feels off (message not resonating)
- Aligning team on target customer and differentiation
- Preparing for investor pitches or product launches
- Evaluating whether to pursue a new market or segment

## Process

### 1. The Positioning Statement Template

**For** [specific target customer]
**Who** [statement of need or opportunity]
**The** [product name] **is a** [product category]
**That** [key benefit / reason to believe]
**Unlike** [competitive alternative]
**Our product** [primary differentiation]

### 2. Define Each Element

**Target Customer (For...)**
- Be specific—not "everyone" or "businesses"
- Include firmographics (B2B) or demographics (B2C)
- Describe the role, not just the company
- Example: "For series-A B2B SaaS founders" not "For startups"

**Statement of Need (Who...)**
- Describe the problem or opportunity in their words
- Focus on the situation, not your solution
- Should resonate immediately with target customer
- Example: "Who struggle to forecast revenue accurately"

**Product Category (Is a...)**
- Place yourself in a frame of reference customers understand
- Create a new category only if necessary
- Example: "Is a revenue intelligence platform" not "Is an AI thing"

**Key Benefit (That...)**
- The primary value you deliver
- Specific and measurable where possible
- Tied to what target customer cares about
- Example: "That predicts pipeline with 90%+ accuracy"

**Competitive Alternative (Unlike...)**
- The thing they'd do instead of using you
- Could be a competitor, manual process, or doing nothing
- Example: "Unlike spreadsheet forecasts and gut instinct"

**Primary Differentiation (Our product...)**
- What makes you uniquely able to deliver the benefit
- Defensible and hard to copy
- Example: "Our product analyzes deal signals automatically"

### 3. Pressure Test Your Positioning

**Is your target customer specific enough?**
- Can you list 10 companies/people who fit this description?
- Can you find them on LinkedIn/Google?
- If you can't find them, you can't sell to them

**Is the need real and urgent?**
- Do customers describe this problem in discovery conversations?
- Are they actively trying to solve it today?
- What's the cost of not solving it?

**Is the category clear?**
- When customers hear it, do they immediately understand?
- Does it imply the right competitive set?
- Is it a category they already have budget for?

**Is the benefit compelling?**
- Does it address the stated need directly?
- Can you prove it? (Case studies, data, demos)
- Is it differentiated from alternatives?

**Is the differentiation defensible?**
- Can competitors copy this easily?
- Does it create switching costs?
- Is it meaningful to customers (not just interesting to you)?

### 4. Test with Customers

**The 5-Second Test:**
Show positioning statement to target customer for 5 seconds. Ask:
- "What is this product?"
- "Who is it for?"
- "Why would someone use it?"

If they can't answer correctly, your positioning isn't clear.

**The "So What?" Test:**
Read each line. If customer could respond "So what?" it's not compelling enough.
- "We use AI" → "So what? Everyone uses AI."
- "We predict revenue with 90% accuracy" → "That's interesting..."

**The Believability Test:**
Does the customer believe your claims?
- Too good to be true → skepticism
- Supported by evidence → credibility

### 5. Evolve Through Stages

**Early Stage (Pre-PMF):**
- Focus on problem and specific customer
- Benefit may be aspirational (not yet proven)
- Category may be borrowed from adjacent space

**Growth Stage (Post-PMF):**
- Sharpen based on customer feedback
- Add proof points and social proof
- Consider category creation if dominant

**Mature Stage:**
- Positioning becomes brand
- Defend against new entrants
- Expand to adjacent segments

### 6. Synthesis

After completing your positioning statement:
- Does it clearly differentiate you from alternatives?
- Would your target customer recognize themselves?
- Is every element based on validated customer insights?
- Can you deliver on the promise?
- What would need to change if you're wrong about the customer or need?

## Example

**Idea**: "AI tool that writes code documentation"

### Discovery Insights

From 20 customer conversations:
- Engineering managers at 50-500 person companies
- Documentation is always out of date
- Engineers hate writing docs but need them for onboarding
- Current alternatives: Manual writing, hoping engineers document as they go
- Pain point: New hire onboarding takes 3x longer than it should

### Draft Positioning Statement

**For** engineering managers at mid-size SaaS companies (50-500 employees)
**Who** waste weeks onboarding new engineers due to outdated or missing documentation
**The** DocBot **is a** code documentation platform
**That** automatically generates and updates documentation from your codebase
**Unlike** manual documentation or hoping engineers write it themselves
**Our product** integrates with your IDE and CI/CD pipeline to keep docs perpetually current

### Pressure Test

**Target customer specific?** ✓ Engineering managers, 50-500 employees
**Need real and urgent?** ✓ Mentioned in 18/20 conversations
**Category clear?** ✓ Documentation platform is understood
**Benefit compelling?** ✓ Automatic generation + staying current
**Differentiation defensible?** ~ IDE/CI/CD integration is somewhat defensible

### Refinement

Differentiation weak—"automatic generation" is becoming commoditized. What's truly different?

**Updated differentiation:**
"Our product learns your team's terminology and architecture patterns, so docs read like your senior engineers wrote them."

### Final Statement

**For** engineering managers at growing SaaS companies (50-500 employees)
**Who** lose weeks onboarding each new hire because documentation is outdated or nonexistent
**DocBot is a** code documentation platform
**That** automatically generates and maintains human-quality documentation from your codebase
**Unlike** manual documentation or generic AI generators
**DocBot** learns your team's terminology and patterns, creating docs that read like your senior engineers wrote them

**Insight:** The positioning evolution shows how generic benefits ("automatic generation") are strengthened by specific, differentiated value ("reads like your senior engineers wrote them"). This makes the offering harder to compare and commoditize.
