positioning-map
Positioning Map
Positioning isn't marketing copy — it's a product decision about who you say no to. This skill makes that choice visible by mapping competitors on 5 signal axes, locating the empty space, and forcing you to pick between 3 candidate moves rather than defaulting to the first one that sounds good.
Founders consistently underweight four things on competitor positioning: hero copy is the most-curated surface (so trust it least), pricing reveals who they actually sell to, what they ship reveals what they think matters, and who they hire reveals where they're going next quarter (the leakiest signal of all). Customer logos reveal who they actually catch, which often contradicts who they pitch.
Frameworks this skill draws from
This skill is the operational version of three positioning frameworks, executed against real public data:
- April Dunford — Obviously Awesome (5 components): competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value (and proof), target market characteristics, market category. Dunford's #1 insight: start with competitive alternatives, not with what you do. This skill operationalizes that by always grounding "the empty quadrant" against the actual competitor set, not against an abstract market.
- Geoffrey Moore — Crossing the Chasm (positioning statement template): "For [target customer] who [need], the [product] is a [category] that [benefit]. Unlike [primary alternative], our product [primary differentiation]." This is the format of the deliverable — the one-sentence positioning move.
- Ries & Trout — Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (mental real-estate): you can only own ONE word/concept in the customer's mind. The "empty quadrant" framing inherits from this: the position you can own is the one nobody else is claiming AND that customers care about.
Adjacent frameworks worth knowing but not directly encoded here: Treacy & Wiersema's three value disciplines (product leadership / operational excellence / customer intimacy — pick one, do the others adequately) and Ulwick's outcome-driven JTBD (positioning aligned to unmet desired outcomes). If the founder uses these in their own thinking, fold them into the axis choices.