Finding Your Positioning Without Drowning in Frameworks
Startup positioning advice is dominated by frameworks. These tools are useful, they're also frequently used as a substitute for the harder work: deciding who you're actually for.
The framework addiction
Startup positioning advice is dominated by frameworks: Positioning Statements, Jobs-to-Be-Done, the Battle Card, April Dunford's Obviously Awesome process. These tools are genuinely useful. They're also frequently used as a substitute for the harder work: deciding who you are actually for, and being willing to say clearly who you're not for.
The core of positioning is a decision, not a template
Positioning isn't a document, it's a commitment. Specifically, it's a commitment to a particular customer, a particular problem, and a particular why-us that holds even when it costs you deals. Most 'positioning work' produces language that sounds clear but is actually designed to remain ambiguous enough to pursue every opportunity.
The test that cuts through noise
Three questions cut through most positioning work: (1) Who would be genuinely worse off if your product disappeared tomorrow? (2) For what specific decision or moment does your product matter most? (3) What would you have to be willing to say you don't do?
If you can't answer the third question without discomfort, your positioning isn't finished. Every real positioning choice forecloses something.
Why founders delay the decision
The reason positioning decisions get delayed indefinitely isn't lack of information, it's the cost of committing. Choosing a specific customer profile means de-prioritizing others. Founders often prefer a positioning that 'keeps options open, ' which is another way of saying it doesn't actually position anything.
This is worth naming directly: positioning avoidance is a risk, not a hedge. An unclear position makes every marketing dollar less efficient, every sales conversation harder, and every product decision more contested.
A minimal useful approach
Skip the 20-page positioning document. Start with one sentence: "We help [specific who] who struggle with [specific problem] to [specific outcome], unlike [specific alternative]." Fill in each slot with something you'd be uncomfortable saying publicly, because only then does it actually commit to something.