How do I actually find my beachhead niche when my product is horizontal and could work for almost anyone?
The short answer
A horizontal product that fits everyone usually converts no one, because your message can't be specific. Pick the segment where the pain is sharpest, the buyer is easiest to reach, and you have an unfair edge (a network, a domain, a distribution hack), then aim the whole product and pitch at just them for the first year. As a starting point, look at your earliest signups or interviews and ask which one segment kept saying "I need this now" instead of "cool."
Go deeper, your way
3 hand-picked resources, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
▶️ Video
✓ Link checkedFreeBeginner
Why we picked it
This is a founder-facing YC talk from someone who spent 18 months grinding before Weebly clicked, so it is honest about how long focusing your market actually takes. Rusenko is direct that you find fit by narrowing and iterating on who you serve, not by trying to be everything on day one. A good starting point if you want the shape of the problem before you sit down with a heavier positioning method.
Why we picked it
This is the honest version of the horizontal-product problem, told by a founder who lived it at Airtable, a tool that genuinely could work for almost anyone. Instead of the usual advice to just pick a niche, Ofstad walks through how they went deep on specific use cases to land customers without permanently boxing the product in. Read it as a starting point for the real question: how narrow do you go without losing the broad vision.
Why we picked it
Dunford's whole method starts with the customers who already love your product, then turns that into positioning the entire team can repeat the same way. Her final step is literally capturing positioning so it can be shared, which is the exact problem you have once new hires start describing your customer in their own words. Read it when you want the ICP and the pitch to stay consistent from the founder down to the newest rep.
