Essay

An Introduction to Positioning

April Dunford · aprildunford.com Free Beginner

Dunford makes the case that positioning and ICP are the same decision seen from two angles: who you are for determines what you compete against and what you emphasize. This essay is the fast, free entry point to her method before you commit to the book. Use it to get product, marketing, and sales talking the same positioning language.

  • Positioning starts by naming your best fit customers, not your product features.
  • Your frame of reference, what you are compared to, changes depending on who the customer is.
  • Get sales, marketing, and product in one room to agree on positioning, don't let it live in one person's head.

The question it answers

  1. How do I keep my whole team aligned on who our ideal customer is once we start hiring?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  3. Market size is meaningless until you know exactly who you're for, and Lenny turns that into a concrete, repeatable ICP exercise... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP) Lenny Rachitsky
  4. The author of Crossing the Chasm explaining beachhead selection in plain, modern language, the fastest way to absorb the... Lenny's Podcast / Lenny's Newsletter Podcast · ~75 min Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market Lenny Rachitsky & Geoffrey Moore
  5. The best book on positioning against competitors by understanding the alternatives customers actually consider. Directly turns... aprildunford.com Book · ~200 pages Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It April Dunford
  6. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer
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