Book · ~200 pages

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

April Dunford · aprildunford.com Paid Intermediate

The best book on positioning against competitors by understanding the alternatives customers actually consider. Directly turns competitive research into a market advantage.

  • Your real competition is often the status quo, not another product
  • Start positioning from the competitive alternatives your buyers consider
  • Differentiated value comes from your unique capabilities vs those alternatives
  • Choose the market frame that makes your strengths obvious
Open on aprildunford.com ↗

It answers 40 questions

  1. What is an ideal customer profile and how do I define mine?
  2. How do I research my competitors properly?
  3. What does 'branding' actually mean for an early-stage startup?
  4. What if my customers say they have no competitors, is that good or bad?
  5. How do I position my startup so people instantly 'get' it?
  6. What's the difference between an ICP, a buyer persona, and a target market?
  7. How do I know if I'm targeting the wrong customer?
  8. How do I position against a bigger, better-funded competitor?
  9. Am I charging too little for my product?
  10. Should I focus on one customer segment or serve everyone who'll pay?
  11. How do I size the market and figure out if it's big enough?
  12. How do I structure a message so customers care (story / framework)?

And 28 more across the hub.

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. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
  3. 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
  4. Video · ~25 min How to Talk to Users Eric Migicovsky
  5. 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
  6. 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
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