Competitive Positioning

Who this is for

Founders in a category that already has incumbents — which, if you have any competitors at all, is you.

What you'll actually decide

The position that is genuinely yours: what you're better at, for whom, and what you're deliberately worse at in order to be better at that.

What first-time founders get wrong here

Claiming to be better at everything, which is both unbelievable and unpositionable. The related error is dismissing the incumbent as bad — they have the customers, so whatever they're doing is working for someone, and understanding who is more useful than deciding they're stupid.

The first 10 questions

This is where the conversation starts. Each answer shapes what gets asked next.

1. 01Who are the direct competitors — products or services doing something similar to you?
2. 02Who are the indirect competitors — things your customer uses instead, even if they don't look like you?
3. 03How do customers currently make decisions between these options — what criteria matter most to them?
4. 04What's the conversation you most often have with a prospect who has already looked at the alternatives?
5. 05On what dimensions do you genuinely outperform every alternative today — not could, not plan to, but actually do?
6. 06Where are you weaker than alternatives today? Be honest — this isn't a pitch.
7. 07What do your best customers say about why they chose you over the others?
8. 08Which competitor worries you most, and why — capability, distribution, or resources?
9. 09What's the defensible white space — the position none of your competitors own well today?
10. 10What are the two dimensions that matter most to your target customer and genuinely differentiate players in your market?

+ 7 more questions across discovery, validation, and the creative brief — each one adapting to what you've already said.

Related marketing project types

• Customer PersonaBuild a sharp, evidence-based profile of the specific person who buys and uses your product — so anyone on your team knows exactly who you're building for.
• Name Your StartupChoose a name you can defend, spell out loud, and actually own — working from positioning criteria rather than word games, with live domain checks on the shortlist.
• Competitive MapTurn your Competitive Positioning work into a shareable visual — a 2×2 map so you, your team, and your investors can see exactly where you stand and why your position is defensible.