Positioning

“This structure really is about defining a movement and that's very different from, 'Hey, I'm going to solve your problem.' So Benioff comes in and he says, 'Hey, software is over and there's this new world called the cloud, a new game, new rules. That's the new way to win.'”

“What B2B software buyers want in a sales interaction is perspectives on the market and help weighing their options. And we don't do that. We're just like, 'Here's our stuff. You figure it out, it's up to you.'”

“The positioning for Square Stand was for brick and mortar businesses, particularly quick serve coffee, donuts, sandwich shops. It was up against your ugly old point of sale, your cash register. The benefit was turn your iPad into a point of sale. The differentiator was one unified experience you'd be proud to have out on your counter.”

“When you're thinking about category creation, it's really, for us, it was really about the scope of what we're trying to do and not wanting to be in something too small. With Miro, the platform that it is, there is so much possibility. I used to joke that it was the ever expanding universe. But online whiteboard was really small.”

“I start my show with saying, 'Hello and welcome to another episode of All the Hacks, the show about upgrading your life, money and travel.' Because I want everyone to know exactly what this show's about, so when their friend asks them a question, they're like, 'This is exactly what it is.'”

“Positioning in the modern context is for losers. That is to say people who are fighting over the 24%. You position against competitors. If you're doing positioning in that context, you just decided you're fighting for 24% of the demand designed by somebody else. In the tech space where one company earns two thirds of the economics, if that's your starting point, you fuck yourself from the start.”

“The product people now need to think about how do we position this to the user that is not going to find out about this from a social channel, the user that's not going to be attracted by an ad, the user that's not going to discover this tool from a trade show. This is a user that's doing their own self-discovery journey, and this is what is the thing they're looking for and how do we position this product in a way that they're going to find it.”

“A lot of companies really want to position themselves as category creators, and I actually hate that. It doesn't work. It doesn't land with press. Instead, it's actually really great when you can talk about how you are doing what X household name does, but better for X reasons. Instantly it gives the reporter a frame of reference.”