Strategy and positioning resources for startups

Positioning is the set of choices that makes your product the obvious pick for a specific buyer: who it is for, what they use today instead, what you do differently, and the proof behind it. Draft it in the Positioning Statement Generator, pressure-test it in the workbook, then carry it into messaging and pricing.

Covers: Positioning, value proposition, messaging, competitive alternatives, company context.

Learn the method

Customer Segmentation Playbook — Segment by need and buying process, size and score the candidates, then choose one segment to win first.
Foundations Playbook — Positioning, ICP, a GTM plan and core analytics for early-stage teams. B2C version
Market Research Playbook — Research a market with evidence an investor can check: count it, interview it, survey it and keep one research file. (from Audience & Customer Research)
Win-Loss Analysis Playbook — Loss-reason Pareto by revenue plus buyer interviews that reveal the real why. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Brand Foundations Playbook — Eight steps to a brand a startup can keep: a promise you can prove, a few distinctive assets used the same way, and a one-page kit with an owner. (from Brand & Voice)
EdTech Marketing Playbook — Choose between districts, colleges and parents, then meet each buyer's rules on evidence and privacy. (from Industry Playbooks)
Marketing AI Products Playbook — Position, prove, price and sell an AI product, and keep your AI claims on the right side of regulators. (from Industry Playbooks)

Run the numbers

Positioning Statement Generator — Seven guided prompts produce a positioning statement, value prop, pitch and hero copy.
Bottom-Up Market Sizer — Size TAM, SAM and SOM from accounts you can count, with SOM set by capacity. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Five-Second Message Test — Show a page for five seconds and score whether people got what it is, who it is for, why choose it and what to do next. (from Website & Conversion)
Launch Readiness Planner — Score whether you are ready to set a launch date, then build the dated work-back plan. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Price Sensitivity Analyzer — Turn answers to four price questions into the range buyers accept, with an honest interval on each point. (from Pricing & Monetization)
Win-Loss Analyzer — Win rates by segment, loss reasons ranked by revenue and your biggest fixable leak. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Battlecard Builder — A competitor battlecard with proof for every claim, sourced and dated facts and honest rival strengths. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Content Brief Builder — Spec a page before it is written: intent from the SERP, an answer block, coverage and named sources. (from Content, Copy & SEO)
Persona Builder — Turn a fuzzy target audience into a persona with goals, objections, triggers and channels. (from Audience & Customer Research)

Build it

The Competitor Research Grid — Profile every alternative with sources and dates, sort where you win, and build the investor competition slide.
The Positioning & Messaging Workbook — Competitive alternatives, differentiator tests, a messaging house and audience variants.
The Segment Scorecard — Score up to eight segments on six weighted criteria, with evidence and confidence, and commit to the first market to win.
The Diagnose, Design, Execute Email Course — Ten short lessons over three weeks, from the one number that matters to a plan you can measure. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
The PR Pitch & Media Tracker — Pitch stories, not announcements: a story bank, a reporter list, a pitch writer and a log that says when to stop. (from PR, Partnerships & Events)

Run it with your AI agent

Brand & Product Context — The structured business brief every other AAJ skill reads first.
Messaging Framework — Core message, pillars, proof points and audience variants.
Positioning Statement — Write or pressure-test positioning and core messaging.
Value Proposition — The core product promise with proof points by audience.
Campaign Orchestrator — Diagnose the problem and sequence the right skills through Diagnose, Design, Execute. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Customer Interview Synthesis — Turns coded interview notes into ranked patterns and anecdotes, and says whether you can stop interviewing. (from Audience & Customer Research)
Market Sizing — Sizes TAM, SAM and SOM bottom-up, with SOM set by capacity rather than a share of the market. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Brand Voice Definition — Derives the measurable half of a voice guide from writing you agree sounds right, as a checkable profile. (from Brand & Voice)
Marketing Psychology — Match behavioural principles to the friction actually blocking buyers. (from Website & Conversion)
Objection Handling — Objection responses and competitor battlecards. (from Sales & Pipeline)
Product Launch — Tiers a launch, scores readiness on a twelve-item gate, and builds the dated work-back plan. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Sales Enablement — Audits sales assets against what each deal stage needs, and ranks what to build by the revenue being lost. (from Sales & Pipeline)

Read the research

Competitive Analysis for Startups: Research That Changes Decisions — List every alternative, including doing nothing, find where you clearly win, and turn the research into the competition slide investors expect.
Product-Market Fit: How to Tell If You Have It — You have product-market fit when one segment keeps using and paying without being pushed. Five steps and several signals to check before you scale spend.
The Craigslist Myth: What Founders Get Wrong About the Ugly Site That Prints Money
Why the Core Principles of Marketing Haven't Changed in the Age of AI
Category Design for Startups: Create a New Category or Win an Existing One? — Five steps to choose a market category: buyers' label, help or hurt, who it's for, two jobs, category line.
How to Size Your Market: TAM, SAM and SOM — Size your market bottom-up: count the customers, multiply to get TAM, narrow to SAM and build SOM from capacity.
Startup Positioning: How to Become the Obvious Choice (Not a Nice-to-Have)
The Market and Competition Slides in Your Investor Pitch — Build market and competition slides that hold up: what investors weigh, every real alternative and a source for every number.
Value Proposition and Messaging Framework: Turn Your Positioning Into One Story — Four steps from positioning to words: name the buyer and job, write the promise, attach proof, build the messaging framework.
Running and Synthesizing Customer Interviews — Five steps from interview to decision: decide what to learn, ask about the last time, code, count people, stop at saturation. (from Audience & Customer Research)
International Expansion for SaaS Startups: How to Choose and Enter Your First Foreign Market — Five steps to a first foreign market: readiness, compare the rules, one country in phases, localize, local partners. (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Marketing Strategy for Startups: A Four-Layer Framework for Founders (from Go-to-Market & Growth Planning)
Startup Brand Identity: How to Name a Product, Refresh Your Look and Decide Whether to Rebrand — Five steps for brand identity: foundations, brand architecture, name strength, trademark clearance, refresh or rebrand. (from Brand & Voice)

Work with AAJ

Positioning & Messaging Sprint