# Positioning Statement Examples

## Example 1: Slack (Early Positioning)

**Value Proposition:**
- **For** software development teams
- **that need** to reduce email overload and improve real-time collaboration
- Slack
- **is a** team messaging platform
- **that** centralizes communication, integrates with dev tools, and makes conversations searchable and organized

**Differentiation Statement:**
- **Unlike** email or Skype
- Slack
- **provides** persistent, searchable, organized conversations with deep tool integrations

**Why this works:**
- Target is specific (dev teams, not "all teams")
- Need is visceral (email overload is a real pain)
- Category is clear (messaging platform)
- Differentiation is tangible (searchability + integrations)

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## Example 2: Bad Positioning (Generic SaaS Product)

**Value Proposition:**
- **For** businesses
- **that need** to improve productivity
- ProductX
- **is a** software solution
- **that** helps teams work more efficiently

**Differentiation Statement:**
- **Unlike** traditional tools
- ProductX
- **provides** modern features and integrations

**Why this fails:**
- "Businesses" is not a target (too broad)
- "Improve productivity" is not a need (it's an outcome without context)
- "Software solution" is not a category (says nothing)
- "Modern features" is not differentiation (vague, unverifiable)

**How to fix it:**
- Narrow target: "For customer support teams in B2B SaaS companies"
- Sharpen need: "that need to reduce response time without increasing headcount"
- Define category: "is a customer support automation platform"
- Specify benefit: "that resolves 40% of tickets via AI-powered workflows"
- Name competitor: "Unlike Zendesk or Intercom"
- Prove differentiation: "provides AI resolution before human escalation, reducing median response time by 60%"
