Broad Positioning Is Invisible Positioning
Open LinkedIn. Search your space. What do you see?
"Growth expert." "Scaling businesses." "Revenue acceleration." "Building better companies."
Ten founders in your space all say roughly the same thing. Maybe different wording. Same positioning.
Nobody remembers any of them.
The problem isn't that they're bad founders. It's that they've claimed territory everyone else also claims. There's no white space. There's no reason for someone to pick them over the next founder saying the same thing.
Positioning isn't about being good at what you do. It's about being the only one saying what you say about a specific problem for a specific buyer.
Why Broad Positioning Fails Every Time
Broad positioning spreads your attention across too many outcomes. It lets you appeal to everyone. It also lets you appeal to no one.
A prospect looking for help with "growth" could find 500 people calling themselves growth experts. They remember zero of them.
A prospect looking for help with "improving sales team productivity through AI coaching" finds maybe two people. One is an expert they remember.
Specificity creates memory. It creates preference. It creates pricing power.
The tightest positioning wins the fastest because it's the only positioning your buyer remembers. You stop competing on who's best. You compete on who's the only.
Volvo didn't try to be "the best car." Volvo positioned as "the safest car." That single claim created an empire.
Your positioning needs to be that tight.
The Positioning Map Framework
Positioning isn't intuition. It's a system. The Positioning Map gives you that system.
Step One Audit Your Competitors
Document how your three to five closest competitors position themselves.
Write down: their website headline. The problem they claim to solve. The buyer they target. The single claim they own.
Look at their messaging across LinkedIn, Twitter, and their website. Pull verbatim claims. Find patterns.
Create a simple table with competitors as rows and positioning dimensions as columns. Dimensions include: target buyer, problem solved, methodology or approach, outcome or benefit, and unique claim.
Now look at the table. Where do your competitors cluster? What territory are they all fighting over?
Example: If all five competitors claim "we accelerate growth for B2B SaaS," that's the crowded territory. That's the zone of invisibility.
Step Two Identify the White Space
Look at the gaps in your competitor audit.
Are they all targeting executives? What about targeting operators or practitioners?
Are they all positioning around speed? What about positioning around safety or certainty?
Are they all claiming to help you "grow revenue"? What about claiming to help you "keep your team stable during growth"?
White space isn't what you want to claim. White space is what nobody is claiming.
The strongest white space positions against an existing claim. If everyone says "we move fast," positioning as "we move methodically" creates contrast.
If everyone targets Fortune 500s, positioning for early-stage founders creates distinction.
Write down three to five white space opportunities. Don't judge them yet. Just name them.
Step Three Craft Your Positioning Claim
Pick one white space position. The one that's true AND defensible AND that you can own.
Your positioning claim should answer three questions:
Who are you for? (The buyer. Specific, not broad.)
What problem do you solve? (One problem, not five.)
Why you and not them? (The differentiation. The thing your competitors don't own.)
Write it as a single sentence: "I help [specific buyer] solve [specific problem] by [your approach that competitors don't own]."
Example: "I help SaaS founders avoid scaling mistakes by providing monthly strategic reviews instead of quarterly check-ins."
That positions you against the founder who does quarterly work. It's tight. It's specific. It's defensible.
Test it: can your competitors say the same thing? If yes, rewrite it.
Step Four Test and Validate
Take your positioning claim to ten people in your target buyer segment.
Tell them your positioning. Watch their reaction. Do they get it immediately or do they ask clarifying questions?
Immediate understanding = good positioning. Confusion = position is too broad.
Then ask: "Who else do you know doing this?"
If they name someone, your white space isn't actually white. Return to step two.
If they say "I don't know anyone," you've found defensible white space.
Finally, ask: "Would you refer me to someone who needs this?"
If yes, your positioning resonates. If no, it's not solving a real problem.
Strong vs Weak Positioning Examples
Weak Positioning
"I help SaaS companies grow their revenue."
Problem: everyone says this. No differentiation. No memory. Broad buyer definition.
"I'm a growth strategist for founders."
Problem: "growth strategist" is completely generic. Which kind of growth? Why you instead of the 1,000 other growth strategists?
"I specialize in sales and marketing."
Problem: this is two problems, not one. It signals you haven't picked a specialty. It signals you're trying to serve everyone.
Strong Positioning
"I help SaaS founders close their first enterprise deal when they're still under $5M ARR."
Why it works: specific buyer (under $5M), specific outcome (first enterprise deal), specific problem (most founders try enterprise too early).
"I help pre-seed founders write investor memos that actually get meetings."
Why it works: specific stage (pre-seed), specific buyer (founders), specific output (investor memos), implied problem (most memos don't get meetings).
"I help technical founders go from solo to first 5 hires without burning out."
Why it works: specific buyer (technical founders at a specific stage), specific problem (burnout during scaling), specific outcome (first 5 hires).
The 30-Day Positioning Sprint
You don't need months to find your positioning. You need 30 days and the framework above.
Week One: Audit your five closest competitors. Map their positioning on a table. Identify the crowded territory. (5-6 hours)
Week Two: Find three to five white space opportunities. Test them with five customers each. (4-5 hours)
Week Three: Write your positioning claim. Test it with ten people. Refine. (4-5 hours)
Week Four: Update all your marketing materials. Website headline. LinkedIn bio. Email signature. Pitch deck. (3-4 hours)
By day 30, you have defensible positioning and marketing alignment.
The Positioning Payoff for Founders
Once you own white space, everything gets easier.
Your outreach converts higher because you're not competing on credentials. You're the only one solving that specific problem.
Your pricing power increases because you can't be commoditized. You're not a "growth expert" competing on hourly rate. You're the founder who specializes in [specific white space].
Your hiring improves because candidates understand what you stand for. Ambiguity attracts wrong-fit hires. Clarity attracts people who want to build the exact thing you're building.
Your personal brand compounds because you're saying something worth remembering. Instead of one of 500 people claiming "growth expert," you're the founder who positions as [specific claim].
Positioning isn't the whole game. But it's the difference between invisible and impossible to forget
