A simple positioning template for startups (fill it in in an hour)
Five questions that pin down who you’re for, what you replace and why you win. Fill it in with your co-founders and use it to brief your website, deck and outreach.
Positioning sounds abstract until you try to write a homepage, a pitch deck or a cold email and realise every one of them describes the business differently. This template is the short version of the first exercise we run with clients. It takes about an hour with your co-founders and a coffee.
1. Who is it for?
Be specific about the buyer and the user, if they’re different. “Startups” is too broad. “Seed-stage B2B software companies with no marketing hire yet” is something you can find, write to and recognise.
Fill in: We’re for [type of company or person] who [situation they’re in].
2. What problem makes them look for someone like you?
Use their words, not yours. The best source is the first sentence customers say on a sales call when you ask why they got in touch.
Fill in: They come to us when [trigger or pain].
3. What would they do instead?
Every customer has alternatives: a competitor, a freelancer, building it in-house, a spreadsheet, or doing nothing. Naming them honestly tells you what you’re really competing with.
Fill in: Without us they’d [alternative].
4. Why are you the better choice?
List two or three reasons you can back up. A reason only counts if a customer would agree with it and a competitor couldn’t say the same thing.
Fill in: Unlike [alternative], we [difference], which means [benefit to them].
5. What proof do you have?
Results, customers, testimonials, your team’s background, a demo. If the proof is thin, note what you need to collect over the next few months.
Fill in: We can show this through [proof].
Put it together
Combine the answers into two sentences. That becomes the reference for everything else: the homepage headline, the first slide of the deck and the opening line of your outreach.
If it’s hard to agree, that’s useful to know. It usually means the team has different pictures of the customer, and it’s far cheaper to sort that out now than after the website is built. Our Positioning Sprint does this properly in two weeks, with customer and competitor research, website copy and a sales deck.
Common questions
What is a positioning statement for a startup?
A short description of who the company is for, the problem that makes them look for a solution, what they would use instead, why the company is the better choice, and the proof behind it.
How long does positioning take?
A first draft takes about an hour with your co-founders using a template. A full positioning project with customer and competitor research, like Kyndra’s Positioning Sprint, takes two weeks.
Should positioning come before the website?
Yes. The website, pitch deck and outreach should all be written from the agreed positioning, otherwise each one describes the business differently and gets rewritten.
Get clear on your position before you spend.
Our two-week Positioning Sprint gives you a sharp message, website copy and a sales deck your whole team can use.
From £2,400 per sprint