Almost every founder I meet will passionately claim they’ve created the “best” product in their niche. They’re quick to list USPs, but often without the “U”.
They revel in their victories, boasting about deals won against competitors. Yet, when they face a setback, the blame shifts to prospects who “just didn’t get” why their solution was superior.
It seems to be very hard for a founder to openly acknowledge that a competitor might just have a better product (for now).
Let’s be honest: there’s absolutely no shame in admitting that your product might not be the most feature-rich, or have the slickest UX, or offer the quickest path to value. What’s crucial, though, is a deep, honest understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. These insights are pivotal in refining your go-to-market strategy.
The true mark of a formidable founder lies in their ability to recognize their position in the market and strategically play to their strengths. It’s a challenging task to tailor a product to every possible market segment, buyer persona, use case, and budget constraint.
So, my advice? Dive deeper in your evaluations. Ask yourself: In which scenarios does your product truly shine as the best choice? Which types of companies experience the most rapid value from your offering? And, perhaps most importantly, in what situations should a customer actually opt for your competitor’s product over yours?
It’s only by truly understanding these nuances and openly communicating about them to your different teams that you can use them to your advantage through more tailored messaging, better sales enablement and a more robust product roadmap.
So ask yourself, are you really honest about your current positioning in the market or are you setting your team up to make the wrong decisions because of pride?