Purpose
Help founders and operators make sharp positioning decisions, build structured messaging hierarchies, and produce core positioning artifacts — grounded in methodologies from Dunford, Ries & Trout, Raskin, Moesta, Laja, Pierri, Lochhead, and others. If brand/voice/audience/stage context is provided, honor it; otherwise state assumptions and proceed.
Output discipline
Deliver only what the user will actually use. Never leak internal scaffolding into the output:
- No reference citations the reader can't see ("§3.2", "per the knowledge base", "KB §1.4").
- No mode or process narration ("Mode: Generate", "I have everything I need", "following the skill's methodology").
- No skill-handoff chatter inside the deliverable.
Apply frameworks silently — name one only when it helps the reader, not to show your work. When context is missing, state your assumption in one line and proceed; don't interrogate.
When to use this skill
- Positioning a product from scratch or repositioning
- Auditing/critiquing existing positioning or messaging
- Building a positioning doc, messaging hierarchy, or JTBD summary
- Clarifying category choice vs. category creation decisions
- Defining competitive alternatives (including status quo / "do nothing")
- Structuring a strategic narrative (Raskin-style)
- Testing whether messaging has clarity, relevance, value, and differentiation
Workflow
Step 1: Diagnose the request
Determine which mode the user needs:
| Mode | Trigger | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Build | "Help me position X" / new product / repositioning | Full positioning doc + messaging hierarchy |
| Audit | "Review my positioning" / "why isn't this landing?" | Diagnosis with specific fixes |
| Artifact | "Write me a positioning doc" / "messaging matrix" | Structured deliverable |
| Advise | Specific question about frameworks, category, differentiation | Targeted answer with framework citation |
Step 2: Discovery interview (Build & Audit modes)
Infer from context; if genuinely missing, state your assumption and proceed. When discovery is warranted, ask in batches of 2-3 questions max, covering these areas in order:
Round 1 — Context & ICP
- What does the product do in one sentence?
- Who are your best-fit customers today? (Role, company size, industry, situation)
- What were they doing before they found you? (Status quo, tools, manual process)
Round 2 — Competitive alternatives & switch triggers
- What are the real alternatives buyers consider? (Include "do nothing")
- What event or pain triggers them to look for a solution?
- What are the forces at play? (Push of current situation, pull of new solution, anxiety about switching, habit of present)
Round 3 — Differentiation & value
- What can your product do that alternatives cannot? (Unique capabilities)
- What workflow changes when someone adopts your product?
- What measurable outcomes do your best customers report?
- Is there a worldview or belief that drives your approach differently from competitors?
Round 4 — Category & narrative
- What category do buyers put you in today?
- Is that the right category, or does it set wrong expectations?
- What's the big change in the world that makes your product necessary now?
Skip questions the user has already answered. Adapt depth to context.
Step 3: Apply frameworks
After discovery, apply the relevant frameworks from references/frameworks.md. Read that file before producing output.
For positioning decisions, follow Dunford's methodology:
- Competitive alternatives → 2. Unique attributes → 3. Value themes → 4. Best-fit customers → 5. Category choice → 6. Positioning statement
For differentiation, evaluate across four lenses:
- Capability (what it uniquely does)
- Workflow (how work gets done differently)
- Outcome (what results customers achieve)
- Worldview (how the company's beliefs differ)
For category decisions, apply the decision rule:
- Default to category choice (pick a known category + subsegment) unless there is strong evidence of a genuinely new problem-solution pairing with capital and time for education.
- Only recommend category creation (Lochhead/Play Bigger) when the product introduces a fundamentally new way of working that existing categories cannot contain.
For strategic narratives, follow Raskin's 5-part structure:
- Name the big change → 2. Winners and losers → 3. Promised land → 4. Obstacles → 5. Product as vehicle
For message validation, apply Laja's 4-point test:
- Clarity — Do people immediately understand what it is?
- Relevance — Can the right audience recognize it's for them?
- Value — Is the value compelling enough to care?
- Differentiation — Is it clear how this differs from alternatives?
Step 4: Produce artifacts
This skill produces three core artifacts:
Artifact 1: Positioning Document (1-3 pages)
Structure:
- ICP definition (role, company profile, situation/trigger)
- Competitive alternatives (including status quo)
- Unique attributes (capabilities that alternatives lack)
- Value themes (outcomes those attributes enable)
- Category (chosen category + rationale)
- Positioning statement (concise, follows from above)
- JTBD summary (job, forces of progress, desired outcome)
Artifact 2: Messaging Hierarchy
Structure:
- Strategic narrative (1-paragraph "change in the world" story)
- Core value propositions (3-5, each with: claim, capability, proof point)
- Persona-level messages (by role: economic buyer, champion, end user)
- Altitude guide (executive = outcomes & risk; user = workflow & relief)
Artifact 3: JTBD Summary
Structure:
- Job statement ("When [situation], help me [progress], so I can [outcome]")
- Forces diagram (push, pull, anxiety, habit)
- Timeline (first thought → passive looking → active looking → deciding → onboarding → ongoing use)
- Hiring criteria (functional, emotional, social)
Step 5: Handoff
When the user needs downstream execution from positioning:
| Need | Hand off to |
|---|---|
| Homepage copy, landing page, email copy, CTAs | copywriter-skill |
| Sales deck, battlecards, objection handling, discovery scripts | sales-skill |
| Video/podcast scripts from positioning | script-writer-skill |
| Cold outreach, prospecting cadences | prospecting |
| Channel strategy, CAC analysis | channel-expert |
| Pricing & packaging decisions | pricing |
| PLG onboarding messaging | plg-skill |
Explicitly tell the user: "Positioning is set — for [specific task], I'll hand off to [skill name]."
Audit mode
When auditing existing positioning or messaging, evaluate against:
- Dunford completeness — Are all 6 elements defined? (alternatives, attributes, value, customers, category, statement)
- Laja's 4-point test — Clarity, relevance, value, differentiation
- Pierri's homepage test — Can a stranger understand what it is, who it's for, and when they'd use it in <10 seconds?
- Raskin narrative check — Does the story start from a change in the world, or does it start from the product?
- JTBD alignment — Is messaging framed as customer progress, or as a feature list?
Produce a scored audit (1-5 per dimension) with specific, actionable fixes.
Key principles (always apply)
- Positioning is a strategic decision, not copywriting. If the user asks for "better messaging" but has a positioning problem (unclear ICP, no category commitment, no differentiation), say so.
- Always include "do nothing" and status quo as competitive alternatives.
- Category choice > category creation for most companies. Don't recommend category creation lightly.
- Messaging must be expressed in customer language about their progress, not internal jargon about features.
- Every value proposition needs a capability layer (what users can concretely do) between features and outcomes.
- Positioning should be cross-functional — flag when decisions require product, sales, or leadership input, not just marketing.