Positioning your Company to Stakeholders

Emerson Valiao - CEO, Flipcauseemerson@flipcause.com

@emersonvaliaowww.flipcause.com

My Background1. 3x founder, currently the CEO of

Flipcause.2. Won 5 different pitch competitions.

Most recently, the competition at PushTech2020.

3. Grad at Founder Institute (W13)4. Grad at Acceleprise (F14)

5. Raised $600K from Angels and VCs with no connections in SV before starting.

What are we covering?

● What is positioning?● The madlib (Positioning statement)● What’s your competitive advantage.● Customer Positioning ● Investor Positioning● Recruiter Positioning● Market Positioning ● Why Startups Fail

Disclaimer: This is from my personal SaaS based experience.

What is positioning?

How you differentiate your product or service from that of your competitorsand then determine which market niche to fill .

Clarification:1. First you determine what your company is (Positioning Statement)2. The important aspect is to see where you fit in. (Market Positioning)

The Madlib (Positioning Statement)Formula:

My company, (name)is developing (defined offering)to help (defined audience)(solve a problem)(competitive advantage)

Example:

Flipcause builds fundraising software to help small nonprofitsraise more money and supportwithout any technical staff.

3 Types of Competitive Advantages“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, then don’t compete.”

-Jack Welch, Former CEO @ GE

1.Cost (SMB’s/consumer) - Avoid positioning on price. It’s not why people buy. - eg. “Low cost”, “affordable”, “accessible”, “cost-effective”

2.User Experience (SMB’s/Consumer) - Low barrier to entry, incumbents suffer from innovator's dilemma

- eg. “Easy to use”, “simple”, “straightforward”, “different”

3.Innovation (Enterprise) - most lucrative, largest barrier to entry due to incumbents- eg. “cutting edge”, “game changing”, “advanced” (algorithms)

Customer Positioning statement (Focus on empathy)

1 Liner (The quick hitter)Formula: (Company) helps (market) (solve problem) with (competitive advantage) (offering).

Example: “Flipcause helps nonprofits raise more money with easy to use fundraising software.”

Long description (used for an actual presentation intro)

Formula: (Company) helps (market) (solve problem) by (detailed offering) (detailed competitive advantage).

Example:“Flipcause helps small nonprofits raise more money by providing them all of the fundraising tools they will ever need, managed from a single easy to use platform without the need for technical staff.”

Investor Positioning

(Focus on traction or idea)

Note: 30 second elevator pitches include the Q and A. Your pitch should be under 10 seconds.

Formula:(Company) develops (offering) for (market) + (impressive traction statement).

Example: “Flipcause builds fundraising software for nonprofits. So far, we’ve signed up over 300 paying customers generating $500K in recurring revenue.”

If it’s a new or hard to grasp idea. Create a high level understanding:x = comparison technologyy = niche market segment

Formula:(Company) develops (offering) for (market). It’s like (x) for (y) and we have (social traction).

What is social traction?

(Existing investors/advisors/team, press, testimonials)

Example:

“So far, we’ve raised $500K from high profile angels and VCs”or

“We have Advisors from Google on our board.”

Recruiting Positioning (Focus on Mission)

First off, how are you going to change the world?

*Use “For the first time ever” or “Change the world” statements.*

Example:“For the first time ever any sized nonprofit will have the tools they need to thrive in a digital economy.”

Formula:(customer 1 liner). (Social Traction). (Change the world statement).

Example:

“Flipcause helps nonprofits raise more money with easy to use fundraising software. So far, we’ve signed up over 300 paying customers generating $500K in recurring revenue. For the first time ever any sized nonprofit will have the tools they need to thrive in a digital economy.”

Want to join the team?

Where do you stand?Competitive Analysis

The Problem: There may not be proof of market need.

The true goal is to:1. Identify an existing market,2. Define which segment of that market you plan to go after, and;3. Determine how big that opportunity is.

It’s much easier to diffentiate because you’re being compared to fewer competitors.

Why Startups Fail?The #1 reason startups fail is that there is “No market need”.

- Fortune.

Find a market and compete.

1. Don’t be scared, be better. 2. Competition proves there is a need.3. No competition means probably no need.4. Be honest with where you stand in the market.

For more information Google: “Startup Positioning”