2 builders who never spoke to each other

Sell what the market leader does that annoys you

The frustrations that pushed you to build are usually ones the market feels but has stopped naming, so make them the pitch rather than the backstory. Ask buyers which variant of the standard industry sweetener they want, and when the honest answer is none of them, position against the sweetener itself. A specific irritation is far more legible than any general claim of being better.

The method

1. 01

   Build the product out of a frustration you have with the market leader, and name the specific things about it that annoy you as the pitch.

2. 02

   Ask buyers which flavour of the standard industry incentive they want. If the honest answer is none of them, reposition against the incentive itself.

What it returned

• 99%

  Paul Jarvis found Google Analytics complicated, distrusted the company behind it, ignored 99% of its features and needed roughly 20 clicks to reach anything he cared about.

• Asked whether they wanted points, cash back or something else, card customers told Ramp's founders they wanted none of it, they wanted to be better off. Ramp built around spending less, which also let it avoid competing on price.

Sources

• SaaS lessons shared on the Framework podcast - Fathom AnalyticsPaul Jarvis · usefathom.com · Starting Fathom Analytics as the first simple, privacy-focused web analytics company · 2020-07-20
• How the most successful B2B startups came up with their original ideaEric Glyman · lennysnewsletter.com · Appendix: Bonus origin stories · 2023-08-08