3 builders who never spoke to each other

Borrow a category the buyer already understands

Slotting into an established category means the baseline features are assumed rather than argued for, so the copy can spend its space on what makes you different. Pick an unfamiliar frame and most of the budget goes on explaining why the thing exists at all. Positioning as a straight substitute for something they already pay for is the cheapest version, because it costs the buyer nothing to reason about.

The method

1. 01

   Choosing a well-understood category means the baseline features are taken as given, so your copy doesn't have to enumerate them; choose badly and most of your sales and marketing budget goes on explaining the product's existence.

2. 02

   Win on how the thing is packaged, not on raw capability, whenever the buyer already carries a mental model you can slot into.

3. 03

   Position a new tool as a swap-in for whatever people already pay for, so trying it costs them nothing.

What it returned

• $150M

  Sierra reached $150M ARR in 21 months and Harvey $190M ARR without categorically better models.

• April Dunford, author of Obviously Awesome: buyers already know what a CRM is.

• Segment's Analytics.js was offered as a substitute for Mixpanel or Kissmetrics that forwarded identical data through one library. Users were indifferent to Segment's actual product but liked the library.

Sources

• Selling stuff on a busy beachJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Why it's better to choose a growing market · undated
• AI Employees: Named Personas, Cautionary Tale, Outcome Pricing - Trends.vcDru Riley · trends.vc · 🔑 Key Lessons · 2026-05-21
• How the most successful B2B startups came up with their original ideaCalvin French-Owen · lennysnewsletter.com · Path 3: Present pull · 2023-08-08