obviously-awesome

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Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 5015fcf4cde3 · 29 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishergetagentseal GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldergetagentseal/founder-playbook/skills/obviously-awesomeThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict5015fcf4cde3A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 22 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: April Dunford's 10-step positioning methodology for B2B tech products. Use when customers don't understand the product, sales cycles are long because reps must "explain it," prospects compare you to wrong competitors,…

---
name: obviously-awesome
description: April Dunford's 10-step positioning methodology for B2B tech products. Use when customers don't understand the product, sales cycles are long because reps must "explain it," prospects compare you to wrong competitors, or you face price pressure despite a good product. Covers competitive alternatives, unique attributes, value themes, target market characteristics, market category (Head to Head / Big Fish Small Pond / New Game), and trend layering.
---

> **Note:** This skill is independent analysis and commentary, not a reproduction of the original text. It synthesizes the book's core ideas with modern startup practice, surfaces where frameworks are outdated or incomplete, and integrates perspectives from adjacent disciplines. For the full argument and context, read the original book.


# Obviously Awesome

> "Positioning is the act of deliberately defining how you are the best at something that a defined market cares a lot about." - April Dunford (2019)

## When to Use

Investigate positioning when ANY of these is true:

| Sign | What It Looks Like |
|------|--------------------|
| **Confused prospects** | Compare you to products you're nothing like |
| **Long sales cycles** | Reps spend most calls explaining what you are |
| **High churn** | Customers who buy don't get the expected value |
| **Price pressure** | Can't command premium despite real differentiation |

Dunford does not give a strict numerical threshold - one strong sign is enough to warrant a positioning audit.

## The Core Insight

**You probably have a positioning problem, not a marketing problem.**

When prospects don't understand your product, it's not because you haven't said it loud enough. It's because the **CONTEXT** they're using to evaluate you is wrong.

**Joshua Bell experiment:** World-class violinist played 45 min in a DC subway in 2007. 1,070 people walked past. Earned $32.17. Two days earlier: sold-out Boston Symphony Hall at $100/seat. Same person, same skill. Different context = different perceived value.

**Cake → Muffin:** Sometimes the same product needs a different category. Almost no physical difference between cake and muffin. Big contextual difference.

## The 5+1 Components

Positioning is built from 5 components, plus 1 optional layer:

| Component | Question | Example |
|-----------|----------|---------|
| **1. Competitive Alternatives** | What would they use without you? | Excel, hire intern, do nothing |
| **2. Unique Attributes** | What do you have that alternatives don't? | Features, capabilities, partnerships |
| **3. Value** | What can they DO because of those attributes? | Save time, increase revenue (with proof) |
| **4. Target Market Characteristics** | Who cares MOST? | Best-fit customer profile |
| **5. Market Category** | What context makes your value obvious? | "CRM for X" |
| **+1. Relevant Trends** | What in the world makes you matter MORE NOW? | AI, remote work |

**Critical:** Dependency chain. Get the order wrong and the whole thing collapses.

```
Alternatives → Attributes → Value → Target Market → Category → (Trends)
```

Why traditional "For X who Y, our product is a Z that does W unlike V" template fails: assumes you already know category and competitors. For novel products, those are exactly what you're trying to figure out.

Detailed component definitions: see [frameworks.md](frameworks.md).

## The 10-Step Process (High Level)

| # | Step |
|---|------|
| 1 | Understand customers who LOVE the product (best-fit) |
| 2 | Form cross-functional positioning team (CEO mandatory) |
| 3 | Align vocabulary, let go of positioning baggage |
| 4 | List true competitive alternatives (customer view) |
| 5 | Isolate unique attributes (with proof) |
| 6 | Map attributes to value themes (1-4 themes) |
| 7 | Determine who cares a lot (behavioral segmentation) |
| 8 | Find market frame of reference (the core step) |
| 9 | Layer on a trend (optional) |
| 10 | Capture positioning so it can be shared |

Step-by-step detail with team formation, baggage handling, value-theme clustering, segmentation: see [frameworks.md](frameworks.md).

## The Circular Dependency (Why Step 1 Matters)

You can't position for your target market until you know who loves you.
You can't know who loves you without selling first.
You can't sell without some positioning.

**Break the cycle:** Cast wide early ("fishing-net analogy"). Don't position narrowly until you have signal from real users. Then narrow to best-fit.

If you don't have happy customers yet → you don't have positioning yet, you have hypotheses. Use Mom Test for problem validation FIRST. Don't position what you haven't built.

## The Three Positioning Styles (Step 8 - The Core Step)

Market category is the context customers use to evaluate you. Three styles:

### Style 1: Head to Head (Existing Category)

Compete in an existing category by being better at one specific dimension.

**When to use:** Established category exists, you have a clear advantage on something customers care about, you can be top-3.
**When NOT:** Category leader is too entrenched, your advantage isn't category-level important.

### Style 2: Big Fish, Small Pond (Subsegment)

Find a subsegment where YOUR strengths are most valuable.

**When to use:** A subset of customers has needs the leader doesn't address well, your strengths align, the subsegment is big enough.

**This is often the best fit for startups** - you can't out-spend the leader on the broad category, but you can dominate a slice.

**Example:** Janna Systems failing at "CRM for everyone." Repositioned as "CRM for investment banks": $2M → $70M revenue → $1.7B Siebel acquisition.

### Style 3: Create a New Game (New Category)

Define a new category you can lead.

**When to use:** Existing categories don't fit, you can clearly explain the new category in customer terms, you have resources to educate the market (expensive).
**When NOT (most cases):** You think your product is "unique" 

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

1. 2026-10-29
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 5015fcf4cde3

Questions about obviously-awesome

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