Growth & Strategy

Positioning Canvas

April Dunford-style positioning builder. Six fields → positioning statement + tagline. Copy the markdown and move on.

Dunford6/6 blocks
positioning.canvas/acme-analytics.md
Positioning Canvas · April Dunford method
100%
Blocks filled
6 / 6
Audience
Who

Specific, not 'everyone'

Problem / Value
Why

The one benefit they actually care about

Category
What it is

The frame of reference you want

Alternatives
Versus

What they'd do if you didn't exist

Unique Value
How

Capabilities only you have

Proof / Best-for
For whom it wins

The sub-group you win for — clearly

Real-world positioning

Dunford examples bank

Help Scout
Customer support platform built for email-first teams

Deliver better email support without the ticketing-system baggage

Best for: Teams that outgrew shared Gmail but think Zendesk is overkill

Tettra
Internal Q&A knowledge base

Stop answering the same questions in Slack over and over

Best for: Teams where Slack is the primary work OS and wikis rot

Levelset (by Procore)
Construction payment compliance software

Get paid faster in construction without hiring a lien attorney

Best for: Sub-contractors burned by slow-paying GCs who can't afford legal overhead

Ramp
Corporate card with finance automation

Cut corporate spend by 3%+ automatically

Best for: Teams with CFOs/Controllers who measure success in cost savings

Superhuman
Speed-focused email client for professionals

Get through email twice as fast

Best for: People whose email volume makes them hate email

Source: April Dunford, Obviously Awesome (2019), Sales Pitch (2023).

See how yours stacks up

3-competitor side-by-side

You · Acme Analytics
Anchor
Alt · Spreadsheets, BI dashboards (Looker, Mode), custom SQL
Unique · One-click warehouse connectors; AI-generated explanations on every chart; row-level permissions
Best for · Teams stuck in the 'wait on the data analyst' queue but not ready for a full BI overhaul