Position for the short term

Positioning is not your grand ambitions for your startup, but a part of your strategic plan for how to close more sales in the next quarter.

Because positioning is so core to a company’s identity, it can feel frightening to position around a narrow target market. Founders often worry that their company will be forever stuck in a miniscule slice of market and will never be able to escape.

But positioning is for the short term. Position according to the size, market circumstances and strengths your company is now. Also: most markets are much, much larger than most startup founders realize.

I wouldn’t recommend positioning yourself in such a small niche that you can’t make your target for the next 12 months — but I wouldn’t worry about anything beyond the next 12 months.

I’m doing a webinar about why to position for the short term and how to divorce your positioning from your visions of world domination today, May 13th, at 9am PT. Join here.