Unfair Advantage

The most-skipped session in any GTM program, and the one everything downstream depends on. Value proposition, unique selling points, positioning statement, one-liner, pitch - built in that order on screen, in real time, for a real product, including the cuts. You'll see what "done" looks like at every layer, which is most of the battle. Follow along on your own product if you want; nobody is asked to present.
WHAT WE COVER
- Who exactly is this for?. Narrow it until it's uncomfortable. "Developers" isn't an answer. "Solo founders shipping their first paid API" is.
- What are they doing today instead?. The real alternative is usually a spreadsheet, a manual process, or nothing at all - not a competitor.
- Value proposition, not a feature list. The difference between what it does and what they get. We take a real feature list and translate it into outcomes in the customer's language, live. Most builder copy dies here - it describes the machinery to people who only care about the result.
- Unique selling points versus table stakes. Half of what founders call a differentiator is something every competitor also has. We separate the two: what is genuinely only true of you, what is merely true, and what is table stakes you still have to say out loud because customers check for it.
- What's your sharp edge?. Of the USPs that survive, the one the alternative can't copy this quarter. That's what the positioning gets built on - not the longest list, the most defensible item.
- Proof for each claim. Every selling point needs something behind it: a number, a screenshot, a customer sentence, a benchmark. Claims without proof are the fastest way to lose a room, and receipts are 30% of the October score.
- Compress it to the one-liner. For [who] who [problem], [product] is a [category] that [outcome]. Unlike [alternative], it [edge]. Then the swap test and the stranger test, applied live to a real one until it breaks.
- The elevator pitch. Sixty seconds, five beats: hook, who it's for, what it does, why you plus proof, and the ask. Two versions - one for customers, one for investors.
- Delivered out loud. I'll give the pitch as written, then say what I'd cut on the second pass. If a listener can't repeat it back, it isn't done.
YOU LEAVE WITH
A worksheet you can fill in for your own product: value prop, the selling points that are actually yours, positioning, and the pitch that comes out of it.
BRING
Nothing required. If you want to follow along: your roadmap and channel plan, and a tolerance for writing something that isn't finished.
WHO IT IS FOR
Technical founders, engineers, designers and indie builders who have shipped something and want it in front of customers. Free, and open to anyone - you do not have to attend the whole series to come to one.
THIS BUILDS UP TO THE HACKATHON
Session 04 of 6. The series runs every other Wednesday from Aug 5 to Oct 14, and every session is a piece of the same thing: by October you have positioning, a site, a channel and the numbers to read it. Then on Oct 16-18 we run Zero to Launch, a hackathon where you do not build - you launch. Whatever state your product is in on the Friday, you close it out, put it in front of people, and show what happened on the Sunday.
Anyone can compete. You do not have to attend a single session, and there is no application. Sessions stand alone too, so come to one or come to all.
Five prize categories: Best B2C Launch, Best B2B Launch, Best Marketing Site, Best Growth Engine, and a room-voted Crowd Favorite.
Full hackathon details: https://www.shipai.club/hackathon
SPONSORS WANTED
Ship AI is free and stays free. We are seeking corporate sponsors for the community and hackathon sponsors for the October prize pool - cash, or in-kind like API credits, AI platform usage, tools and food. Credits go straight into builders' hands and get spent on real launches, in public.
Sponsor tiers and what they include: https://www.shipai.club/hackathon#sponsor
Or reach out in the Discord: https://discord.gg/kZSJMNveYM
Venue: Workuity Biltmore, 2390 E Camelback Rd, Suite 130, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Venue sponsor: Workuity
Full session details: https://www.shipai.club/hackathon/workshops/positioning-and-pitch
The program: https://www.shipai.club/hackathon
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/kZSJMNveYM