The concept of positioning is counter-intuitive to many life science lab systems startups because it seems to require “giving up” on an infinite array of market opportunities in favor of concentrating the company’s resources on a specific solution to a specific problem affecting a specific group of people.
In reality, infinite opportunities cannot be addressed without infinite resources, and the opportunities that must be “given up” do not actually exist in the absence of specific strategies and well-organized, staffed, and funded programs to pursue them.
Indications of Strategic Intent
You have a positioning strategy when you can clearly describe your target customers, the problem that your product is going to solve for them, and the single most compelling reason why those individuals will favor your solution above all others. To be useful, your strategy must be written down as a concise declaration of corporate intent and signed off by the company’s executive management.
You know your positioning strategy is at work internally when all the people in your organization that have been working on one-off products, research projects, side projects, and skunkworks projects unrelated to the declared and agreed-upon intent are now working productively on the Main Project, or are no longer costing you money. You know your positioning strategy is at work externally when your early-access program is oversubscribed by sites who have been struggling with the same problem that you’ve identified as the one your product is going to solve.
The Sharpest Tool
If you accept the premise that your resources are limited, you must pursue a deliberate strategy of positioning. The market does not conspire to make biotech lab systems startups successful, and will not somehow pull you toward creative and profitable applications of your company’s asset base. Defining your market narrowly enables you to develop a strong and highly relevant value proposition.
For help honing your positioning strategy, contact Matthew Wygant at matthew@wygant.net.
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