Generate Concise Positioning Statements

This skill runs a structured positioning exercise for Claude Code that produces an honest, sub-30-word positioning statement by forcing hard choices rather than accepting vague, all-things-to-everyone descriptions. Invoked via /positioning:positioning, its six-step process: gather context (what the product does, who it serves, what stage the company is at), run parallel competitive research covering both direct and adjacent competitors, generate four forced-choice questions informed by the real competitor names surfaced in that research, distribute a copy-paste questionnaire so team members answer independently rather than converging prematurely in discussion, synthesize the team's answers into an alignment map surfacing contradictions and surprises across responses, and produce the final output - a positioning statement under 30 words, with every supporting section kept under 200 words.

Its core discipline is that every question is a forced choice - there is no "all of the above" option, because the exercise's value comes specifically from the discomfort of having to choose one thing over another rather than hedging. Quality rules apply to the final output: no sentence over 20 words, no unverifiable marketing adjectives like "innovative," "cutting-edge," or "world-class," and every claim must either be true today or be explicitly marked as an aspirational bet rather than presented as already accomplished. An example output illustrates the target format: "We help DevOps teams resolve incidents before customers notice, through causal root-cause analysis, unlike dashboard-first monitoring tools" - naming a specific audience, a specific mechanism, and an explicit contrast against a named category of alternative.

Use this skill when a team needs to align on product positioning - especially when messaging has drifted vague, when different team members would describe the product differently, or when competitive research needs to directly inform the hard choices positioning requires, rather than positioning being written in isolation from what competitors actually claim.

It is not a tool for generating marketing copy or a tagline in isolation - the forced-choice, competitor-informed, team-alignment process is the point, and skipping straight to a polished statement without the research and team exercise steps defeats the purpose of the exercise.

Input is context about the product/company (what it does, who it serves, current stage) plus independent team responses to a forced-choice questionnaire informed by competitive research. Output is a synthesis showing team alignment, contradictions, and surprises, culminating in a final positioning statement under 30 words with all supporting sections under 200 words each, following the quality rules for verifiable, concise claims.

/plugin marketplace add Gerstep/positioning-plugin
/plugin install positioning@positioning-plugins

Installed as a Claude Code plugin via the plugin marketplace, run with the /positioning:positioning command; licensed under MIT.

Founders, product marketers, or leadership teams who need to align on and produce an honest, defensible positioning statement grounded in real competitive research rather than internal assumption or unverified marketing language.