April Dunford · 5 min read · Product Strategy
Shifting Positioning When AI Capabilities are Rapidly Changing
Read the original on aprildunford.substack.com →
The article discusses how rapid AI capability changes make positioning quickly outdated and advocates a structured process to revisit positioning as capabilities evolve. It explains how to assess whether repositioning is needed by examining competitive alternatives, distinct capabilities, and differentiated value, and notes that value themes tend to evolve slower than features unless new value becomes available.
Key Takeaways
- Adopt a structured positioning process to continuously reassess messaging as foundation-model capabilities evolve.
- Use Competitive Alternatives, Distinct Capabilities, and Differentiated Value to determine whether positioning should stay the same or be updated.
- Value themes typically evolve more slowly than features; maintain the high-level narrative unless new value could not be delivered before.
- If new capabilities strengthen an existing theme, expand talking points without full repositioning; if they unlock new value, rework the positioning.
Excerpt
I had a round table conversation last week with a group of founders building AI-native solutions. One common theme that emerged was how fast things are moving and how difficult it seems to be to nail down positioning when core AI capabilities and what’s possible are changing very, very quickly. One of the attendees said this: “Anthropic has launched three major releases this summer alone. Any positioning we develop will be out of date in two weeks. How do we handle that?” Every company I have worked with in the past year has expressed this same worry. Let’s dig into…