Position a Product to Grow Into or Out of It

One area that first-time entrepreneurs often give little thought to is how they are going to position their product. Generally, the desire to start a company and build a product is driven by the goal to “scratch an itch” and fix a problem or grab an opportunity. I’d like to divide product positioning into two super simple categories:

1. Little to no learning curve and you eventually grow out of it
2. At least some learning curve and you grow into it

Yes, there are many more nuances than this but for many entrepreneurs this provides a simple framework with which to use, especially for the many 37signals inspired simple web apps out there that fall into category 1. Once you’ve chosen a category, next you should find a product that falls into the other category relative to your product. Typically I’m against paying too much attention to competition and instead focusing on customers and prospects, but the competition works well in this case. Now with a deep understanding of the competitor that falls into the other category, make a list of the differentiation points that serve as a transition between the products and use that as a guide when building the product.

What else? What other points would you add with regard to growing into and out of products?