Founders often tell us they're just a few features away from outpacing their competitors. However, our “not-hot-take hot-take” is that features alone usually aren't enough to secure competitive enterprise deals.

In the realm of enterprise software, it's not always the best product that wins. It's the packaging and distribution, and all the other elements that shape the buying experience for a prospect.

Positioning is essentially about strategic focus. As seed-stage companies with limited resources, how do we ruthlessly zero in on deals that are most likely to close and that positions us best to win against competitors?

Here are a few "packaging cards" I encourage our seed founders to think about:

• Who is your ICP? If your competitor goes after SMB, do you choose to go after enterprise? If they go after financial services, do you go after healthcare?
• How do you acquire them? If your competitor is a heavy enterprise sale, can you go open source?
• How expensive is the product to use? If your competitor requires a heavy platform fee, can you go freemium?
• What’s the time to value? If your competitor has heavy implementation requirements, can you be lightweight and fast to set up?
• What does customer experience look like? If your competitor doesn’t offer any customer support, can your team offer a consultative approach?

In a crowded market (and every company faces competition), leveraging these "cards" to navigate and outmaneuver others to win in a knife fight is critical. When you can, don't fight the same fight as your competitors. Better products don't always win - great distribution wins.

This post originally appear in Jessica Lin’s Substack #jess: Just Enterprise SaaS on February 8, 2024. If you’re an early-stage enterprise founder or operator — connect with us directly to chat about anything GTM or check out our events page to stay in the loop on all things happening in the Work-Bench community.