The SaaS Revolution Show is a weekly podcast that brings insights and tactics from leading SaaS entrepreneurs and operators across the world. Hosted by Alex Theuma, the show is brought to you by SaaStock. You can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast.

Seven startups. Six of them acquired. 16 launched products. All 16 of them repositioned. Roles as varied as CEO, CMO and COO. There has never been a dull moment in April Dunford’s career. Throughout all that, she has become the world’s foremost expert on positioning.

April is something of an accidental marketer. An engineer by education, an intro from a friend and a bit of luck got her a job in the marketing team of a startup shortly after university. Few months after, that startup got acquired, and her boss quit. April inherited a team and a budget she didn’t have the experience to manage.

April was not one to give up and was determined to crack that. As she did, April found herself intrigued by something peculiar — why do some very cool products remain vastly misunderstood by consumers and how to fix that. With time she would find the words for it: positioning. She would also realise that startups and established companies alike struggled with it. It was because even though the theory hasn’t changed much since the seminal book on the topic, “Positioning: The Battle for the Mind” was published in 1983, there was never a methodology existing to help people.

Improving the context a product creates for its customers became April’s lifelong passion.

It’s why she has toaken on seemingly very different roles in the various startups and their acquirers she joined. As she puts it, positioning encompasses the entire organisation.

Currently, April is working on a book, which she hopes will offer the first scalable methodology for doing positioning right.

Listen on to hear:

  • Why so many startups and companies fail at positioning
  • What are the signs you are having a positioning problem
  • How to start fixing your positioning and create the right context for your customers
  • Examples of product reposition April has executed
  • What is the best way to track the effect of repositioning

April, who currently advises growth stage companies and established enterprises to launch new products, was one of many speakers we hosted at SaaStock18. We recorded all sessions, accumulating to over 40 hours of actionable content on marketing, sales, management and funding. You can rewatch all of them by getting lifetime access to our SaaStock On-Demand pack.