you want this positioning statement you want your Manifesto to be bold you want it to be different you want it to be definitive you want it to be absolute at the same time you want it to be authentic hey guys this is Bill Rice again with Bill Rice strategy and today I want to talk to you about creating a positioning statement for your new startup or maybe it's in a business that's already in existence but doesn't kind of have that Clarity of focus and purpose and who you serve better still I would love to see
you actually create a Manifesto um and we'll talk a little bit about the difference between maybe a positioning statement and what that ultimate Manifesto um would would bring to that that process there's some great ones out there I know years ago I was a part of quick and Loans Now Rocket mortgage they had their isms which were I think at the time uh 10 or so things uh and these were often quoted inside of meetings and and strategy sessions but they were kind of core driving principles that everything we did um was kind of laid
up against um and should be in alignment with um another one that I love um pulling out of the archives is 37 signals which I think started as an agency now they're just an incredible software company uh that's done base camp and hay and now is doing uh once again they created a Manifesto again some core principles so I I know a lot of times in go to market we talk about a positioning statement um I want to start there but then I want to take it to kind of this concept of a Manifesto so
how do we go about doing this um so I'm going to go through sort of a seven-step process um or seven areas that I want you to think about um and then we'll talk about how to potentially put this into a Manifesto that can live uh within your organization and as you grow and as you hire people can really help to keep that larger group cohesive um and all sort of rowing in the same direction so first and foremost you just you need to clarify your purpose and your vision as a Founder um and I've
been one multiple times as an entrepreneur there's something there is something that is your norsar there is some reason that you're actually creating or did create what you um what you have here at this early stage um as that begins to grow sometimes it kind of loses its direction or other people come in and you know they'll they'll kind of put their own personality on it so I encourage you as early as possible sit down and craft write or even record a video that really States what is that original purpose and vision now the product
may change you may pivot in the market and those sorts of things but the actual purpose or the vision for the business that you're creating there's probably some key Central pieces to that that will persist as long as that business um continues to to to be a business right so again Define that purpose and vision that's where everything starts what is you as the founder sitting with your notebook like what is the purpose and the vision that you see that was the Inception of this business then from there again this is is personal and as
you bring other sort of senior leadership or people that are going to be influential in the organization together this is something that you need to start very early collaborating on what are the core values this actually is one of the kind of most most common points of fracture in Partnerships so a lot of early businesses are started with a A you know one or two partners um I did the same thing we did not have the same set of core values our mindset or our our thoughts on how businesses should be run were Polar Opposites
and that broke us apart so I think this is a good exercise to make sure as you bring on Partners or if you already have a partner sit down and really really collaborate on those core set of values values those non non-negotiables that are in that business so that you guys and gals will commit to that set of core values and those can be principles again as that organization grows you have very influential very talented people come in they will want to naturally put their thumb print on things and again these core values are probably
things that are non-negotiable so as you bring people in they probably need to conform to that not the the other way around now over time as an organization matures there could be a a Rees investigation of that and assessing of those core values but again pretty much those should be set in stone and continue to persist with organization as it grows the other thing that comes into this as you're kind of building that positioning statement because you're trying to tell the market um who you serve um it's really important for you to understand that audience
right understand your icps have a clear definition of that ICP because in that positioning statement and ultimately in the manifesto you want it to be very clear who you serve how you serve them and of course what is your differentiating factor in delivering that value proposition really important to understand that audience at a very deep level then as we kind of have these first three elements we want to craft a narrative around that right be able to do some storytelling tell the story of you know why you started this company what that that that sort
of purpose and vision is what are those core values and how do those things play into and serve your audience and your customer base um better than anyone else build a narrative the nice thing about also storytelling is it also and you can tell I'm I'm talking external and internal constantly because it's both right I I want to be able to tell a story a compelling story an interesting story one that's memorable to my Marketplace and to my audience but I also want to be able to tell um a similar story or a version of
it that's relevant to my internal um team so that they will understand buy into to that narrative that story and be familiar with the Legacy and the Heritage that we're trying to build inside of this new company and then from there we want to outline the the actual approach like the things that we do uh again this isn't processes and systems but there are kind of a set um sort of formula or pattern that makes us unique so what is that unique approach um what is that contrarian Viewpoint what is that different way that we
kind of um address the market maybe that um that that way in which we do things or perhaps there's something that we're kind of innovating uh and we're doing it a whole different way what is that unique approach start to outline that as well so again we have a shared understanding of what makes us unique what differentiates us um and again how that um will be different and continue to be different from the competitors the next step is um kind of two sides of a coin but they're really important you want this positioning statement you
want your Manifesto to be bold you want it to be different you want it to be definitive you want it to be absolute in a sense but at the same time you at the same time you want want it to be authentic right so don't say wild and outlandish things CU it sounds neat you want to actually be authentic about it so you want to make bold statements but you want to be able to make sure that your organization can deliver on those bold statements so it needs to be authentic it that means people have
to buy into it that means it needs to be possible um the claims that you make again need to be authentic so so everything inside of this Manifesto and this kind of smaller Market facing positioning statement um needs to be bold but always authentic and then lastly as you have the clarity of positioning statement who you help how you do it how you do it better than everybody else all these pieces these sort of six or seven pieces um should be built together into a Manifesto and you can get really creative with this um some
of the ones I mentioned back in the quick and days uh we had an ism booklet that we published once a year um and it was kind of interesting it was um it was no expense um you know bar sacrificed to produce this it was very colorful um it not only reinforced the manifesto but it also showed um and throughout the year there was a team that was responsible for collecting all these examples of the isms and then ultimately that was compiled into a book that was shared with with all of our team mates so
that they could kind of see um not only reinforce the the manifesto but also be able to see that in action and what it looks like zaposlitev um and with permission use um being able to to put that into or ADD visual elements to that Manifesto to turn that Manifesto into a published work um I think it is a really powerful way um in order to one be able to have something that everybody has a shared understanding of and then by working on that in a creative way and making it really interesting and desirable to
kind of pour into um one people will read it and then two if you make this a regular rhythm it constantly gets reinforced and as new people comes come in it becomes a very specific step in that onboarding so think about um as you're building your new startup um what is that Manifesto what does it look like how can you make it fun how can you make it engaging both for your internal growth as well as out into the market so again think about one having a clear and concise positioning statement but then how can
you make it fun and turn it into a Manifesto that becomes a central part of of your overall culture and Market delivery hope you enjoyed this if you've been here up until this point I'm trusting that you're enjoying the content so do me a favor uh like And subscribe to this so you can get more of this content and then help our Channel grow um It's relatively new so every one of those likes and new subscribers um help push us forward if you have ideas love to to engage with you in the comments I personally
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