home / skills / pluginagentmarketplace / custom-plugin-product-manager / strategy

strategy skill

/skills/strategy

This skill helps you define market opportunities, position your product, and craft a go-to-market strategy for long-term success.

npx playbooks add skill pluginagentmarketplace/custom-plugin-product-manager --skill strategy

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (4)
SKILL.md
10.2 KB
---
name: product-strategy
version: "2.0.0"
description: Master product strategy, market analysis, competitive positioning, and long-term product vision. Define business models and craft go-to-market strategies that drive success.
sasmp_version: "1.3.0"
bonded_agent: 01-strategy-vision
bond_type: PRIMARY_BOND
parameters:
  - name: market_context
    type: string
    required: true
    description: Market veya ürün hakkında context
  - name: analysis_type
    type: string
    enum: [tam_sam_som, competitive, positioning, business_model]
retry_logic:
  max_attempts: 3
  backoff: exponential
logging:
  level: info
  hooks: [start, complete, error]
---

# Product Strategy & Vision Skill

Master the art of strategic product thinking. Define winning market positions, identify opportunities, and create compelling visions that guide your entire organization.

## Part 1: Market Analysis Framework

### Market Definition
**TAM (Total Addressable Market)**
- Total revenue opportunity in your market
- Definition: All potential customers who need your solution
- Calculation: (Target customer base) × (avg. contract value)
- Example: B2B SaaS for small business = 5M SMBs × $5K = $25B TAM

**SAM (Serviceable Available Market)**
- Market you can realistically capture
- Definition: Segments you can reach with your go-to-market
- Usually 5-20% of TAM
- More useful for planning

**SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)**
- Realistic market share in first 3-5 years
- Definition: What you can actually win with realistic execution
- Usually 1-5% of SAM
- Use for revenue projections

### Competitive Landscape

**Direct Competitors**
- Products serving same customer with same use case
- Examples: Slack vs Teams, Figma vs Adobe XD

**Indirect Competitors**
- Solutions to same problem, different approach
- Examples: Slack vs email, Google Forms vs Typeform

**Alternative Solutions**
- Build in-house, spreadsheets, manual processes
- Often biggest competitor for new categories

**Analyze Each:**
- Product capabilities matrix
- Pricing and positioning
- Target customer segment
- Go-to-market approach
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Market share and growth
- Recent funding/momentum

### Market Trends & Timing

**Questions to Answer:**
- Is the market growing or shrinking?
- What's driving growth?
- Are there macroeconomic tailwinds?
- What regulatory changes are coming?
- Is technology making solutions possible now?
- Are buyers ready to adopt?

**Market Readiness**
- Have customers already tried solutions?
- Are there early adopters?
- Is there pent-up demand?
- Are budget allocations available?

## Part 2: Positioning Strategy

### Value Proposition
Define what you offer that's different and better:

**Template:**
```
For [target customer]
Who [customer need/problem]
The [product name]
Is [product category]
That [key benefit]
Unlike [alternative]
Our product [unique differentiator]
```

**Example (Slack):**
```
For teams that need communication
Who struggle with fragmented tools (email, Skype, etc)
Slack is a messaging platform
That brings all communication into one place
Unlike email (which is async and scattered)
Our product is focused on searchable history and integrations
```

### Positioning Pillars

**3-5 core pillars** that define your position:

1. **Speed** - Faster than alternatives
2. **Ease of Use** - Simpler than competitors
3. **Integration** - Connects to tools they already use
4. **Security** - Enterprise-grade security
5. **Cost** - Better ROI than alternatives

Rate yourself vs competitors on each pillar.

### Target Customer Profile

**Ideal Customer (ICP):**
- Company size (employees, revenue)
- Industry vertical
- Job titles of decision makers
- Annual spend budget
- Current tech stack
- Growth stage (startup, growth, enterprise)

**Why they'll buy:**
- Main pain point you solve
- Secondary pain points
- How success is measured
- What failure looks like

## Part 3: Business Model Design

### Revenue Model Options

**SaaS (Software as a Service)**
- Monthly/annual recurring revenue
- Per user, per seat, per feature tier
- High gross margin (70-80%)
- Pros: Predictable, high LTV
- Cons: Long sales cycle

**Freemium**
- Free tier with limited features
- Paid upgrades for power users
- Good for user acquisition
- Challenge: Converting free to paid

**One-Time Purchase**
- Perpetual license
- Lower LTV than SaaS
- Better for enterprise deals
- Outdated for most categories

**Usage-Based**
- Pay for what you use (GB, API calls, etc)
- Good for variable workloads
- Challenge: Revenue unpredictability

**Marketplace/Commission**
- Take percentage of transactions
- Examples: Stripe, Uber, Airbnb
- High volume, lower margins
- Network effects critical

**Hybrid Models**
- Combine multiple (e.g., SaaS base + usage overage)
- More complex but often optimal

### Pricing Strategy

**Value-Based Pricing**
- Price based on value delivered, not cost
- Most profitable approach
- Requires understanding ROI for customer

**Tiered Pricing**
- Starter, Professional, Enterprise
- Good for catering to different segments
- Prevent feature parity issues

**Per-Seat Pricing**
- Charge per user
- Easy to understand
- Can limit adoption (too expensive for large teams)

**Usage-Based Pricing**
- Charge per API call, GB storage, etc.
- Scales with customer growth
- Harder to predict revenue

**Freemium Conversion Rate**
- Typical: 2-5% free to paid
- Higher for B2B (5-10%)
- Lower for consumer (0.5-2%)

## Part 4: Go-To-Market Strategy

### GTM Channel Selection

**Direct Sales**
- Your team sells to customers
- Best for: High ACV (>$10K), complex product
- Typical sales cycle: 3-6 months
- Cost: High ($200K+/rep + quota)

**Self-Service / Freemium**
- Customers discover and sign up themselves
- Best for: Low ACV (<$1K), self-explanatory
- Typical sales cycle: Minutes to days
- Cost: Low (marketing focused)

**Sales Development (SMB)**
- SDR/AE team for SMB segment
- Typical ACV: $2K-$20K
- Sales cycle: 1-3 months
- More efficient than enterprise

**Channels & Partnerships**
- Resellers, integrations, platforms
- Example: App store, Zapier, AWS Marketplace
- Lower customer acquisition cost
- Channel partnership challenges

### Customer Acquisition Strategy

**CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)**
- Total sales & marketing spend / new customers
- Target: CAC payback in 12-18 months

**LTV (Lifetime Value)**
- Average revenue × average customer lifetime
- Target: LTV > 3x CAC

**Metrics Formula:**
```
Monthly Revenue Per Customer × Gross Margin %
÷ Monthly Churn Rate
= LTV

Example:
$1000 MRR × 80% / 5% churn = $16,000 LTV
If CAC = $5,000: LTV/CAC = 3.2x ✓
```

### Launch Strategy Timeline

**Option 1: Stealth Launch**
- Build in secret, launch with big bang
- Risk: Misaligned with market needs
- Reward: Surprise, buzz, no competitive pressure

**Option 2: Open Beta**
- Limited availability, lots of transparency
- Risk: Slower growth initially
- Reward: Feedback, hype building, press coverage

**Option 3: Enterprise Sales**
- Deep relationships with early customers
- Risk: Takes longer to scale
- Reward: Higher validation, valuable feedback

## Part 5: Pitching Your Strategy

### Executive Pitch Template (30 minutes)

**1. The Opportunity** (5 min)
- Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM)
- Market growth rate
- Why now (timing)

**2. The Problem** (5 min)
- Customer pain point(s)
- How it's solved today
- Why current solutions are inadequate

**3. Your Solution** (5 min)
- What you're building
- Why you're different
- Key competitive advantages

**4. The Business** (5 min)
- Target customer segment
- Go-to-market strategy
- Revenue model and pricing
- Unit economics projection

**5. The Team** (3 min)
- Why are you uniquely capable
- Relevant background
- Advisors and supporters

**6. The Ask** (2 min)
- How much you're raising
- How you'll use it
- 18-month milestones

### Elevator Pitch (2 minutes)

"[Product] helps [target customer] [solve problem/achieve goal]. Unlike [alternative], we [unique differentiator], which results in [customer benefit]. We're focused on [market segment] and building [key capability]."

## Part 6: Strategy Decisions & Trade-offs

### Key Strategic Questions

1. **Horizontal vs Vertical?**
   - Horizontal: Serve many industries
   - Vertical: Dominate one industry deeply
   - Decision factors: Market size, competition, expertise

2. **High-Touch vs Self-Service?**
   - Impacts CAC, LTV, scaling ability
   - Decision: Customer value + ACV

3. **Niche vs Broad?**
   - Start narrow, expand over time
   - Better to dominate niche than lose in broad market

4. **Premium vs Budget?**
   - Premium: Higher margin, slower growth
   - Budget: Lower margin, faster growth
   - Rarely can do both

5. **First Mover vs Fast Follower?**
   - First mover: Build market, education, but risk
   - Fast follower: Learn from others, better execution
   - Category size matters

## Part 7: Strategy Refinement

### Strategy Review Cadence

**Quarterly:**
- Progress vs. plan
- Competitive changes
- Customer feedback
- Market evolution
- Tactical adjustments

**Annually:**
- Full strategy refresh
- Market assumptions review
- Competitive repositioning
- Long-term vision update

### When to Pivot

**Signs you need a strategic pivot:**
- Low customer demand for current strategy
- Major competitive threat
- Market conditions changed significantly
- Better opportunity emerged
- Team capabilities misaligned
- Unit economics don't work

## Troubleshooting

### Yaygın Hatalar & Çözümler

| Hata | Olası Sebep | Çözüm |
|------|-------------|-------|
| TAM/SAM hesaplama hatası | Yanlış multiplier | Assumptions'ları document et |
| Positioning belirsiz | Çok fazla segment | Single ICP focus |
| Business model sürdürülebilir değil | Unit economics negatif | LTV/CAC analizi |
| GTM channel ineffective | Yanlış channel seçimi | A/B test channels |

### Debug Checklist

```
[ ] TAM/SAM/SOM varsayımları documented mı?
[ ] Competitive matrix güncel mi?
[ ] Value proposition tested mi?
[ ] Pricing sensitivity analyzed mı?
[ ] GTM channel hypothesis validated mı?
```

### Recovery Procedures

1. **Market Size Uncertainty** → Scenario analysis (3 cases)
2. **Positioning Confusion** → Customer interviews for validation
3. **Business Model Issues** → Unit economics deep dive

---

**Master strategy thinking and position your product for long-term success!**

Overview

This skill helps product leaders and founders build rigorous product strategy, market analysis, competitive positioning, and GTM plans that drive growth. It packs frameworks for TAM/SAM/SOM, value proposition and positioning pillars, business model and pricing options, and launch and pitch templates. Use it to align teams, prioritize opportunities, and build defensible product roadmaps.

How this skill works

The skill walks you through defining market size (TAM/SAM/SOM), mapping direct and indirect competitors, and assessing market timing and readiness. It provides templates for a differentiated value proposition, target customer profiles, revenue model alternatives, pricing approaches, and go-to-market channel selection. It also includes launch timelines, unit-economics metrics (LTV/CAC), and executive and elevator pitch structures.

When to use it

  • When you need to validate market opportunity and size realistic revenue targets
  • When defining or refining your product positioning and unique differentiators
  • When selecting a business model and pricing strategy for a new product or feature
  • When planning a go-to-market motion (self-serve, sales-led, or channel)
  • When preparing investor or executive pitches that require crisp metrics and ask

Best practices

  • Document TAM/SAM/SOM assumptions and run scenario analysis (best/likely/worst)
  • Pick a single ICP and 3–5 positioning pillars; rate yourself vs competitors
  • Prefer value-based pricing where you can quantify customer ROI
  • Optimize for LTV > 3x CAC and target CAC payback within 12–18 months
  • Start narrow (vertical or niche) and expand after product-market fit
  • Review strategy quarterly and refresh assumptions annually

Example use cases

  • Estimate SOM for year 3 revenue planning for a B2B SaaS launch
  • Build a competitor feature matrix and prioritize product roadmap gaps
  • Choose between freemium, usage-based, or enterprise pricing for launch
  • Design a GTM plan: self-service funnel versus enterprise sales motion
  • Draft a 30-minute investor pitch with market, problem, solution, and ask

FAQ

How do I choose between horizontal and vertical focus?

Base the choice on addressable market size, go-to-market efficiency, and domain expertise; start vertical to win a niche, then expand horizontally once you have evidence of repeatable success.

What is the most defensible pricing approach?

Value-based pricing is most profitable when you can quantify customer ROI; if not, use tiered pricing to capture different segments while measuring conversion and churn to iterate.