Product Positioning is Hard
Metaport has aspects to it which are not well-represented in the tools we use daily across the industry.
Unfortunately for our own potential customers, their thinking needs to be framed around existing tools and classifications. And the perceived dichotomy between the nature of the data arriving into Metaport, and the people intended to use it, isn't helping.
This kind of makes sense. We've seen that conventional wisdom pigeonholes the product as just another Cybersecurity, or Project Management tool, when in reality there's way more to it than that.
We've just probably explained it badly.
Metaport actually represents otherwise siloed application metadata from across your web-app or website portfolios, but its value prop is that it's not designed for use by those typically responsible for acting on it.
Metaport puts the data to work serving customers, through the very customer-facing roles you've employed to do that.
Because I've lost count of the occasions where I've needed to explain the product's positioning, I must acknowledge that it's our own messaging that's as off as the milk at the back of your fridge.
Actually, we've been banging our heads against a wall on this for some time, so long in fact, that the resulting bumps have become something of a pal. But we can't have that, so we've used what remains of our limited intellects and come up with an entirely new product classification (because we can).
Application Intelligence.
Application Intelligence (or just "AppInt" for short) bridges the gap between code and consequence, because product decisions aren't made in the dark, and Project Managers know where the light switch is.
Not convinced? All good, we've got you covered because we also busted out the crayon box, and this is my picture *
* yaaawn another magic quadrant. Yeah we hate them too, but it does a job. Sorry - not sorry.
Great piece, Russ. You’ve nailed something that’s often underestimated—positioning isn’t just a marketing exercise; it’s a company-wide discipline. From product to sales to customer success, clarity on why we matter to whom is critical. We’ve certainly felt the challenges (and rewards) of sharpening our own positioning—especially in a crowded and fast-moving space. Curious to hear from others: what’s been your biggest “aha” moment (or challenge) in getting positioning right?