1 min lesson
Company-level vs. feature-level positioning
Rebuild the parts of "Company-level vs. feature-level positioning", then say why each one matters.
Step 1 of 2
Company-level vs. feature-level positioning
Two altitudes you'll be asked to switch between
- Company level
- Cursor is the AI code editor - the category claim and the why-Cursor narrative
- Feature level
- Tab, Agent, ⌘K, codebase context - each positioned against its own alternative
- Why both
- A feature can win its comparison while the company loses the category or the reverse
- PMM job
- Keep them coherent - feature stories should ladder up to the company narrative
Interview move
When asked to position a feature, say the alternative out loud first. “Most engineers' real alternative here is pasting into a chatbot, so the job is to make the codebase-aware difference obvious.” Naming the alternative before the pitch signals you do positioning, not slogans.
Watch out
Don't position against a strawman. Saying inline completion is “dumb autocomplete” insults the engineer who relies on it daily and gets value from it. Credit what the alternative does well, then show where your value is sharper. Engineers trust the comparison precisely because you were fair to the other side.