Do it for them.

For the past year or so, I’ve been working my way through a seemingly saturated market of product analytics tools. Many are funded by VCs, many with similar feature sets, pricing models, and go-to-market strategies.

I’ve studied the competition, I’ve used the competition, and truthfully, I’ve been impressed by the competition. But I’ve also been frustrated by the competition, and that’s exactly what you need to find a gap in the market.

So what’s the gap? What’s the differentiator? What’s the thing that makes a solo founder with no funding, no team, and no experience in the space think they can compete? Aside from arrogance, of course.

It’s simple, once you find the gap, you go back to the basics, the core principles that drive the product strategy, and you define your competitive edge. The thing that makes you different, the thing that makes you better.

I’ve boiled down mine to a single sentence: Do it for them.

Chances are, you could do it for them too.

The do it for them approach

This approach rethinks the way you think about your product. It shifts the focus from tools to solutions and from features to outcomes. It’s a principle rooted in the understanding that time is limited and not every business has the time, resources, or expertise to fully leverage the tools they use. So what do we do? We do it for them.

Next time you’re building a feature, ask yourself, “Is this yet another tool for the user to learn and use, or is this a solution to a problem they have?”

Let me give you an example.

Think about the Chat with AI ✨ feature that half of you shipped last year. How is it doing for your users? Are they using it? Or is it collecting dust in the sea of features you’ve shipped? What if you could’ve done it for them instead? What if you could’ve shipped a solution that automatically did the work for them and delivered the insights they needed?

See the difference? One is a tool, the other is a solution. One requires the user to learn and use, the other does it for them. That’s the difference that gives you the edge in a saturated market of tools and features.