Positioning vs. Messaging: The Costly Mistake SaaS Founders Keep Making

Too many SaaS founders and GMT leaders confuse positioning with messaging—and it’s holding back their growth. If you’ve ever struggled with homepage copy, sales messaging, or team alignment, this episode is for you.

Georgiana Laudi (Forget The Funnel) and April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch) break down why messaging can’t work without clear positioning—and how this confusion leads to weak differentiation, internal misalignment, and wasted marketing and product growth efforts.

If your SaaS messaging feels scattered or ineffective, your positioning might be the real problem. Listen in to learn how to fix it.

• Positioning ≠ Messaging – Positioning defines who you compete against, what makes you different, and why customers choose you. Messaging is how you communicate that in different contexts.
• Why SaaS Teams Get This Wrong – Many founders try to “fix” messaging when the real issue is unclear positioning.
• The Problem with Guessing – How teams waste time on tactics instead of using customer insights to drive strategy.
• Why a Messaging Document is Non-Negotiable – April shares why teams without one end up in a game of "broken telephone."
• The PLG vs. Sales-Led Divide – Gia explains why positioning is different for self-serve SaaS vs. sales-led B2B and how each model should approach it.
• Why Homepage Teardowns Are Mostly BS – And what actually makes a homepage (or any messaging) effective.

00:03:10 – Why Founders Confuse Positioning & Messaging (And Why It’s a Problem)

00:06:45 – The Core Components of Strong Positioning

00:12:00 – The Messaging Mistake That Creates Internal Chaos

00:24:30 – How PLG & Sales-Led SaaS Should Approach Positioning Differently

00:30:00 – The Problem with Homepage Teardowns & Why Context Matters

00:43:20 – How to Stop Guessing & Get Positioning Right

April’s books: Obviously Awesome (on positioning) & Sales Pitch (on sales narratives)

April’s podcast: The Positioning Show with April Dunford

Forget The Funnel: Book & Consulting – Helping PLG SaaS teams build growth strategies based on customer insights, not guesswork.

As always, you can learn more about Forget The Funnel here:

• Read the Forget The Funnel Book
• Check out Forget the Funnel’s website