A Jay Z lesson: More Isn't Your Advantage

If you're a hip-hop fan you'll catch this lyric...

 You said you been in it 10, but I been in it 5 / Smarten up Nas /

Four albums in 10 years? I can divide /

That's one every let's say 2. 2 of them shits was due /

One was 'naaah', the other was "Illmatic" /

That's a 1-hot-album-every-10-year average.

This line from Jay-Z's song Takeover (a diss track against Nas) is a GREAT lesson on positioning yourself to investors.

Stay with me on this.

If we follow the storyline Jay creates in this song, Nas has been around for a decade...

Theoretically, that should mean Nas has an unfair advantage over the rest of the market (5 year headstart, more songs, more time to build a fanbase, more industry relationships).

But 'more' doesn't automatically create an advantage.

Instead, Jay points out that it took Nas TEN years to have 1 hot album. Not only that, but his 1 hot album was his FIRST album, and he's been on the decline since.

Whereas Jay continues to outperform his own albums, year over year, and in less time.

That's the storyline Jay creates. By offering the story through HIS perspective, he shapes YOUR perspective. To the extent that any hardcore hip hop fan almost instinctively repeats the lyrics '4 albums in 10 years...' any time those numbers come up in completely unrelated conversations.

Whether you like Nas more or not, Jay-Z essentially buried the first half of Nas' career.

But he doesn't do that by saying, 'I have more albums than Nas, therefore I have an unfair advantage'. Instead, he says, 'You got a head start on me, and you've STILL been on a steady decline since your debut'.

Now take a look at your pitch deck. Do you use "The Feature Grid" where you line up your feature-set against your competition, and show that you have 6 green checkmarks whereas others only have 4 or 5, therefore making you the winner?

STOP WITH THAT.

More features unfair advantage.

Take the market incumbents and form a perspective on why you still win, despite their perceived advantages.

Use your perspective to shape your audience's perspective.

And add your perspective on this story in the comments section here

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