Marketing Without VC: Positioning, Categories, Global

Bootstrapped startups don’t usually lose because the product is “bad.” They lose because the market can’t quickly understand what the product is, who it’s for, and why it’s different.

That’s why Episode 804 of Startups For the Rest Of Us hit a nerve for me. Rob Walling tackles a cluster of problems every non-VC founder runs into: how to position when you could serve multiple markets, whether “inventing a category” is ever a good idea, and how to think about local-first vs global marketing when your budget is basically your runway.

This post is part of the US Startup Marketing Without VC series, so I’m going to translate the episode into a practical playbook for founders who need traction through resource-efficient marketing, not cash-burning campaigns.

Positioning for bootstrappers: vertical, orthogonal, or horizontal?

If you’re bootstrapped, your positioning shouldn’t be a philosophy debate. It should be a cashflow decision.

In the episode, a founder describes a product that aggregates public regional data sources into a dashboard with alerts and collaboration. They started with renewable energy, closed big players, and now want to decide: double down vertically, expand into adjacent (orthogonal) verticals, or go horizontal (a generic “Stripe for unified data APIs”).

Rob’s answer boils down to two founder-friendly questions:

1. How much does the product have to change?
2. How much does your go-to-market have to change?

If you want a rule that works without VC, here it is:

The best positioning move is the one that adds the least go-to-market complexity per dollar of new revenue.

Vertical positioning: win a niche you can actually reach

Vertical positioning is saying, “This is for renewable energy compliance teams,” not “This is for anyone who needs data.” It’s narrower, but for bootstrappers that’s often a feature, not a bug.

Why vertical works without VC:

• You can find buyers faster (industry communities, conferences, job titles)
• SEO is clearer (keywords are more specific)
• Referrals happen inside tight networks
• Your product roadmap is easier to prioritize

When you should stay vertical:

• Your current niche can realistically get you to meaningful revenue (often $1M+ ARR in B2B)
• Your marketing is already working (you have a repeatable motion)
• The product benefit is strongly tied to domain specifics (regulatory workflows, industry data)

Rob also calls out a very real concern: niche volatility (legislation, regulation changes, cycles). That’s not an automatic reason to leave—it’s a reason to build a buffer.

Orthogonal expansion: adjacent verticals as “risk hedging”

Orthogonal expansion means you keep the core product but take it into adjacent markets—the ones that share buying behavior, workflows, or distribution channels.

Rob’s example is perfect: if you serve real estate agents, adjacent buyers might be mortgage brokers, title companies, or real estate attorneys. They operate in the same ecosystem, sometimes even talk to each other, and often share tools.

For the “renewables data dashboard” founder, adjacent verticals might be:

• grid operators and utilities
• environmental compliance teams
• infrastructure and permitting firms
• energy consultants

Why orthogonal is often the bootstrapper’s sweet spot:

• It reduces reliance on one market without “resetting” your business
• It creates optionality (you can later go horizontal if you earn it)
• It’s testable with cheap experiments (landing pages, outreach, content)

Here’s the practical approach I’ve seen work:

1. Pick one adjacent vertical, not five.
2. Write a positioning statement tailored to it.
3. Run a 30-day marketing test (outreach + content + 10 discovery calls).
4. Only then decide whether to build the extra scrapers/integrations/features.

Orthogonal expansion isn’t “niching up.” It’s “risk management with constraints.”

Horizontal positioning: powerful, but expensive in disguise

Going horizontal (“unified data API for everyone”) sounds bigger. It is bigger. That’s also the problem.

A horizontal pitch often creates two immediate bootstrapper headaches:

• Distribution gets vague. Who searches for “unified data API”? Who owns that budget?
• Competition gets brutal. Horizontals invite well-funded incumbents.

Rob’s framing is blunt and right: even if the product doesn’t change much, the marketing motion usually does. You go from “renewable energy data automation” to “anyone who needs data,” which is basically saying, “We don’t know who our buyer is yet.”

When horizontal can work without VC:

• You already have a strong inbound channel (SEO, audience, partnerships)
• The category is established and buyers self-identify
• Your product is truly plug-and-play with minimal support

For most early bootstrapped SaaS companies, horizontal is a late-stage reward, not a starting point.

Don’t invent a category—borrow one and earn the right to expand

Another listener asks whether they should position an “AI-native SEO automation tool” as a new category, even though bootstrappers are warned not to do that.

Rob’s answer is one every founder should print out:

If your category term doesn’t mean something to your buyers, it’s not positioning—it’s confusion.

“SEO automation” might make sense internally, but if customers don’t already use that phrase, it doesn’t help them choose you.

Why category creation is brand-building on hard mode

Rob makes a key point: category creation isn’t just building a brand for your product.

It’s building a brand for an entire grouping of products—while other companies resist adopting your label.

And it typically requires:

• years of consistent market education
• lots of content and PR
• money for awareness

Bootstrappers rarely have the budget or patience for that.

A better play: “category piggybacking”

If your tool audits a site and fixes SEO issues, don’t fight the obvious:

• Call it an SEO audit tool or site audit tool (category people recognize)
• Add the differentiator: “that automatically fixes issues”

This keeps your H1 and homepage story crisp:

“Find and fix technical SEO issues automatically.”

That’s not a new category. It’s a clear promise inside an existing one.

Bootstrap positioning guideline:

• Category = what budget line it comes from (SEO tools)
• Differentiator = why you win (automatically fixes issues, not just reports)

Local-first vs global marketing: pick a domain you won’t regret

A founder in New Zealand asks whether they should market locally using a .co.nz domain or use a .com for global reach.

Rob’s advice is practical: if you think you’ll go international later, don’t bake “local-only” into decisions that are painful to undo.

The bootstrapper’s domain rule

Choose the domain that keeps your future options open.

Switching domains later can be costly:

• SEO equity resets or gets messy (redirects, rankings volatility)
• brand recognition fractures
• email deliverability and links get complicated

For many B2B SaaS products, a .com is the default because it doesn’t signal “this is only for one country.”

How to market locally without trapping yourself

You can absolutely start local-first. Just do it with messaging and channels, not irreversible structural choices.

Tactics that work:

• Create a location-specific landing page (e.g., “For New Zealand teams”) while keeping the main brand global.
• Run local partnerships (industry associations, meetups, agencies) that don’t require a local domain.
• Use geo-targeted ads sparingly if you must (but most bootstrappers should start with outreach + content).
• Sell locally to nail your script, onboarding, and case studies—then export the motion.

If your product truly depends on country-specific regulation (tax, payroll, compliance), then local branding may be justified. But if it’s mostly universal SaaS, don’t over-localize early.

The hidden growth constraint: founder psychology (and shipping)

One of the best parts of the episode isn’t “marketing” in the narrow sense. It’s the question about procrastination and resistance right before launch.

Rob says something most founders learn the hard way:

A big chunk of entrepreneurial success is managing your own psychology.

This matters for marketing without VC because your biggest growth lever is often consistency—shipping, publishing, talking to customers, and repeating.

A simple system to ship when you’re avoiding it

If you build endlessly but don’t launch, treat it like a constraint in the system, not a personality flaw.

What works in practice:

1. Name the resistance. “I avoid launching because it creates judgment.”
2. Add accountability. Mastermind, advisor, peer founder, or even a paid coach.
3. Shorten the feedback loop. Don’t wait for “big launch.” Ship to 3–5 real users.
4. Commit publicly (small). A date on a calendar, a note to your list, a message to 10 prospects.

Marketing without VC rewards founders who can keep putting work into the world even when it’s uncomfortable.

A practical decision framework you can use this week

If you’re sitting on similar questions—positioning, category naming, and global reach—use this quick checklist.

Positioning checklist (vertical vs orthogonal vs horizontal)

• Time-to-first-revenue: Which option gets you paid fastest?
• Marketing clarity: Can you name the buyer and where they hang out?
• Product delta: How many engineering hours to support the next market?
• Support load: Will this double onboarding/support complexity?
• Risk: Are you reducing volatility or adding chaos?

Category checklist (should you name a new thing?)

• Do customers already search for this term?
• Can a stranger understand it in 5 seconds?
• Is the term a budget line item (SEO tool, CRM, help desk)?
• Can you explain the product in one sentence without jargon?

Global checklist (local vs international)

• Will you expand internationally within 12–24 months?
• Would a local domain reduce trust in your biggest future market?
• Can you market locally via pages and channels instead?

Where this fits in “US Startup Marketing Without VC”

This episode reinforces a theme that shows up across bootstrapped growth stories: clarity beats ambition. Not because ambition is bad—but because unclear positioning and self-invented categories are taxes you can’t afford without VC.

If you’re trying to grow through organic channels—SEO, content, partnerships, outbound, community—your job is to make the buyer’s decision easy. Use existing categories. Start in one niche. Expand to adjacent verticals when you have evidence. Keep your domain flexible. And ship even when your brain tries to protect you from judgment.

The question worth sitting with is simple: what would you choose if your only growth budget was focus?