STP SaaS: the zero-sum filter for saas marketing

<p>You’ve been told to do STP: Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning. It sounds like a formula. You draw three circles, you write some bland sentences, and you call it a strategy. You think, “Okay, I have a target audience: B2B tech startups.” You have segmented. Then you target the CTOs. You have targeted. Then you position yourself as the “leading AI-powered solution for workflow automation.” Done.</p> <p>The problem is this textbook version of STP is a checklist for mediocrity. It produces soft, interchangeable language. It makes your product sound exactly like the three competitors who read the same marketing book. You’ve done the work, but your marketing still feels like shouting into a void. Nothing happens. You are not alone. The real challenge of STP for a SaaS founder is not finding a segment, but <em>owning</em> one. It requires a difficult, almost painful decision to exclude 98% of the market. Most founders skip this part because exclusion feels like loss. It is not. Exclusion is power.</p> <p>We are going to flip the classic STP model. We won't start with who you are selling to. We will start with who you are <em>not</em> for. We will use the <strong>Zero-Sum Filter</strong> to force an uncomfortable clarity that translates directly into market momentum. If you are building a clear, deterministic system, your STP needs to be a hard truth, not a soft aspiration.</p> <p>***</p> <p><strong>TL;DR:</strong> STP in SaaS is a zero-sum game where you must actively exclude non-ideal users to achieve the clarity required for market ownership and sustainable growth.</p> <p><em>Short on time? Scroll directly to the Zero-Sum Filter Builder section for a concrete action you can take in the next ten minutes.</em></p> <p>***</p> <h2>Define your stp saas segmentation by isolating the highest-friction users</h2> <p>The first step in modern STP for SaaS is to reverse the S. Instead of defining the people you serve, define the people you will reject. This is the Segmentation by Isolation principle. Conventional wisdom tells you to find common traits: industry, company size, budget. That gives you a demographic profile. It does not give you momentum. Momentum comes from solving a problem better than anyone else, for someone specific.</p> <p>The Zero-Sum Filter asks: Which potential customers require the most custom work, yield the lowest LTV, and dilute your product roadmap with edge-case features? Reject them first. You do not have the resources to please everyone. You built a product that works. Now you have to admit who it works best for, and who it actively alienates.</p> <h3>The Cost of Low-Friction Growth</h3> <p>If you build a task management tool, your low-friction segment might be “independent consultants.” They buy fast, they pay a small fee. But they will never generate the high-LTV network effects you need to scale. Your high-friction but high-value segment might be “agencies with 50+ clients.” They take longer to close, but they pay 10x more and integrate deeply. Reject the low-friction growth path for the high-impact target.</p> <p><strong>Action for today:</strong> Go to your signup list. Find the five smallest customers who have sent the most support emails this month. Write down their industry or company size. This is a group you are actively isolating. This is a small win: you have just freed up support bandwidth.</p> <p>***</p> <h2>Targeting: shifting from who to when</h2> <p>Textbook Targeting focuses on personas. It’s a static picture: “Meet Sarah, the 35-year-old marketing manager.” But a market is dynamic. SaaS is bought in a moment of acute need. You are targeting a pain point in time, not a static job title. This is why we shift Targeting from ‘Who’ to ‘When.’</p> <p>The critical factor is the <em>Moment of Constraint.</em> When does the current system break? When does the cost of doing nothing finally exceed the cost of buying your SaaS? That specific moment is your true target.</p> <h3>Finding the Trigger Event</h3> <p>For a continuous integration SaaS, the target isn't "DevOps teams." The target is "DevOps teams right after the third unexpected pipeline failure this month." For a payroll SaaS, the target is "Small businesses right before their first full-time hire." Your targeting should be defined by the external event or internal limit that forces a purchase. This insight is essential for <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy">how to build a marketing strategy</a> that converts.</p> <p>This reframe can make you feel competent and capable again. You don't need a massive ad budget; you need to understand the trigger event. You can ignore conventional advice about generic "persona-based content" and focus on content that addresses the immediate fallout of the trigger event.</p> <p><strong>Action:</strong> Define the three main 'trigger events' that led your last five paying customers to sign up. Use this to refine your messaging this week.</p> <p>***</p> <h2>Positioning: the mandatory trade-off statement</h2> <p>Positioning is the hardest letter in STP because it requires a public statement of what you are <em>not</em>. Most SaaS positioning is a list of features. It’s what you do. Real positioning is the Trade-Off Statement: what you sacrifice to be excellent at one thing for one specific group.</p> <p>The Zero-Sum Filter dictates: if you are positioned as the best at X, you must be visibly inadequate at Y or Z.</p> <h3>Clarity Through Exclusion</h3> <p>If your project management SaaS is positioned as "The easiest tool for small creative teams," your positioning implicitly tells enterprise users, "We lack the complex permissioning and compliance features you require." That exclusion is your strength. It tells the small creative team you are built for them, and only them.</p> <p>Consider the difference: "We are an all-in-one CRM." (Soft, weak.) Vs. "We are the CRM built exclusively for independent consultants who hate spreadsheets and need to close deals in under 3 clicks." (Hard, specific, and alienates every large sales team.) See <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/positioning-strategy-for-founders">positioning strategy for founders</a> for how to frame this statement.</p> <p><strong>Action for the next hour:</strong> Write a draft of your product's mandatory trade-off statement: “We are the best [PRODUCT CATEGORY] for [ISOLATED SEGMENT] because we sacrifice [FEATURE/COMPLEXITY] to provide [UNIQUE BENEFIT].”</p> <p>***</p> <h2>The minimum viable stp for startups</h2> <p>Early-stage founders often paralyze themselves with complex market research. You don’t need a 50-page STP document. You need a Minimum Viable STP. It is built on three quick inputs, not months of analysis. (This ties into the broader idea of <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/marketing-strategy-for-startups">marketing strategy for startups</a> being about constraints.)</p> <ol> <li><strong>The Pain-Point Segment:</strong> Find 10 users with the exact same, acute, expensive problem.</li> <li><strong>The Solution Constraint:</strong> Define the one core feature you do better than anyone else.</li> <li><strong>The Messaging Pivot:</strong> Articulate the one sentence that makes those 10 people feel you read their mind.</li> </ol> <p>Your goal is not market coverage. Your goal is the shortest path to solving a problem for a defined group. Use this focused approach to define <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-define-your-target-audience">how to define your target audience</a> quickly and effectively.</p> <p>***</p> <h2>The zero-sum filter builder: sas stp generator</h2> <p>Your positioning is only as strong as the exclusions it creates. Use this prompt to inject the Zero-Sum Filter into your STP process.</p> <p>***</p> <h2>FAQ</h2> <h3>Q: How do I know if I’m rejecting the right customers?</h3> <p>A: The wrong customers are the ones whose needs pull your product toward maximum complexity and lowest profitability. If your product is a simple API for data validation, the right rejection is anyone who asks for a complex, end-to-end user interface. This is part of maintaining your <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/brand-positioning-for-startups">brand positioning for startups</a>: clarity is a competitive advantage.</p> <h3>Q: Isn't "rejecting customers" just bad for growth?</h3> <p>A: It's the only path to <em>sustainable</em> growth for a startup. When you are small, every time you add a feature for a non-core customer, you take energy away from serving your core customer. You are using a scarce resource—your team’s focus—in a zero-sum way. Define your <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/value-proposition-examples">value proposition examples</a> based on who you serve best, not who you tolerate.</p> <h3>Q: How does this connect with my core marketing fundamentals?</h3> <p>A: STP is the root of all marketing. If the root is fuzzy, everything that grows from it—your content, your ads, your website copy—will be weak. A clear STP is the foundation for strong <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/startup-marketing-fundamentals">startup marketing fundamentals</a>. It dictates which channels to choose, what messages to write, and which tactics to ignore.</p> <h3>Q: What if I only have a vague idea of my segment right now?</h3> <p>A: That’s fine. Don't build a complex persona yet. Instead, focus on the immediate, observable pain. Instead of "Small Business Owner," focus on "Small Business Owner who spends 8 hours a month manually reconciling invoices." That immediate pain point will guide your early positioning and is a fast way to achieve a <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy">marketing strategy</a> that generates momentum.</p> <p>***</p> <h2>The Zero-Sum Filter Builder</h2> <p>Use this prompt to generate clear STP components by forcing yourself to define your market exclusions first. This is for SaaS products only.</p> <p><code>You are a positioning consultant focused on extreme clarity for SaaS founders. Your goal is to use the "Zero-Sum Filter" to define an STP model based on strategic exclusion. You must output three deliverables based on the following product details:</code></p> <p><code>[PRODUCT CATEGORY]: [YOUR PRODUCT'S CATEGORY, e.g., AI Writing Assistant]</code></p> <p><code>[CORE TECHNOLOGY]: [THE UNIQUE MECHANISM OR TECHNOLOGY, e.g., Custom NLP models trained on academic papers]</code></p> <p><code>[CURRENT TARGET]: [YOUR VAGUE TARGET AUDIENCE, e.g., Content marketers and SEOs]</code></p> <p><code>**DELIVERABLES:**</code></p> <p><code>1. **The Isolation Segment:** Identify one specific high-friction user group (who costs you time/money) and one high-potential segment (who generates high LTV/impact). Define the primary exclusion you will make.</code></p> <p><code>2. **The Constraint Targeting:** Define the single "Trigger Event" or "Moment of Constraint" that forces the high-potential segment to seek your solution *today*.</code></p> <p><code>3. **The Mandatory Trade-Off:** Write a single sentence of positioning that highlights what you are the best at, and what you visibly sacrifice to achieve that focus.</code></p> <h3>Example Output:</h3> <p><strong>1. The Isolation Segment:</strong></p> <p>Exclusion: Large marketing agencies (they require complex SSO/compliance features that dilute roadmap). Focus: Individual B2B SaaS Founders (they value speed, clarity, and cost efficiency).</p> <p><strong>2. The Constraint Targeting:</strong></p> <p>The Moment of Constraint is "The week before a major funding pitch where the founder needs to write high-converting, authoritative copy quickly, but cannot afford an agency."</p> <p><strong>3. The Mandatory Trade-Off:</strong></p> <p>We are the fastest AI copy editor for B2B founders, sacrificing complex brand compliance and enterprise features to give you pitch-ready copy in minutes.</p> <p>The Zero-Sum Filter Builder is one of many interconnected AI-powered tools within LiftKit, designed to translate marketing theory into immediate, actionable output.</p> <hr> <h2>Start running operator-grade marketing in under an hour.</h2> <p>LiftKit is the only strategy-first AI marketing system built for founders. It distills the same Fortune-500 frameworks used at Apple, Stripe, and McKinsey into a simple, actionable playbook you can run in under an hour.</p> <p>Stop tinkering with tactics. Start operating with strategy.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://getliftkit.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get LiftKit</a></strong></p> <h2>Keep learning</h2> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Frameworks</strong></a>: Learn proven mental models to diagnose, prioritise, and scale marketing outcomes.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/channels" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Channels</strong></a>: Understand which acquisition paths actually work and how to deploy them strategically.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/messaging" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Messaging</strong></a>: Build positioning, angle, and copy that converts without guesswork.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Strategy</strong></a>: Make smarter decisions using operator-grade prompts and structured thinking.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/tools" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tools</strong></a>: Use AI, automation, and practical templates to move faster.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Research</strong></a>: Tap into market insights, psychology, and patterns that drive effective marketing.</p> <script type='application/ld+json'> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "Stp saas: the zero-sum filter for saas marketing", "description": "Define your stp saas segmentation by isolating the highest-friction users", "articleSection": "frameworks", "keywords": "stp saas, stp,saas,marketing strategy", "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "url": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/stp-saas", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/stp-saas" } </script>