A "tollbooth" strategy finds a choke point of acute customer need. ClickUp built a tool to find 1-star reviews for competitors, then messaged those users immediately. This intercepted customers at the precise moment their existing option became unworkable, making ClickUp's alternative incredibly compelling and efficient for acquiring their first 100 customers.
Related Insights
In crowded markets, founders mistakenly focus on other startups as primary competition. In reality, most customers are unaware of these players. The real battle is against the customer's status quo: their current tools like spreadsheets, hiring a person, or using an old system. Your job is to beat those options.
Some of the largest markets address needs customers have completely given up on because no viable solution existed. This powerful latent demand is invisible if you only observe current activities. You must uncover the high-priority goals on their mental "to-do list" that they have quit trying to achieve.
Bizzabo created a campaign personifying the frustrations of its main competitor's customers. By directly addressing specific pain points heard in sales calls, the campaign resonated deeply with prospects and highlighted Bizzabo's superior solutions in a memorable, targeted way.
To find a competitor's real weaknesses, go beyond their marketing. Message their ex-employees on LinkedIn for operational insights and analyze their 1-star G2/Capterra reviews to identify the persistent product flaws that anger customers the most.
GoProposal used a four-part framework for all content: address customer Pain, clarify Aspirations, highlight the Traps of other solutions, and explain How to truly solve the problem. This structure guides prospects to conclude your product is the only viable option without directly attacking competitors.
Founders often try to build scalable "tollbooth" pipelines (e.g., content, targeted ads) too early. This is a mistake because the specific customer demand is still unknown. A tollbooth strategy is only effective after achieving 5-10 nearly identical customer wins, which provides the necessary conviction and data to target the right moment of need.
Don't shy away from competitors. A powerful customer discovery tactic is to present competing solutions directly to prospects and ask them specifically what they dislike or what's missing. This method surfaces critical product gaps and unmet needs you can build your solution around.
Creating a new product category is slow. The fastest path to revenue is building a superior solution that replaces an existing, budgeted expense. By positioning against the cost of an in-house team or a legacy service, the purchase becomes a simple replacement decision, not a new investment.
