I used to think the way to enter a market was to build everything better than everyone else. More features. Better design. Lower price.

The logic seems to check out right? Do more, for less.

Well…don’t.

First up that way lies only madness.

You’ll be trying to do everything whilst not charging enough. You’ll attract bad customers who expect the world for $10.

It ain’t sustainable.

Instead we’re going to start focusing down. Up until now we’ve been in exploration mode. Now it’s time to hone in and craft our wedge.

Let’s get started

Summary

Driving a wedge

• Choosing one specific problem from your cluster to solve first

• Defining your wedge - the smallest viable entry point

• Positioning against competitors without competing on everything

• Planning your expansion path from day one

• Creating your one-sentence market position

From Problem Cluster to Entry Point

Over the last three days, you've

• Found markets with real demand

• Mapped clusters of problems

• Identified gaps competitors miss

All of this has been going outwards. Getting more options. More ways to tackle the market. More opportunity.

Now comes the hard part: choosing just ONE problem to solve first.

This feels wrong. You've found 15 problems! Why limit yourself?

Because trying to solve everything means solving nothing well. You need a wedge - a specific entry point where you can be genuinely 10x better than alternatives.

Your Strategic Entry Analyst

Prompt time. We’re going to use AI to analyse all we’ve been gathering. Use this prompt with Manus or your AI research tool. Use it below you previous work or copy/paste in the information from your other chats.

You are a market entry strategist helping me choose the perfect entry point for my business. Here's what I've learned about [market name]:
- Problem clusters: [paste your main problem clusters from Day 2]
- Competition gaps: [paste your top 3 gaps from Day 3]
- Current solutions: [list main competitors and their focus] Help me identify the ONE problem to solve first by analysing: 1. Which problems are: - Most frequent (daily/weekly pain) - Most expensive (time or money cost) - Easiest to build a solution for - Least well-served by competitors 2. Create a simple 2x2 matrix: - X-axis: Easy to build → Hard to build - Y-axis: Low value → High value - Plot each problem on this matrix 3. Recommend my entry point: - Which specific problem to solve - Why this is the best wedge - How to position against competitors 4. Sketch an expansion path: - Entry point (first problem) - Natural expansion (problems 2-3) - Long-term vision (full cluster) Keep it practical - I'm a solopreneur who needs to build something in weeks not months. 

This prompt will take your research and narrow it down to one plan of action.

It’ll plot everything for you in a matrix and then choose the best option. As always work with the AI. Don’t just take everything at face value. You are part of this process too.

It’ll also give you a rough sketch of the next steps. We are NOT doing these now. Or even in the 10 weeks. But they are there to give you an idea of where this could go moving forward. This is primarily to cut off the “ugh why bother with this tiny thing” complaint. I see you…you can do all that cool stuff later don’t worry! After we drive a wedge in.

Choosing a wedge means saying no to everything else - for now. This is such an important skill for entrepreneurs to learn. When you see other problems, other opportunities, other markets, write them down. Put them in a "later" folder. But don't chase them.

Your only job for the next 10 weeks is to solve one problem so well that customers can't imagine using anything else. Cool?

The Power of the Wedge

Your wedge is your initial focus - narrow enough to dominate, valuable enough to charge for.

It’s the fix to the blue ocean, red ocean dilemma we discussed earlier. You are finding your own damn ocean.

Good wedges have three characteristics

1. Painful Enough: People actively seek solutions

2. Narrow Enough: You can be the obvious best choice

3. Expandable Enough: Natural path to adjacent problems

Example wedges that worked

• "Slack to task management" (not "project management")

• "Instagram analytics for food bloggers" (not "social media analytics")

• "GDPR compliance for UK dentists" (not "compliance software")

Positioning Without Fighting

You don't need to beat competitors at their own game. You need to create your own game. We’ll basically outmanoeuvre them by not even playing with them…spoilsports that we are!

Here's how to position your wedge

Against Feature-Rich Competitors: "Unlike [big tool] that does everything adequately, we do [specific thing] brilliantly."

Against Expensive Competitors: "All the [specific feature] you need, none of the complexity you don't."

Against Cheap/Free Competitors: "Finally, [specific solution] that actually works for [specific industry]."

You're not saying competitors are bad. You're saying you're perfect for this one specific use case. We don’t even engage (yet). We don’t need to.

Creating Your Market Position

OK here’s one I want you to do. Not ChatGPT. This one is an important manual exercise because it’ll help your crystallise what your are building.

Distill everything into one sentence that makes your position crystal clear

"We help [specific customer] solve [specific problem] better than anyone else by [unique approach]."

Examples

• "We help UK accountants automate compliance reporting in half the time by focusing only on HMRC requirements"

• "We help Shopify store owners recover abandoned carts 3x better by sending WhatsApp messages instead of emails"

• "We help estate agents write property listings in minutes by training AI on successful local sales"

If you can't explain your position in one sentence, your wedge is too broad.

If you find yourself adding conditionals, provisos and exceptions then take it back to the drawing board. It has to be clean, focused, easy to understand.

Your Day 4 Deliverable

By end of today, you should have

1. Your chosen entry problem - the specific wedge you'll attack

2. Your 2x2 matrix showing why this problem is the sweet spot

3. Your positioning statement - one sentence that defines your unique position

Build in Public Component

Share your strategic decision

"Day 4: Choosing my wedge.

Out of 15 problems in [market], I'm starting with [specific problem].

Why? It happens daily, costs [time/money], and nobody's solving it well.

My position: [your one-sentence statement]

Narrow focus = clear path forward."

What's Next?

Tomorrow, we validate your chosen wedge with real conversations. You'll test whether your entry strategy resonates with actual customers before building anything.

But today? Today you make the hard choice. One problem. One customer. One clear position.

Everything else can wait.

Keep Prompting,

Kyle