The Positioning Sprint
With
April Dunford
Available on demand with membership
1-week sprint plus unlimited classes $83 per month (billed annually)
Discover and sell your secret sauce
Even the best products don’t sell in the wrong context. We’ll teach you how to determine what makes your product the best in the world and communicate that value to the right set of customers. Note: The Positioning Sprint is most relevant for B2B companies, and most of the content uses B2B examples.
Who it’s perfect for
Marketers
looking to differentiate their product in a competitive environment
Founders
at early stage startups who need to convince people of their product’s value
What you'll learn
Understand what makes your product special
Not all features are created equal. April will teach you to pinpoint the product features that make you special compared to your competition.
Sell to the right set of customers
Instead of selling to everyone, April will teach you to pick a specific, detailed segment of customers who care a lot about the value your product provides.
Choose a market category you can win
Why compete with the industry leader when you could compete in a smaller but more targeted category? April will teach you to pick the right category for your offering.
Sample course case study
Meet your professor
April Dunford
April Dunford is the bestselling author of Obviously Awesome, the industry bible on product positioning. She is a positioning expert who has led teams at seven successful B2B tech startups and advised Fortune 500 companies on positioning their products for success.
Meet your professor
The sprint experience
Sprints are condensed, immediately applicable 1-2 week online courses taught by business leaders and business school professors.
Learn the strategies driving successful businesses
Get behind-the-scenes insights from a top business leader
Workshop, discuss, and debate with your peers
Complete a project to apply your learnings to your work
The workshop experience
Workshops are 1-3 hour courses that go deep on a specific skill without a significant time commitment.
Master a strategic skill in just a few hours
Learn live from a top business leader or professor
Practice and apply your skill in a group
Sprint calendar
Section courses are built around the tight schedules of busy, full-time professionals.
Sun
Mon
Tues
Weds
Thurs - Pre Sprint
Meet your TA and cohort
Fri - Pre Sprint
Watch a welcome video from your professor
Sat - Pre Sprint
Sun - Sprint week
Mon - Sprint week
Watch your day 1 lesson content
Tues - Sprint week
Watch your day 2 lesson content
Weds - Sprint week
Thurs - Sprint week
Attend a project workshop hosted by your TA
Fri - Sprint week
Sat - Sprint week
Sun - Post Sprint
Mon - Post Sprint
Submit your project
*sample 1-week sprint calendar
Sprint calendar
Section courses are built around the tight schedules of busy, full-time professionals.
Sun
Mon
Tues
Weds
Thurs - Pre Sprint
Meet your TA and cohort
Fri - Pre Sprint
Watch a welcome video from your professor
Sat - Pre Sprint
Sun - Week 1
Mon - Week 1
Watch your day 1 lesson content
Tues - Week 1
Weds - Week 1
Watch your day 2 lesson content
Thurs - Week 1
Fri - Week 1
Watch your day 3 lesson content
Sat - Week 1
Sun - Week 2
Mon - Week 2
Watch your day 4 lesson content
Tues - Week 2
Weds - Week 2
Livestream
Thurs - Week 2
Attend the guided project workshop
Fri - Week 2
Sat - Week 2
Sun - Post Sprint
Mon - Post Sprint
Submit your project
*sample 2-week sprint calendar
What you'll leave with
Badge to share with your network (and future boss)
A project or framework you can apply to your work
Progress toward a Section certificate
What you'll leave with
Badge to share with your network (and future boss)
A project or framework you can apply to your work
Network of diverse professionals to support you
The Positioning Sprint
What students say
“Grateful for the opportunity to fine tune my positioning skills with the maestra herself!”
- Lizzy Brophy, Vendor
“This was one of the best sprints I have taken with Section. April Dunford is a marvelous teacher, with great insights and stories. Highly recommended and very actionable.”
- Bernice Cramer, Bose
“The inimitable April Dunford adds wit, humor, and heart to a nebulous topic and makes it look easy. Great class from a great instructor.”
- Dana Curtis, Microchip Technology
Unboring business education you can use immediately
No bad PowerPoints, cheesy ukulele music, mandatory quizzes to prove you were watching, smart-but-super-boring professors, or un-diverse panels. Ever.
Still have questions?
We sure do. Head on over to our scholarships page to learn more and to apply for a scholarship.
We can’t guarantee your company will reimburse you, but nearly half of our alumni have reported successful reimbursements. Check out our tips on reimbursement for some positioning ideas and a sample email you can use.
Yes! Upon submission, simply flag it as confidential, and we will not share your project beyond the Section team.
Visit our help center and we’ll take care of you!
Not in the traditional sense. We provide exercises and facilitate community interaction, and you don’t have to participate — but we hope you will, as it really brings the materials to life. You’re also not obligated to complete the final project unless you’d like to qualify for a certificate.
Yes, live learning with group works for some, but if you’d like to learn on your own schedule, you have the option to watch all course videos on-demand and submit your project when you’re ready.
We design our courses for the busy, full-time professional, but we also get that it can be tough to add yet another thing! One of our core features is flexibility: for sprints, some students like to keep up day-to-day (expect to spend about 1-2 hours per module), others like to binge over a weekend. Whatever group you belong in, we’ve found that our alumni have been able to sustain this over the 1-2 week period. Our half-day workshops are a great deep dive into content, in a shorter window.
You don’t! We record every live session with our professors and make it available for you to replay, at your convenience.
Yes, you can cancel your membership at any time and you will continue to have access to your account until the end of your subscription period. Have more questions? Visit our help center to get in touch.
Every student who completes their course receives a certificate of completion. Completing the course means watching all course content and completing the final project. You can print out the certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile — and feel free to tag @Section on LinkedIn or @section_school on Twitter when you share it.
At Section, we believe in continuous learning, so with every course you get complimentary access to live lectures with business thought leaders and a professional network to help you accelerate your growth. Not for you? You can cancel the membership at any time.
Yep – you’ll walk away from each program with a badge for each course and a certificate for the program as a whole.
When you complete your Section program, you earn a branded certificate to share on LinkedIn and an optional, designed portfolio of work to show future employers.
We recommend taking one program at a time so you can focus your thinking – but if you’re an overachiever, yes, you can take them simultaneously!
