# Marketing Mba

> MBA-level marketing and startup knowledge base — segmentation, positioning, pricing, the 4Ps, value proposition design (the Four U's, the Three D's, MVS), business model design, product-to-company roadmap, B2B sales pipeline, negotiation, pitching, and founder/leadership frameworks. Use when defining a value proposition, segmenting a market, setting pricing strategy, designing a go-to-market plan, building a pitch deck, structuring a sales process, or reasoning through founder/startup-execution decisions.

- Skill: `fralapo/marketing-mba` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 13 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add fralapo/marketing-mba`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/fralapo/marketing-mba/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- Author: fralapo (https://skillmd.com/u/fralapo)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/fralapo/marketing-mba

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# Marketing MBA — Theory & Startup Execution Knowledge Base
**Chapters**: 9 | **Generated**: 2026-07-15

## How to Use This Skill
- **No args** → read the Core Frameworks below
- **Topic** → ask about `segmentation`, `pricing strategy`, `value proposition`, `sales pipeline`, `negotiation` → I find and read the relevant chapter
- **Chapter** → ask for `ch05` → I load that specific chapter
- **Browse** → ask "what chapters do you have?" for the full index

When you ask about a topic not covered in Core Frameworks below, I will read the relevant chapter file before answering.

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## Core Frameworks & Mental Models

### The Value Proposition Template (Ch5)
"For **[target customer]**, dissatisfied with **[current alternative]**, our product provides **[differentiated capability]** that, unlike **[named alternatives]**, does **[something unique]**." Precision on "for who" is a feature, not a limitation — vague targets make go-to-market, messaging, and channel choice impossible.

### The Four U's — is this problem worth solving? (Ch5)
**Unworkable** (broken enough that someone gets fired if it isn't fixed) · **Unavoidable** (structurally inescapable — tax, regulation, aging) · **Urgent** (relative to the customer's *other* priorities, not absolute — ask "what's your #1 priority right now?") · **Underserved** (real white space, not 10 existing vendors). Consumer-market variant: **BLAC** — Blatant/Latent × Aspirational/Critical; best target = blatant + critical.

### The Three D's — is this a breakthrough, not an incremental idea? (Ch5)
**Discontinuous** (non-linear leap, not faster/better/cheaper) + **Disruptive** (changes the basis of competition, often via business model) + **Defensible** (protectable via IP, structure, or proprietary advantage). A disruptive business model can beat a technically superior product.

### CORE and Minimum Viable Segment (Ch5)
**CORE** = the single word/reason a customer would give, reflexively, for why they use you — define it before choosing a monetization model; it's usually narrower than founders think. **MVS** = the smallest group of users sharing one identical need — the "dance partner" of an MVP. Win it completely before broadening.

### Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning (Ch2)
A segment must be large enough, reachable, homogeneous in needs, and responsive to the marketing mix similarly — and, critically, **actionable**. Positioning = the space a brand occupies in the customer's mind; identify points of parity (table stakes) before points of difference (what wins). Perceptual maps synthesize aggregate customer perception, not objective fact.

### Strategy vs. Planning (Ch4)
Planning lists comfortable, controllable activities with no theory of winning. Strategy is a coherent, falsifiable theory: where we play, how we win, what capabilities/systems that requires — an outcome you influence but don't control. Escape the "planning trap" by writing the logic explicitly: "what would have to be true about ourselves, the industry, competitors, and customers for this to work?"

### Porter's Five Forces (Ch4)
Rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes — a structural cap on industry profitability independent of execution quality. Diagnose the industry boundary correctly first; treat the forces as dynamic, not a static snapshot.

### Pricing Strategy Selector (Ch3)
Skimming (recoup R&D, quality signal, barriers to entry) vs. penetration (fast volume, capacity ready) vs. prestige (luxury/status) vs. cost-plus (B2B partner sustainability). Skimming → penetration works; the reverse rarely does, because customers anchor to a low launch price. Always compare total profit **dollars**, not margin percentage.

### Product → Company Roadmap (Ch6)
Classify what you have — feature, product, or company — before investing further. The Product–Company Gap is a go-to-market and business-model problem, not an engineering one. R&D-to-S&M spend inverts as a company matures (~100% product at founding → S&M several multiples of R&D at scale); budget go-to-market at ~2x product-development cost from day one.

### Founder Readiness (Ch6)
"Last day of work" test · timing inequality (fear of too-late > fear of too-early) · Rich vs. King (money or control — rarely both) · the 7–10 year horizon, not a 6-month "flip it" mentality. Founders can't scale by default — the skillset that starts a company differs from what scaling requires; audit where your time actually goes.

### The Sales Pipeline & 4 Pillars (Ch7)
Leads → Suspects (MQL) → Prospects (SQL) → Opportunities → Customers, with rising conversion ratios left-to-right. Every B2B conversation sequences strictly: **Empathy → Trust → Value → Confidence** — jumping to competence/fix-mode first is a fatal error.

### Principled Negotiation — Getting to Yes (Ch7)
Interests, not positions → objective standards for residual conflict → options for mutual gain, brainstormed before evaluation → people separate from the problem. Know your **BATNA** before you start.

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## Chapter Index

| # | Title | Key Frameworks |
|---|-------|----------------|
| [ch01](references/ch01-marketing-fundamentals.md) | Marketing Fundamentals, Planning & Product Lifecycle | 4Ps, AIDA, mission/vision/values, BCG Matrix, PLC, Diffusion of Innovation, NPD process |
| [ch02](references/ch02-segmentation-positioning-branding.md) | Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning & Branding | Segmentation criteria, perceptual maps, points of parity/difference, brand architecture, MVS |
| [ch03](references/ch03-pricing-distribution-promotion.md) | Pricing, Distribution & Promotion | Skimming/penetration/prestige, break-even, distribution intensity, IMC, CPM, media scheduling |
| [ch04](references/ch04-strategy-competitive-analysis.md) | Strategy vs. Planning & Competitive Analysis | Strategy-as-theory-of-winning, Five Forces, SWOT |
| [ch05](references/ch05-value-proposition-business-model.md) | Value Proposition & Business Model Design | Four U's, BLAC, Three D's, CORE, MVS, Multipliers vs. Levers |
| [ch06](references/ch06-startup-execution-team-fundraising.md) | Startup Execution, Team, Culture & Fundraising | Founder readiness, the Ungame, hiring frameworks, MAT, fundraising stages |
| [ch07](references/ch07-sales-negotiation-persuasion.md) | Sales, Negotiation & Persuasion | B2B pipeline, 4 Pillars, Getting to Yes, 10/20/30 pitch rule, CENTER |
| [ch08](references/ch08-psychology-leadership-effectiveness.md) | Consumer Psychology, Leadership & Personal Effectiveness | Compromise Effect, P/M/O framework, Netflix culture, 10X Rule, matching markets |
| [ch09](references/ch09-inbound-social-product-marketing.md) | Inbound Marketing, Social Growth & Product Marketing | Inbound loop, SEO/content tactics, social-media growth, product marketing/PM careers, customer success ops |

## Topic Index

- **4Ps / marketing mix** → ch01, ch03
- **Ambition / goal-setting** → ch08
- **BCG Matrix / portfolio strategy** → ch01
- **Branding / brand architecture** → ch02
- **Business model design** → ch05
- **Consumer psychology (Compromise Effect, reviews)** → ch08
- **Customer success operations** → ch09
- **Distribution / channel strategy** → ch03
- **Five Forces / industry analysis** → ch04
- **Founder readiness / the Ungame** → ch06
- **Fundraising / pitch deck** → ch06, ch07
- **Go-to-market segmentation** → ch09
- **Green / sustainable marketing** → ch08
- **Hiring frameworks (PIII, 3A+3+, Rule of Six)** → ch06
- **Inbound marketing / SEO / content** → ch09
- **Negotiation** → ch07
- **New product development** → ch01
- **Pricing strategy** → ch03
- **Product life cycle / diffusion of innovation** → ch01
- **Product marketing / PM careers** → ch09
- **Product-to-company gap / MVP / CORE** → ch05, ch06
- **Segmentation & targeting** → ch02
- **Sales pipeline / B2B sales** → ch07
- **Social media / digital growth** → ch09
- **Storytelling / persuasion** → ch07
- **Strategy vs. planning** → ch04
- **Time management / personal effectiveness** → ch08
- **Value proposition (Four U's, Three D's, BLAC)** → ch05

## Supporting Files

- [glossary.md](references/glossary.md) — all key terms with definitions and chapter references
- [patterns.md](references/patterns.md) — concrete techniques and playbooks (when to use, how, trade-offs)
- [cheatsheet.md](references/cheatsheet.md) — quick-reference tables and decision guides

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## Scope & Limits

This skill covers marketing theory, startup execution frameworks, sales/negotiation technique, and founder/leadership principles distilled purely from the underlying source lectures and talks. It intentionally excludes any narrative, speaker, or source attribution — content is presented as pure, reusable theory. For hands-on implementation in a specific product or codebase, combine with project-specific context.