Jira entered an existing market and is playing in a red ocean. When it launched, it was competing against other bug and issue tracking tools but had the edge on flexibility and price. For its bet to make sense, it has to believe that PMs work inside the engineering process so that the tool that serves engineering will serve PMs too.
Linear entered a resegmented market (specifically targeting fast-moving startups and engineering teams frustrated by Jira’s sluggishness) and is also playing in a red ocean. Although there are lots of competitors, it wins on speed, design, and opinionated defaults. For its bet to make sense, it has to believe that a significant number of PMs and engineers value craft and speed over configurability and would trade the flexibility of Jira for simplicity.
Productboard entered a new market and was initially playing in a blue ocean (though new competitors are turning it red). It created a new software system for product management that connects customer feedback to prioritization and roadmaps. For its bet to make sense, it has to believe that the true job of a PM (deciding what to build and why) happens upstream of ticket tracking, and PMs would pay for a tool that helps with that.
Comparison: each company holds a different belief about who PMs are: Jira believes they’re engineering’s partner, Linear believes they’re craftspeople who want speed, and Productboard believes they’re strategists who need a tool to help with strategy.
