Looking briefly at these companies’ histories, each approached PMs’ needs differently. Jira launched in 2002 after Atlassian’s founders became frustrated with existing bug trackers. With competitors like Bugzilla, it entered an existing market and a red ocean since the market had already established demand and competitors who were competing for existing demand. Its alternative approach and early self-service purchasing helped it attract customers. For its bet to make sense and to succeed, Jira had to believe that PMs of these software groups would value a shared system for tracking work, responsibilities, and progress enough to pay for it, and their offering of self-service payment was the key clue to this strategy.
Its competitor, Linear, was founded in 2019. It focused on speed and simplicity for software teams, particularly startups and individual contributors. This made it a resegmented-market entrant because it addressed a narrower group within an established market, focusing on the startups and smaller software groups that prioritize speed and cleanliness. It faced a even more crowded red ocean in its day and age, with competitors like Jira and other established tools. To succeed, Linear had to believe that these PMs would adopt a tool that reduced administrative work and that an easier experience would encourage their teams to keep information updated.
Lastly, Productboard was founded to focus on helping PMs decide what to build using customer evidence. I see this as a new-market bet with blue-ocean ambitions despite it still competing with Jira since its product made product decision-making a distinct software category. However, it was not competition-free and it was still trying to compete with a market that previous tools like Jira had loose grasp over. To succeed, Productboard had to believe PMs needed a dedicated system connecting feedback, prioritization, and roadmaps alongside delivery tools.
