Jira, Linear, and Productboard all sell to PMs. Each entered a different kind of market and bet on a different PM need.
Jira – existing market, red ocean
Atlassian launched Jira in 2002 as a bug tracker for software teams. Bugzilla and other trackers already existed, so buyers knew the category. Jira let each company configure its own fields, workflows, and permissions and that proved to worl. Jira had to believe that teams already know they need issue tracking and will pick the tool that fits any process.
Linear – resegmented market, red ocean
Linear started in 2019, when Jira already owned the category. It did not try to serve every team. It went after fast startup teams that found Jira slow and overloaded, and gave them a quick tool with keyboard shortcuts and fixed workflows. Linear had to believe that a segment of PMs and engineers cares more about speed than customization, and that they will leave Jira even after years of setup.
Productboard – new market, blue ocean
Productboard, founded in 2014, does not track engineering work. It gives PMs one place to collect customer feedback, rank feature ideas, and build roadmaps. Before it, PMs did this in spreadsheets and docs, so Productboard had to teach buyers the category existed.Productboard had to believe that deciding what to build is a separate job from tracking how it gets built, and that companies will give PMs their own budget for it.
The takeaway
Blue oceans fill up. Atlassian now sells Jira Product Discovery, which competes with Productboard for the same PM budget.
