Jira: existing market, red ocean. Atlassian’s tracker is the incumbent. It competes on configurability and breadth. And so many competitors fight over the same customers. Their belief is that PMs and engineers share one workflow (I don’t like Jira lol).
Linear: resegmented market, a patch of blue in red ocean. Linear targets teams that thought Jira was too complicated, which working with Jira this summer, I agree. Their belief is that builders will pay for a tool that feels good, and they would rather adopt a point of view than configure a workflow.
Productboard: new market, (mostly) blue. PMs before productboard held roadmaps and customer feedback of spreadsheets. slides and/or Jira. Productboard bet on separation of what is build and the tracking. Productboard now has direct competitors like Aha!, so its water is getting “redder”. THeir belief is that PMs have a distinct job, feedback is scattered across all forms of communication, and they’ll pay for the organization.
Honestly, the further a company is from an existing market, the more it must believe about customers it hasn’t proven it can reach. Its like Jira’s bet is safer, but with more competition and Productboard’s is riskier, but crazy upside.
