Jira entered an existing market and is playing in a red ocean. Its purpose is to help PMs with bug tracking, issue tracking and project management, which were things that other software companies had already created tools for. Jira aimed to compete with the existing players in the market by being more agile and configurable with transparent pricing. The pricing strategy, which offered a simple, low-cost self-service model on their website, enabled small teams to buy the program on a credit card without needing executive approval. This enabled teams to adopt the tool easily and Jira grew from there. They needed to believe PMs value flexibility and structure even as complexity grew with their organizations.
Linear entered a resegmented market and is playing in a mostly red ocean. It is also an issue tracking and project management tool, but it targeted high-performing software and product teams who were frustrated with the slower and more complicated existing tools. By being faster, simpler, and rigid/opinionated, it was able to compete with the project management incumbents like Jira. They bet that PMs cared more about speed and product quality, and would give up a more flexible and established tool for that.
Productboard entered a newer market and is playing in a blue ocean. Instead of tracking execution only, it focuses on more upstream discovery and strategy. It collects customer feedback, prioritizes what to build, and communicates the roadmap. Its bet was that PMs wanted support in the part of their job that comes before technical engineering, such as understanding customer needs and deciding what needed to be built.
These three company approaches show that there are different ways of entering a crowded market. Entering does not always require inventing something new, and there are ways to compete directly, serve an underserved segment better, or redefine the problem entirely.
