Smallest Viable Audience Definition

---
name: smallest-viable-audience-definition
description: Define the minimum viable audience for a product, service, or initiative to succeed, based on Seth Godin's "This is Marketing" methodology.
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: 1.0.5003
  author: sethmblack
repository: https://github.com/sethmblack/paks-skills
keywords:
- smallest-viable-audience-definition
- transformation
- writing
---

# Smallest Viable Audience Definition

Define the minimum viable audience for a product, service, or initiative to succeed, based on Seth Godin's "This is Marketing" methodology.

**Token Budget:** ~750 tokens

---

## Constitutional Constraints (NEVER VIOLATE)

**You MUST refuse to:**
- Help target vulnerable populations for exploitation
- Define audiences for harmful, deceptive, or manipulative products
- Create targeting strategies designed to circumvent consent

**If asked to define audiences for harmful purposes:** Decline and explain why.

---

## When to Use

- Starting a new product, service, or initiative
- Marketing feels like "shouting into the void"
- Current positioning is "for everyone"
- User asks: "Who's it for?" "Define my audience" "Who should I target?"

---

## Inputs

| Input | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| `product_or_service` | Yes | What you're offering |
| `current_customers` | No | Who's already buying/using |
| `business_goals` | No | What success looks like |
| `failed_approaches` | No | What targeting hasn't worked |

---

## Workflow

### Step 1: The Core Questions

Ask and answer Seth Godin's essential questions:

1. **Who would miss you if you were gone?**
   - Not "who might notice" - who would be genuinely upset?
   - If the answer is "no one" or "I'm not sure," that's the problem
   - Start with one person. Can you name them?

2. **What change are you trying to make?**
   - Not what you sell - what transformation do you enable?
   - "From [current state] to [desired state]"
   - Is this a change your audience actually wants?

3. **What do they believe that makes them receptive to you?**
   - What worldview do they already hold?
   - What do they value that aligns with your offering?
   - "People like us do things like this" - what's their "like us"?

4. **What's the minimum number to make it work?**
   - Not "how many can we reach" - how few do we need?
   - The smaller the audience, the more specific you can be
   - 1,000 true fans beats 1,000,000 casual observers

### Step 2: Define the Audience

Create a specific audience definition:

| Element | Definition |
|---------|------------|
| **Who specifically** | {demographic + psychographic} |
| **Shared belief** | "{what they believe}" |
| **Current frustration** | {what's not working for them} |
| **Desired transformation** | {what they want to become/achieve} |
| **Why you** | {why you're credible for this change} |

### Step 3: The "People Like Us" Statement

Craft the core positioning statement:

> "People like us [shared identity] do things like this [desired behavior] because we believe [shared belief]."

This statement should feel true to your audience before you say it - you're reflecting their existing worldview, not creating one.

### Step 4: Validate the Definition

Check your definition against these tests:

- [ ] **Specific enough to exclude** - Does it clearly say who it's NOT for?
- [ ] **Small enough to serve brilliantly** - Can you genuinely be the best for them?
- [ ] **Connected enough to spread** - Do they talk to each other?
- [ ] **Valuable enough to sustain** - Can this audience support your business?

---

## Outputs

Deliver a structured audience definition:

```markdown
## Smallest Viable Audience Definition

### The Offering
{one-sentence description}

### The Audience

**Who specifically:**
{precise description - not "small business owners" but "solo consultants in their first 2 years who left corporate jobs"}

**What they believe:**
"{a belief they hold that makes them receptive}"

**What frustrates them now:**
{specific pain point your offering addresses}

**The transformation they want:**
From: {current state}
To: {desired state}

**Why you're credible:**
{your unique qualification to serve them}

### The "People Like Us" Statement

> "People like us [identity] do things like this [behavior] because we believe [belief]."

### Validation

| Test | Pass/Fail | Evidence |
|------|-----------|----------|
| Specific enough to exclude | | |
| Small enough to serve brilliantly | | |
| Connected enough to spread | | |
| Valuable enough to sustain | | |

### What This Means

**Stop trying to reach:**
{who you should no longer target}

**Start obsessing over:**
{who to focus on completely}

**The first 10:**
{how to identify the first 10 members of this audience}
```

---

## Error Handling

| Situation | Response |
|-----------|----------|
| "My product is for everyone" | Challenge directly - products for everyone are for no one |
| Can't name one person who'd miss them | That's the diagnosis - help them find that person |
| Audience definition is too broad | Keep narrowing until it feels "too small" - that's usually right |
| Business can't survive on small audience | Explore if audience can expand after initial traction |

---

## Constraints

- Do not use this analysis as the sole basis for critical decisions
- Do not apply this framework to situations outside its intended scope
- Acknowledge that analysis is based on available data, which may be incomplete
- Honor the complexity of real-world situations that resist simple categorization
- Present findings with appropriate confidence levels
- Recognize the limits of the methodology

## Example

**Input:** "I'm a freelance designer. Who's my target audience?"

**Output:**



**Why this works:**

This example demonstrates the key principles of the skill in action. The approach is effective because:
- It follows the systematic workflow outlined above
- It shows concrete application of the framework
- It produces actionable, specific outputs rather than vague generalizations
- The analysis is grounded in observable details
- The recommendations are prioritized and implementable

**Alternative applications:**

This same approach can be applied to:
- Different contexts within the same domain
- Related but distinct problem types
- Scaled up or down depending on scope
- Combined with complementary analytical frameworks


## Smallest Viable Audience Definition

### The Offering
Freelance design services

### The Audience

**Who specifically:**
SaaS startup founders (seed to Series A) who've tried Fiverr/99designs and been disappointed, value design as competitive advantage, and need someone who understands product thinking.

**What they believe:**
"Good design isn't decoration - it's how users understand our product. Our competitors can copy features, but they can't copy great UX."

**What frustrates them now:**
Cheap designers don't understand product context. Agencies are too expensive and slow. They want a partner, not a vendor.

**The transformation they want:**
From: "Our app works but looks like it was designed by engineers"
To: "Users compliment our interface and it helps us close deals"

**Why you're credible:**
You've worked at a startup. You understand shipping fast. You can speak product, not just pixels.

### The "People Like Us" Statement

> "People like us - founders who know design matters but can't afford big agencies - work with embedded designer-partners who get startups, because we believe great UX is a competitive moat."

### Validation

| Test | Pass/Fail | Evidence |
|------|-----------|----------|
| Specific enough to exclude | Pass | Excludes agencies, enterprises, non-tech |
| Small enough to serve brilliantly | Pass | Can become known in this niche |
| Connected enough to spread | Pass | Founders talk to founders |
| Valuable enough to sustain | Pass | Funded startups can pay well |

### What This Means

**Stop trying to reach:**
Small businesses, restaurants, anyone who wants "a logo." Enterprise clients. Marketing agencies.

**Start obsessing over:**
Founders at seed-stage B2B SaaS companies who just got their first real funding.

**The first 10:**
Search ProductHunt for recently launched SaaS products with obviously weak design. Reach out with specific, helpful feedback.

---

## Integration

This skill originates from the **seth-godin** expert. When invoked within that expert context, maintain Seth's characteristic brevity and question-driven voice.

---

## Success Criteria

Definition is complete when:
- [ ] Audience is specific enough to visualize one person
- [ ] "People like us" statement feels authentic
- [ ] All four validation tests pass
- [ ] Clear guidance on who to stop pursuing
- [ ] Actionable path to finding the first 10