Andy McCotter-Bicknell

AI Product Marketing at @UseApolloio

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

I interviewed 50 SaaS leaders about competition.

- how they differentiate
- how they approach competitive intel
- how they think about category creation
- how they create competitive advantages

Here are the tips that stood out to me 👇

[Apollo.io @useapolloio]

the Apollo app in ChatGPT is now live. 🚀

now you can search prospects, enrich contacts, then add them to
sequences in one conversation, zero tab switching.

this is what AI-native outbound actually looks like → https://t.co/iMviZ1DOpf

[Apollo.io @useapolloio]

Your @claudeai conversation just became an Apollo workspace.

Search prospects. Enrich contacts. Add to sequences. All without leaving the chat.

Apollo is now available as a connector in Claude. No API keys, no tab switching, no excuses.

Connect it here → https://t.co/OqL3giNps7

Ps. For power users, we also shipped a Claude Code/Cowork plugin that bundles multiple Apollo actions into end-to-end workflows. Demo coming soon!

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@TheRealCorpBro roasted my mullet on stage in front of hundreds of people.

Then my team lost Pipeline Feud (sales version of Family Feud).

.....So!! Hopefully I can turn things around for my session with Anthropic later this afternoon 🤠🤙

#ApolloNEXT

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@mattyp trying to do this with @useapolloio and its AI suite 🙏 you almost need to encourage people think just one level deeper from where they're at, otherwise it just goes way over their heads.

[Apollo.io @useapolloio]

Modern GTM is broken: too many tools, too much manual work, too long to get to value.

Today, we’re fixing that with the world’s first GTM AI Assistant that actually works — what used to take hours now takes minutes.

See it in action from our founder & CEO @timatapollo 👇

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

Hey that's me!

[Apollo.io @useapolloio]

Most reps aren’t prompt engineers.

Welcome to the era of ✨ vibe selling ✨

Apollo’s Prompt Assistant takes whatever you type, rewrites it like a GTM pro, and runs it with the right AI model.

No wasted credits. No pressure. Just clean insights.

👇 Watch the magic

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@peeplaja @MadeWithCapsule @doyouknowchamp The difference I noticed is they're doing this not just thru emails and tickets, but also 1:1 via a user Slack community.

Not sure what else they've done to scale this out. I'm sure @doyouknowchamp can speak to that.

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@peeplaja @MadeWithCapsule @doyouknowchamp Hyper responsiveness directly from founders / leaders.

"It sounds so simple, but in my opinion this is what the race is all about: shortening the time between hearing a customer's problem and shipping an elegant solution.

[...] I think we’re doing it faster than anyone else."

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

But Puzzle is laser-focused on addressing problems that can't be solved with traditional whiteboards.

They're niching down on serving process and system builders in ways that go beyond what any general-purpose whiteboard can offer.

I asked Brian if he had any parting advice for revenue leaders competing in crowded markets and this is what he told me:

"Go experience the problem first hand. It's crucial to feel the pain points your users face as they rely on the next-best alternative to do their job." 🔥

Read more about their competitive strategy here: https://t.co/XkfjDaD0iv

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

Imagine experiencing a "pain point" so badly that it lands you in the hospital.

That's what happened to @b_ragone back in 2017.

He was leading ops for a 15-person startup, and the pure chaos of the role gave him an anxiety attack.

Over the next few years, he tried using tools like @LucidSoftware and @MiroHQ to make his job easier and keep systems organized. But they didn't work like he wanted them to...

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

So he started @puzzleapp_io—a tool for operators to plan, visualize, monitor, and collaborate on their processes and manage the big picture.

Today, they remain a single-founder, 100% bootstrapped company building software in an incredibly crowded space.

Competitors are valued at multiple billions of dollars, e.g... LucidChart: $3B, Miro: $17B, Figjam: $12.5B...

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@thesamparr Dude they're great!! Been listening for years

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@beehiiv https://t.co/J8KK7gckys

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@gaetano_nyc Balance it out w/ a section for legit marketers doing cool stuff too.

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

So I'm trying something a little different.

Affiliates in my community get 100% of the first year's membership cost ($190). But it doesn't recur.

Reasons:

1. I don't have enough $$$ to pay for software to handle recurring affiliate payments.

2. Feel like one bigger payout has more draw than multiple smaller ones.

Just rolled it out a few weeks ago though, so can't back it up with any success metrics yet!

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

The reason?

"It's way easier to explain why we're different and better rather than try to explain in the abstract what we are and why people should care." 🔥

Here's more of Jacob's thoughts on competition and strategy: https://t.co/1Ktet14KE7

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

"Run towards competition, not away from it."

@jebank shared this take with me from his experience building @relay, a Zapier competitor.

His first startup got acquired by Google. Now he's looking to disrupt the automation space.

He didn't always think this way though...

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

During their beta, they struggled to find product-market fit.

They tried:
→ jamming in more features
→ improving their sales process
→ hundreds of meetings with customers

But things still didn't feel right!

So they pivoted their product to compete directly with Zapier, and added a couple big differentiators.

And their numbers REALLY started to take off.

[Andy McCotter-Bicknell @AMcBick]

@hankai1998 Yo! What are the issues you're experiencing? I'll bring this back to the team.