Paul Boutin has a great example of one of my favorite simple but effective positioning approaches for startup technology companies – take aim at a high profile 800 lbs gorilla and back it up an argument that you can win using strong numbers.

Boutin briefly outlines how Rudder differentiated itself from Quicken Online (and newer but still higher profile Mint) – numbers.

Here’s the email pitch he got from Rudder PR.

While Rudder (www.rudder.com), a new, FREE personal finance tool, might look similar to others at first, this personal finance tool has a very different focus – a big reason why 45% of Rudder’s users are ex-Quicken users and 35% are ex-Mint.com users!

Boutin’s point is that “Rudder touts the wisdom of the crowd, rather than the genius of its founder.”  This is another take on what PR people often advise – get and lead with third party testimony.  But there are more important points here that a startup executive should remember

1. Media love a fight and reporting on potential weaknesses of seemingly undefeatable giants.  In this case, how this small startup might post a threat to Quicken.  Remember, a news story is a story complete with a protagonist and antagonist.
2. While they love it, they hear it all the time (“we’re better than Microsoft because…”).  What’s interesting is to hear how a company is already starting to beat the big guy with numbers to back it up.
3. Numbers (real, not made up) serve as both a story and proof of something.  In other words, numbers are news – not features, strategies or individual customer wins.

On of my favorite examples was our Musiwave work back in 2004.  Musiwave, a startup (eventually aquired first by OpenWave then Microsoft) that delivered mobile music.  We worked with them before over the air music was a topic of industry conversation.  So we took aim at Apple’s iPod and outlined why our over the air model would put the iPod in a position of potential extinction with numbers to back it up – we could show adoption rates in Europe where the role out started.  In addition, we also have an economic model to show how over the air music would make far more money for the wireless and music industries than the iPod.    The trade and business media loved it and used Musiwave as a prime example of changes to come (Barron’s even questioned if the iPod is toast and with a picture of it in a toaster).  Obviously, we were on the mark as Apple is now offering over the air music through the iPhone (if the iPod isn’t toast, it certainly seems to be playing second fiddle).  Here’s a case study on our work with Musiwave.