Hello DIRT bags*

(*I say this with love).

A few months ago, AEC software company Joist AI rebranded to Kantiv.

The narrative around the rebrand was tight. But what interested me more was the other thing they did.

They created a NEW CATEGORY:

Pursuit intelligence.

Oooof.

A move like this takes brand balls. (And a serious marketing budget!)

Let’s dig in.

THE GOOD

They started with the buyer

Most invented categories start with the product and go hunting for a problem.

Somebody chucks four features together, calls it a platform, invents a cute phrase and then begins the (expensive and frustrating) process of convincing everyone they NEED, like really, really need this platform.

Kantiv started somewhere smarter: with a job people are already paid to do.

AEC firms already have proposal managers, marketing teams and BD leads responsible for helping the firm pursue and win work.

The workflow exists. The pain exists. The budget exists.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Most attempts to create a new category can’t claim all three.

That gives "pursuit intelligence" a much better starting point than most shiny new AEC tech categories.

They’re NOT asking firms to care about a new problem.

Instead, they’re saying: Hey, you know that very important thing you already spend a lot of money doing? Yeah, well we think the category around it is too small.

That's a much easier sell.

They picked the right enemy.

Nearly every proposal tool in AEC sells speed (the time kind).

Kantiv is deliberately trying to move itself out of the "AI proposal writing tool" bucket.

Good move.

"We use AI to help write proposals faster" is not a differentiator anymore. Even Grandma Joan has ChatGPT now.

Instead, Kantiv positions proposal automation as only one part of their platform.

Kantiv knows that the bigger problem is that everything the firm already knows is scattered across old proposals, resumes, project files, inboxes, systems and Gary’s brain.

That gives “pursuit intelligence” something every new category needs...

A clear thing it is NOT.

Proposal automation = make the document faster.

Pursuit intelligence = make the pursuit smarter.

Nice. Very nice.

The proof is excellent

Category creation can get very…

We’re redefining the future of synergistic pursuit enablement.

Cool, bro.

How many hours did you save me?

Kantiv can answer that. With numbers.

Proof is sprinkled all over the website.

Mortenson users reported saving 8–10 hours a week on basic proposal work.

At Robins & Morton, one award submission went from 30 hours to six.

Numbers matter when you’re asking people to bet on a new platform in a whole new category.

THE BAD

Yo, what is pursuit intelligence?

The category creation makes strategic sense.

But I’m not convinced the phrase itself immediately does.

If I landed on the homepage knowing nothing about "pursuit intelligence," I’d have no idea what it meant.

Could be a board game or low-budget Marvel spin-off. Who knows.

I’d most likely thing it pursuit intelligence might as well be a board game or Marvel movie.

Kantiv's homepage says "pursuit intelligence" around sixteen times by our count.

It explains what pursuit intelligence is ONCE. In a dropdown. Under "The questions AEC firms ask most".

If you invent a category, you can't name it once and move on.

You have to explain it. Then explain it again. Then explain it again and again and again.

Buyers can't search for a word they have never heard, so Kantiv has to invest a lot of time and money educating the market what pursuit intelligence is, why it matters and why they should care.

Everyone else is calling it something else

The rivals aren't borrowing the language yet. OpenAsset's comparison guide files Kantiv under 'pursuit enablement platform' and praises its 'pursuit analytics'. But 'pursuit intelligence' never appears.

A category starts becoming a category when other people use the words.

Even Kantiv’s own content still has to meet buyers where they are, with articles about AI proposal software, bid management software and proposal management-type problems.

Although that’s probably good for SEO, it is a reminder of how much education sits between:

"Look! We’ve named a new category."

and

"The market is talking about our category."

Also, I’ve now typed “pursuit” so many times it no longer looks or sounds like a real word. Pursuit. Pursuit. Pursuit.

The headline is giving me a headache

It’s no secret that I have beef with rotating homepage headlines. In my opinion, it’s often a sign weak positioning.

Kantiv’s homepage headline rotates between:

"Stop starting from scratch," "Win more of the right work," and "Turn knowledge into wins."

All solid. But when they rotate, it dilutes their positioning.

But my guess is that it rotates because they couldn’t pick ONE. Positioning is picking the one you'd bet the company on and showing it every single time.

Pick the ONE headline that resonates with the ideal client.

THE UNBURIED

The headline is buried in the FAQ

Buried in Kantiv’s FAQ is this:

A team that "starts every pursuit from its strongest position rather than rebuilding from scratch."

And up in the rotating hero:

Stop starting from scratch.

^^^^ THIS.

Four words. You immediately understand the problem.

Every proposal team knows the particular joy of KNOWING the perfect project example exists somewhere...

...while having absolutely no idea where.

An old proposal? Susan’s desktop?

“Stop starting from scratch” takes something fairly complicated and makes it painfully recognisable.

I’d use this as the headline.

STOP STARTING FROM SCRATCH.

Then let "pursuit intelligence” explain how.

Not the other way around.

There’s a much bigger promise hiding here

This line is also sitting (in a teeny, tiny font) on the homepage:

"Every pursuit sharpens your picture of where the firm wins and where proposals fall short... when you bring it into a leadership conversation, the way the firm sees marketing changes."

HELLO.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Because the bigger problem for AEC marketers is that marketing often gets pulled in late.

The decision to pursue has already been made and the strategy has already been set.

Kantiv empowers the marketing team beyond putting the proposal together, but the ones helping shape the strategy.

THIS is where the positioning gold lies

Your knowledge just left the building

Every principal has watched twenty years of project knowledge retire to a coastal beach front.

The scariest sentence is buried in the FAQ:

When an RFx lands, teams 'rebuild content from memory', and the result is 'expertise that walks out when people leave.'

Yikes. That is scary.

If Kantiv wants pursuit intelligence to stick, they need to spend less time explaining the new category...

…and more time showing firms what the old way is costing them.

IF I WERE HOLDING THE SHOVEL...

I'd stop the headline rotating and pin "Stop starting from scratch" to the top of the page.

Then I'd put the definition of pursuit intelligence directly underneath it, in one plain sentence, and repeat that exact sentence everywhere Kantiv shows up. Homepage. LinkedIn banner. Sales deck. Gary's bio. Every single time, word for word.

DIG RATING: 

6/10 shovels 🪏🪏🪏🪏🪏🪏

Kantiv has earned the right to create a new category. They have proof. They are solving a problem.

But naming a category and OWNING a category are two different things.

They need to knuckle down their positioning and then dig up some solid messaging and repeat the heck out of it.

Because you own a category when the market starts saying your category FOR YOU.

To getting DIRT-y,

Nikita

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