We help B2B software companies clarify their positioning and turn it into a distinctive, compelling brand that fuels marketing growth.

Why we started

Over the last 15+ years, we've built marketing functions at venture-backed companies, launched products for tech giants, designed creative for global brands, and consulted dozens of startups.

We kept seeing the same pattern: most B2B software companies are building genuinely differentiated products—but struggle to articulate their value to the market.

We started Work is Play to help founders uncover what makes you different—why your customers choose you—refine your positioning in the market, and build a brand that articulates your differentiation with clarity and conviction.

Philosophy

Differentiation exists—but it's illegible to the market

Most B2B software companies don't have a differentiation problem—they have an articulation problem. No amount of design, content, or campaigns will work if the positioning is fuzzy.

Repositioning without execution is incomplete

Strategy documents die in Slack threads. Real change happens when the market sees and believes your new position. That's why we do both—positioning strategy and brand implementation.

There's a moment when this work matters most

We work with companies at the moment when positioning clarity becomes urgent. Usually that's around a funding milestone, launch moment, competition intensifying, or hitting a sales ceiling.

About us

Sofya Leonova, Partner

Sofya is a marketing strategist who's spent a decade helping software companies position for growth. She led brand operations at Loom—acquired by Atlassian for $975M—and marketing at Liftoff through its Series A to $400M sale to Blackstone. She's worked with dozens of startups navigating the transition from founder-led sales to marketing-led growth. She founded Work is Play to help founders build brands that prove what their customers already know is true.

Dinesh Dave, Partner

A designer and creative director with 15 years experience at the intersection of brand and product. Dinesh led design at Meta, Apple, AKQA, and Wieden+Kennedy—building brands and digital experiences for the original Apple Watch, iMac Pro, Nike, Coca-Cola, Levi's, Red Bull, FIFA, Oreo, and Undefeated. He's mentored hundreds of designers on portfolio strategy and career navigation. At Work is Play, he brings the same rigor he applied at Apple and Meta to early-stage software companies building their first brand.