How to become a category pirate

Christopher Lochhead, a prolific author, podcaster and self-described 'Godfather of Category Design' who has co-written numerous bestsellers and advised many venture-backed startups, discusses how companies can create new market categories rather than compete for share in existing ones. The conversation covers category design principles, why 'better product' strategies often fail, examples like Lomi, Otis, Peloton and Threads, and practical go-to-market ideas such as lightning-strike marketing and super consumers.

01Key learnings

• Most businesses unknowingly choose to compete for a slice of an existing category; Lochhead argues category leaders capture about two-thirds of category value, so designing a new category is the bigger prize.
• Focus obsessively on the customer's problem, not just your solution, as Gojo did when it reframed hand washing without water to create hand sanitizer.
• Use new language (languaging) to change how people think about a problem, so they can perceive new value and be open to a new solution.
• Backcast from a desired future state, rejecting the current premise, rather than forecasting incrementally from the present to find what your product needs.
• Avoid pure 'better product' attacks on incumbents; Lochhead cites Threads and Amazon's Fire phone as examples where a better copy failed without a reframed problem.
• Position against the status quo rather than direct competitors, damming existing demand as Peloton did with indoor cycling versus spinning.
• Market through 'lightning strikes' concentrated on a few high-impact moments a year, targeting super consumers and driving word of mouth, rather than constant reach-and-frequency spending.
• Ask yourself whether you're pursuing exponential difference or incremental improvement, since both have a place but category design requires the former.

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.