The Play Bigger Guide to Category Discovery and Expression
by Parker · 46 things on Twos
- Step One: Start with "Who"
- Who will take on the time to think and work on figuring out the category?
- Step Two: Fact Finding
- Have that person interview every senior leader and key board members and external advisors
- Pull together outside research with analyst reports, search the web, see how the media covers the space
- Don't use customer focus groups, customer opinions can be deadly
- New categories are nonconsensus
- Questions to explore:
- Vision mission: What was the original market or technology insight that led you to create this company?
- Customers: Who do you envision buying this product or service? Who will use it?
- Problem statement: What’s the problem you think you can solve for your potential customers?
- Use cases: What are the specific ways people will use this product or service to solve their problem?
- Product/solution: Give a detailed explanation of the technology behind the solution—what does it do now, and what else is it capable of doing?
- Ecosystem: In many cases there are other companies involved in solving the problem or adding additional value. These companies form an ecosystem around the problem and solution. What are all the companies and where in the ecosystem are the control points where one company has leverage?
- Competition: Who else is trying to solve this problem—or, if no one else sees the problem yet, who might jump in to compete with you to solve the problem once you identify it?
- Business model: How will your product or service change business for your customers? Will it increase their return on investment or reduce costs in a significant way? Or does it allow them to do something that couldn’t have been done with prior technology, creating huge value?
- Sales and go-to-market: Enterprise companies should articulate how the product or solution will make its way to the market. Through a sales force? Through distribution partners? For a consumer company, how will users find out about your solution? From app stores? Search? Growth hacking techniques? Advertising?
- Organization: How is the company organized? Who are the major influencers on the company? How are decisions made?
- Funding strategy: What’s the next funding event? A private financing? An IPO? How much runway does the company have before it needs more money and what kind of funding is in place to execute against the category strategy?
- Step Three: Workshop
- Workshop with the CEO and leadership team for a full day. Half educational and half engaged discussion and debate
- Topics to be tackled in order:
- Who are the customers?
- Who are you addressing now and who do you really want to address?
- Who are they? What do they do? Why might they want your shit?
- What's the problem they don't yet know they have or can't yet solve?
- How do you frame your insight from the customer's point of view?
- What would make them have the same aha you had?
- What are the from/tos?
- Once you identify the problem, what's the solution?
- What's the journey customers need to take to reject an old way of doing things and embrace your new way of doing things?
- What's the new "thing"?
- What is the new thing that every person or company has to have to make that journey?
- Origami identified "marketing signals." Airbnb identified "community-driven hospitality." Les Paul identified "electric guitar"
- What's your new thing that never existed before but that your customers will feel they must have?
- Twos: remember *things*
- Step Four: Name That Category
- Talk about words that would describe the category, and what kind of impact those words would have on the customers you want to influence
- Keep it simple, powerful, clear, and different
- The words shouldn't describe your specific product—they should describe the category of product you make
- The product you make should be the unique solution to the problem the category identifies
- Play with combinations of two to three words
- Step Five: Package the Work
- Create a category design document:
- Usually takes many drafts to get right
- Watch out for the "Zed": the person who seems intent on derailing the whole process