The people I admire most make the world exponentially thinking. It’s about creating new demand, not fighting different. to capture existing demand. Not incrementally better. As an entrepreneur, CEO, or CMO, you have to ask That’s why I admire them. yourself: are you playing someone else’s game, or do you have the courage to create and design your own And if you think about it, you might find that the people market category? Foreword you admire most are the ones that break and take new If you do, you’re reading the right shit. ground. That is to say, the most legendary people are original. You see, my friend John Rougeux is a category designer. In business, they introduce the world to a new category He’s created this super thoughtful, well-researched of product or service. paper to help you become a category designer, too. They are category designers. Category designers succeed by giving us new ways of living, thinking, or doing business, many times solving a They aren’t making anything that incrementally problem we didn’t know we had, or a problem we didn’t improves on what came before. They don’t “make” pay attention to because we never thought there was better. another way. They market differently – and earn two thirds of the And right now, the world needs more people who value in their market category.* Primary research will step up to solve massive problems and create 2 published in Play Bigger and The Harvard Business meaningful change. Review. So, as you read this paper and go forward, I wish for you That’s why the discipline of category design has the courage to follow your ‘different,’ while creating emerged from Silicon Valley to become a worldwide massive new value and the legendary success that phenomenon. comes with it. Our first book on the topic – Play Bigger – is now in the top 5% of business books, and our podcast on the topic, Lochhead on Marketing, hit number one on the Apple business and marketing charts in the U.S. and has been downloaded in 181 other countries. That happened because category design has emerged Christopher Lochhead as an “unfair” advantage. The founder of a roofing #1 Apple Podcaster | #1 Amazon company on the east coast recently said to me, “I almost Author | Category Designer feel bad for my old competitors.” Santa Cruz, California Category design is NOT about competing in any traditional sense. It’s about radical differentiation. It’s about becoming known for a niche that you own. It’s about evangelizing a point of view that changes The Newcomer’s Guide to Category Design 3