ENTREPRENEUR'S TOOLKIT

Topic 3. Understand Category Design

Learn how to create and dominate markets in any industry and define your own space. Featured thought leaders from Category Design Advisors Mike Damphousse and Kevin Maney, also co-author of Play Bigger book, will teach you how to use strategic Category Design to rise above your industry crowd, find new spaces and opportunities, and drive up the value in your company and attract investors.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

What's Included in this Guide:

Become a Category King

Manage Your Category Lifecycle

Create Category Shortcuts

Strategize Your Category Design

Look for What’s Missing

Think Different, not Just Better

Find Your Adjacent Possible

Create a Category Conversation

Start Your Category Design Anytime




Let's get started
Watch The Videos
Do the Exercises
Part 1.

Become a Category King

It’s good to be a Category King and viewed as the leader in your space. In this section, you’ll learn the three reasons why it’s important to become a Category King and understand the benefits of owning the crown.

Part 2.

Manage Your Category Lifecycle

There are three phases to a category lifecycle. And depending on where your company sits in the cycle, it could spark different investment opportunities. In this section, you’ll learn how other Category Kings navigated through the phases to increase their value in the marketplace and attract investors.

Part 3.

Create Category Shortcuts

Our brains are naturally wired to categorize things in our life. As you’re creating a new category in the marketplace, it’s important to shift your customer’s mindsets to think of your product or service as an industry leader. In this section, you’ll learn how to develop a consistent and focused effort to expose your new category to gain traction and investors.

Part 4.

Strategize Your Category Design

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, it opened a whole new category of product in the space. He accomplished this by identifying a problem we didn’t realize we had, and a solution we needed. In this section, you’ll learn how to use Category Design to expose your problem and solution to drive company development and amplify a forward-thinking strategy.

Part 5.

Look for What's Missing

Finding what’s missing in a space and creating a new category could launch your company to Category King status. In this section, our expert will walk you through how Airbnb developed their Category Design to become a dominant leader in the shared economy space.

Part 6.

Think Different, not Just Better

Entering a marketspace with dominant Category Kings could end up being a harder feat than expected. Instead, look for the zero billion dollar market. In this section, you’ll learn how to think different, not just better, to find those new opportunities that can help build your business.

Part 7.

Find Your Adjacent Possible

It happens regularly, entrepreneurs begin to build a product that is far beyond what society is ready to adopt, and they fall flat. In this section, you’ll learn how to find the balance between technological advances and society’s adoption in what’s called the Adjacent Possible to grow your company.

Part 8.

Create a Conversation

Developing a new category in your marketplace can generate valuable customer conversations about one’s product. In this section, you’ll learn how to establish your company as something different than what’s in the space that creates buzz.

Part 9.

Start Your Category Design Anytime

It doesn’t matter if the industry is established or emerging, there’s an opportunity to start Category Design strategies anytime. In this section, you’ll learn how early-stage entrepreneurs have an edge on larger companies and gain market share by finding a new category in the space.

Apply Your Knowledge

Continue to the worksheet where you can turn your knowledge into action.
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