How do you gain buy-in internally to pursue a category creation strategy?

I don’t think there are a lot of completely new categories created these days. In enterprise software, most new companies are improving on existing ways of solving the same problems we’ve had for a couple decades. So, the real question, I think, is how to align on a shared view of what the ‘new world’ requirements are to winning a market that has evolved. At Okta, we had a strong POV on the beliefs customers should have when considering a new approach to identity. For us, ‘cloud-first, enable be ...Read More

It is something that is very attributable in marketing once you settle on a category. Internally, naming a category helps you build authority with "state of x" reports, build a common glossary that reinforces your company's POV and builds brand awareness. If you aren't a category creator, you need to join a pre-existing category so there is market share to win/grow. If the existing category is big enough - no need to rebuild. If you are losing share of wallet with no growth modality - you'll wan ...Read More

Not everyone should pursue a category creation strategy. It might be appealing but it's a huge heavy-lift and will require significant investment and buy-in from everyone in the company - not just your executives. It really all starts from the story - the strategic narrative - and how strong and new it is to justify creating a new category. Spend time on getting this right, validated, and agreed upon internally and this will naturally guide the team on the category question. The biggest champion ...Read More

Trying to get buy-in over a theoretical outcome is always an uphill battle. I would focus on making meaningful progress by yourself on category design. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Test things out and gain some traction. And then worry about getting buy-in to do more of what works. It will also be important to educate your team on why category creation (or redefinition) is the right strategy for your company at this time. Get them to read the book “Play Bigger” by Christopher Lochhead. F ...Read More

It has to start at the top. Creating a category is very expensive, so you’ll need the board and CEO to be bought in. Frankly, it impacts everything from fundraising strategy to a lot of decision making on deploying marketing spend.  The question comes back to the strategic value you’re hoping to create for the company – and maybe your first step is framing that conversation with your CEO. Are you trying to build a large business (IPO+) that is addressing a massive gap in the market and an unders ...Read More