Category creation
KAT-uh-gor-ee kree-AY-shun
Defining an entirely new market category instead of competing in an existing one. High risk, high reward.
Category creation is when a company defines a new market category rather than competing in an existing one. Instead of saying 'we are a better version of X,' you say 'X is the wrong approach. There is a new way, and we define it.'
The upside is massive. The company that creates a category usually leads it. Salesforce created cloud CRM. HubSpot created inbound marketing. Gainsight created customer success software. Category creators capture disproportionate market share because they set the evaluation criteria.
The downside is also real. You have to educate the market. Buyers do not have budget for a category that does not exist yet. Analysts do not have a quadrant for it. Procurement does not have a vendor comparison framework. Category creation requires patience, capital, and the conviction that the market will catch up.
Examples
A company creates the observability category.
Instead of competing in 'APM' against established players, the company defines 'observability' as a fundamentally different approach. They publish the definition, write the book, sponsor conferences, and educate analysts. Five years later, observability is a multi-billion dollar category and they are the leader.
Category creation fails without market readiness.
A startup creates the 'AI-native development' category in 2019. The technology is not ready. The market does not understand it. After burning $30M on market education, they pivot to competing in the existing DevOps tools category. The timing was wrong.
A company debates category creation versus category entry.
The product is genuinely different from existing solutions. The team debates: create a new category (expensive, long timeline, high ceiling) or enter an existing category with differentiated positioning (cheaper, faster, lower ceiling). They choose category entry with a plan to shift to creation when the market is ready.
In practice
Read more on the blog
Frequently asked questions
When should a company create a new category?
When your product is fundamentally different from anything in the market, when existing category labels actually confuse buyers about what you do, and when you have the capital and patience to educate the market for 2-3 years before it pays off.
What is the difference between category creation and repositioning?
Repositioning changes how you fit into an existing category. Category creation defines a new category entirely. Repositioning says 'we are the best X.' Category creation says 'X is the wrong way to think about this. Y is the right approach, and we invented Y.'
Related terms
How you define what your product is, who it is for, and why it is different from alternatives. The foundation of every marketing decision.
How you differentiate your product from specific competitors. The answer to 'why should I choose you over them?'
The overarching story a company tells about the market, the problem, and its role in solving it. Bigger than a pitch. It is a worldview.
What makes your product meaningfully different from alternatives. Not features. The reason a customer chooses you over everything else.
Want the complete playbook?
Picks and Shovels is the definitive guide to developer marketing. Amazon #1 bestseller with practical strategies from 30 years of marketing to developers.