There are only 4 paths to the top

A thing I learned working for the smartest founders in the world.

In tech, second place = you lose.
Which is why I help my clients own their category.

Like our clients Uber & Urban Logistics.
Or like Qualtrics & Experience Management.
Or Clari & RevOps.

And while success is never guaranteed, great strategy gives our clients 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗱𝗱𝘀 at success.

If you want to do the same, the path to leadership starts with a single question.

(I learned this working for some of the smartest founders in the world.)

THE QUESTION
“𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝘂𝗻?”

There are 4.

𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘
e.g. Salesforce, OpenAI, Uber, Stripe, Google Docs, Figma, Shopify, AWS

Category creators invent a completely new product that addresses unmet customer needs.

This is the play most people know about (but not always the best move).

Choose create if no existing category comes close to your product vision.

𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠
e.g. Tesla, iPhone, Slack, Facebook, Chrome, Zoom

Category transformers change an existing category to become its leader.

Electric cars existed before Tesla.
We had smartphones years before Apple’s iPhone.
MySpace was huge before Facebook.

These companies took an existing category and changed our image of what it could be - to become its leader.

𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗘
e.g. LinkedIn, Hubspot, Webflow

Niche down so you own a subset of a larger category.

This is the easiest, most straight-forward play - and because of this, there’s often less upside.

Choose Niche if you don’t have the innovation to create a category or the juice to transform and overtake an existing category leader - but you can identify a segment or mindset in that category with unmet needs.

𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗢
e.g. Notion, Superhuman, Snap

Solo is special. These are product and brand experiences that are so totally different, they become a category of one in the mind of the customers.

Porsche is an example. Superhuman is another. They aren't #1 in their rational categories but for the right customer, there’s no replacement for what they do.

These companies tend to be masters of vibe, voice, look and feel - stylistic things. Notion is a perfect example of how a tech company can win with style, not just features.

Choose Solo if you’re building a product in an existing category, but you have an iconoclast founder that has a knack for doing everything in a unique way.

Each play requires different strategy, product, and marketing.

The goal of running these plays is to someday LEAD a category and become IRREPLACEABLE.

Make sure you decide this before you write your strategic narrative.

And remember: never mess with junk positioning that has you playing for second.

I’ll see you next week.