Book: Play Bigger

"Play Bigger" - Category Kings and Category Design

I. Core Theme: The Power of Category Design

The book argues that creating, developing, and dominating a new category is the key to building legendary, enduring companies. The authors challenge the conventional focus on product superiority or incremental improvements, advocating instead for a strategic emphasis on category design.

• "The most exciting companies sell us different. They introduce the world to a new category of product or service...They replace our current point of view on the world with a new point of view."
• "Category is the new strategy."

II. Key Concepts and Ideas

1. Category Kings:

• Definition: Companies that "create, develop, and dominate new categories." They are not necessarily the first to invent something, but rather those who "design a great product, a great company, and a great category at the same time."
• Dominance: Category Kings capture the majority of the economics within their category, leaving competitors struggling. The book cites Uber vs. Lyft as an example.
• "Our term for the companies that create, develop, and dominate new categories is category kings. Importantly, category kings are not necessarily the companies that first hatch an idea or patent an invention."

1. Category Design vs. Disruption:

• Disruption is presented as a byproduct of creating a new category, not the primary goal. The focus should be on the creation that causes the disruption.
• "But disruption is a by-product, not a goal. Legendary companies create new categories that generate a gravitational pull on the market."

1. The Importance of Courage & POV (Point of View):

• Creating a new category requires courage, especially in the face of skepticism. The example of Elon Musk and Tesla is used to illustrate this point.
• A strong, well-articulated Point of View (POV) is essential for attracting the right customers, investors, and employees.
• A demarcation point in language creates a demarcation point in thinking, which creates a demarcation point in behavior . . . which creates a demarcation point in spending."
• "We’d like to highlight one seminal act by Musk that demonstrates what kind of courage it can take to design and build a new category. That’s when, in 2014, Musk gave away Tesla’s patents—a lesson both in courage and in how to think about intellectual property while building a category."

1. The Design Triangle (Company, Product, Category):

• Company design, product design, and category design are the three cornerstones that work in synchronicity to exert great force on a company's success and value.
• The most successful people identify a category, an offering (what they can uniquely do that the category needs), and a personal culture and point of view (who they are and how they think) at the same time.

1. "Frotos" - The "From/To":

• Category design takes people on a journey and creates a from/to, known as Frotos. Introducing something new requires helping potential customers move from the way they used to think to a new frame of reference. First define and market the problem, then help people understand that you can solve the problem better than anyone else.
• Category design takes people on a journey. We refer to it as creating a from/to. Actually, we use a shorthand term: frotos."

1. Market and Technology Insights:

• The creation of new categories must start with either market insights or technology insights. Market insight are what the market wants, even if they don't know it yet, and technology insights show how you can solve the market problems.

1. The Lightning Strike:

• To effectively "condition" the market and establish a new category, companies must execute a "lightning strike" - a concentrated, attention-grabbing event that breaks through the noise and establishes the company as the leader. It requires mobilization of the entire company. It gets your target audiences attention and establishes a thought: "That company understands my problem better than any other, and must have the solution."
• "A lightning strike is an all-consuming event, concentrating a company’s resources to break through the noise and start to condition the market."

1. "Hijacks":

• Following up on a lightning strike is crucial to deepen the message and build the perception of being a category king. "A cruel thing about lightning strikes is that you can’t relax after pulling off that first one. You need to get busy with hijacks."

1. The Flywheel:

• Category design is what starts the process and gets the flywheel spinning and continuously expanding the category potential. "A company's value is rooted in its category. First comes category potential...Next is the company’s position within that category...Finally, there’s performance or execution."
• If you think about Google and Facebook in the 2010s, the company, product, and category are indistinguishable from one another. Search is Google and social networking is Facebook."

1. Category Potential:

• Category Kings relentlessly expand their categories in order to dominate. "First comes category potential. Investors need to believe that a company is in a category with great untapped potential, and if so, the investors will pay for access to that category."

III. Examples and Case Studies:

• Uber: Created the category of on-demand personal transportation and became the dominant player.
• Sensity Systems: Established a new category called Light Sensory Networks.
• VMware: Created the computer virtualization category.
• IKEA: Created a new category of cheap, stylish, do-it-yourself furniture.
• Skype: Developed the category of Internet phone calls.
• Alibaba/Flipkart: Category kings for online retailing specifically for China and India.
• Pixar: Converted market insight into product power and created a massive new category in the film industry.
• Jawbone: Failed to develop the category of high-quality hands-free calling.

IV. Cautionary Notes:

• It is dangerous to identify a hot new category and fail to become its king. The market will demand a solution, and if you can't provide it, someone else will.
• "The first mover has an advantage only if the first mover has the wherewithal to become king and deliver on its promises. Otherwise, the first mover goes kersplat."
• Category harvesting doesn’t mix easily with category creation. When most harvesters say they’re creating new categories, they are kidding.

V. Relevance to Individuals:

• The principles of category design can be applied to individual careers by identifying a niche, developing a unique offering, and establishing a personal brand.
• When thinking about your personal category strategy, always remember different versus better. When you seek better, you are moving into someone else’s territory, always fighting for attention and having to prove that you’re better.

VI. Ten Reasons Not to Read the Book:

This section provides a humorous summary of the beliefs that are antithetical to the book's core message, such as believing that "the company with the best product wins" or that "there is room for a lot of winners in a market."

VII. Overall takeaway

This is a book about strategy that builds category kings. This strategy doesn’t guarantee you will become a category king, but it will improve your odds and at least help you play bigger than you might otherwise.

RYT Podcast is a passion product of Tyler Smith, an EOS Implementer (more at IssueSolving.com). All Podcasts are derivative works created by AI from publicly available sources. Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved.