Christopher Lochhead
Christopher Lochhead is a 14-time #1 bestselling author, top podcaster, and former 3x public tech company CMO and has been an advisor to over 50 VC-backed tech startups. He is best known as a “godfather” of category design, and Adobe named his book Play Bigger one of “the five greatest marketing books of all time.”.
Strategy & Positioning Skills
The most successful companies capture the vast majority of market value by creating a new category rather than competing for existing share.
"In tech market categories, on average, one company earns two-thirds, 76% to be exact, of the total value created as measured by market cap and or valuation. So not market share, which is important, ma..."
Competing on 'better' is a dangerous default assumption that traps businesses in crowded markets where the majority of value is already concentrated with the leader.
"The decision they make is, 'What I'm going to do, is I am going to compete in a market with demand, with a better product/service/brand, maybe a better business model, maybe a better set of growth hac..."
Strategic language should be used to reframe the conversation away from product features and toward intentional category design.
"So we prefer the term category design, and I can explain why design instead of creation, we don't have anything against creation, but creation creates a confusion in people's mind. When people hear ca..."