Eben PaganDiscovery Hub

Category Creation: Be First Rather Than Best

Competing in crowded categories is a losing game — you're always fighting uphill against whoever got there first. The leverage move is to create a new category where you can be first. When you're the original, you have enormous built-in persuasion power: you set the frame, you define what good looks like, and competitors are permanently positioned as coming after you. In any sizable marketplace, there are always groups of people with unmet needs that existing companies aren't serving. That's your opening. The goal is to position yourself as the leader of that new category from day one — name it, define it, own the vocabulary. Then connect your category directly to the emotional problem your ideal customer experiences and can't find a perfect solution for anywhere else. First mover in a well-chosen niche beats best in a crowded one almost every time.

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Competing in crowded categories is a losing game — you're always fighting uphill against whoever got there first. The leverage move is to create a new category where you can be first. When you're the original, you have enormous built-in persuasion power: you set the frame, you define what good looks like, and competitors are permanently positioned as coming after you. In any sizable marketplace, there are always groups of people with unmet needs that existing companies aren't serving. That's your opening. The goal is to position yourself as the leader of that new category from day one — name it, define it, own the vocabulary. Then connect your category directly to the emotional problem your ideal customer experiences and can't find a perfect solution for anywhere else. First mover in a well-chosen niche beats best in a crowded one almost every time.

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  • Answer

    Be First in a Category You Create

    Create a new category that you can be first in, rather than competing in crowded existing categories. Position yourself as the original and leader of that category, which gives you tremendous leverage when persuading customers.

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  • Answer

    Every Sizable Market Has Underserved Groups With Unmet Needs

    Yes, Eben believes that in any sizable marketplace, there are always groups of people with unmet needs that existing companies aren't addressing.

    → Canonical answer