To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comActual "thinking" is not reflexive. It's reflective.Almost all thinking is reflexive (having an unconscious "reflex" in response) versus "reflective" (taking a moment to consciously reflect on how the past may have created a preexisting mental model keeping you from considering a new and different futu...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comSilicon Valley says, "The best product always wins." But does it?The goal of every entrepreneur, then, is to build the best product. How? Put the incumbent of the industry you want to "disrupt" in your sights, funnel tens (or hundreds) of millions of dollars into your scope, and build a "monster" produ...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comCategory design is the strategy for dealing with the "winner take all" reality that has taken hold in business.Only 19 percent of Fortune's 100 fast-growing companies are category designers. And yet, they captured 51 percent (of the prior three years cumulative) of the revenue growth, and 80 percent (of the prior three...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comIn the late 2000s, the United States ran one of the largest discounting (via couponing) experiments in entrepreneurial history.A small startup based in Chicago came up with a radically different idea to help small businesses generate buzz, awareness, and customer acquisition. Instead of encouraging the...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comWhen you hear the word "Facebook," what comes to mind?Is it a fun blue logo?Is it bubbly emojis and Like buttons that bounce when you tap them?Or is it...Facebook's track record on free speech?Lying about their record on hate speech?Racially insensitive comments on over...

To read this "Pirate Profile," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comIf you want to change your behavior, you have to change the situation around your behavior.Let's say, for example, that you want to eat healthier food. You can modify your circumstances in three ways:PreparationAccountabilityMindsetThis is just one of the techniques...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comOne of the most common questions entrepreneurs and small business owners ask is, "How do I create a category if I'm not a heavily funded startup or some massively successful company? How can someone like me create a category of my own?"This reveals maybe the single greatest benefit of category design:Anyone can...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comHow are you investing your life?Some of the most-asked questions in business are career-related:"How do I decide when to leave my current company?""How do I pick which company I should join?""How do I get a bigger job?"Where you choose to work and how you invest your lif...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comThere isn't a tech executive on planet earth who hasn't seen the chart from the book Crossing The Chasm that separates early adopters from later-stage customer segments.Author Geoffrey A. Moore describes (languages) the "chasm" innovative startups must cross to move their prod...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comRight now, we're experiencing a fundamental change in how humans experience life.There are two types of people on planet earth today:The first are Native Analogs. These are Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers born anywhere from the 1940s all the way up to the early '80s. Today, they rang...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comThere are two types of people on planet earth today.Native Analogs: These are Baby Boomers and Gen Xers born anywhere from the 1940s all the way up to the early '80s.Native Digitals: These are Millennials and Gen Zers born between the early 1980s to as ...

To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:categorypirates.substack.comIn a time where income inequality has never been higher, Tesla's mid 2019 to 2020 stock performance may represent the single greatest transfer of wealth from Wall Street to Main Street.This begs two questions:How was it that "Wall Street experts" were so wrong about Tesla?And how is it that so m...