Lenny's PodcastHow to become a category pirate | Christopher Lochhead (Author of Play Bigger, Niche Down, more)
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Design Markets, Not Just Products: Christopher Lochhead On Category Creation
- Christopher Lochhead argues that legendary companies don’t just build better products; they design entirely new market categories by redefining the problems they solve. Drawing on research and many examples, he explains that in tech markets, one company typically captures about two-thirds of a category’s total value, so competing as “better” in an existing space is usually a losing strategy. Instead, founders should obsess over problems, craft a sharp point of view, invent new language, and “frame, name, and claim” a distinct category—then drive word-of-mouth and demand through focused “lightning strikes” rather than generic marketing. He also challenges popular ideas like product–market fit and positioning, and closes with a call for creators to pursue “exponential different,” because “the future needs you.”
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasCompeting within an existing category usually means fighting for scraps.
Lochhead’s research shows that, in tech, the category leader captures about two-thirds of the total market value, leaving everyone else to split the remaining 24%. If you choose to “be better” in an existing category, you are implicitly choosing to fight over that smaller slice.
Design the category by redefining the problem, not just improving the solution.
Legendary companies start with a fresh articulation of the problem (or reframe an existing one) and then align their product, company, and story around that new definition—like Lomi reframing kitchen waste and composting, or GOJO inventing “liquid soap” and later “hand sanitizer.”
Avoid the “better trap”: being a slightly better version of what already exists.
Copying an incumbent solution and claiming it’s better—like Threads vs. Twitter or Amazon’s Fire Phone vs. the iPhone—almost always fails, because the incumbent already adequately solves the accepted problem. Without a new or reframed problem, customers won’t switch.
Use languaging and a sharp point of view to change how people think.
Terms like “vertical railway” (Otis), “venti” (Starbucks), “energy drink” (Red Bull), and “LLM” (OpenAI) create new mental scaffolding for customers. A clear point of view frames the from–to journey (status quo → new way) and makes your category understandable, memorable, and spreadable.
Think in terms of backcasting: start from the future and work backwards.
Instead of forecasting from today’s constraints, Lochhead recommends imagining a fully successful future state and then asking, “Standing there, what must have happened to get us here?” This helps reject legacy assumptions and opens up truly category-defining ideas.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesMost entrepreneurs make an unquestioned decision to compete for the 24% and they don’t even know they made it.
— Christopher Lochhead
The category makes the product. The category makes the brand. The category makes the company.
— Christopher Lochhead
You can’t take an existing problem with an existing solution, launch exactly the same shit, say it’s better, and have the world embrace it.
— Christopher Lochhead
Thinking about thinking is the most important kind of thinking.
— Christopher Lochhead
If you’re lucky enough to make it to the top of a mountain, throw down a fucking rope.
— Christopher Lochhead
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