Marketers often mistake strategic positioning (finding a niche) for true category creation. A new category introduces a solution to a problem customers haven't yet articulated, requiring education on why they need a thing they've never bought before.

Bootstrappers lack the capital and time to establish a new market category. A better strategy is to anchor your product in a known category (e.g., "site audit tool") and then use your unique features (e.g., "that also fixes the issues") as a key differentiator.

Obsessing over creating a new market category is often a mistake. Data shows the vast majority of successful public tech companies compete within established categories. It's more effective to get "invited to the party" by using a known category label and then winning with a sharp, differentiated value proposition.

Truly creating a new category is rare. A more effective strategy is creating a sub-category by anchoring your product to an understood concept, framing it as 'like X, but different in a key way.' For example, Drift was 'live chat, but for sales,' not an entirely new concept.

1Password hired a former CSO not to pitch its product, but to embed within the CISO community and 'agitate' for the problems their new category solves. This foments frustration about unsolved pains, creating demand for a solution before one is even presented.

Most companies claiming to create new categories are actually creating sub-categories. They anchor their concept to something familiar, like Drift positioning as "live chat, but for sales" or the first cars being called "horseless carriages." This is more realistic as it doesn't require educating the market from zero.

Instead of inventing a completely new market, position your product as a sub-category of something people already understand (e.g., "like live chat, but for sales"). This "horseless carriage" approach makes innovation digestible by grounding it in a familiar concept, as Drift did.

Many marketers mistakenly start with the goal of creating a new category. However, a new category only emerges as a downstream consequence of a strong, existing demand that is poorly served by all current products. The demand must exist before a new category can be successfully established.

To sell into a cynical market where previous solutions failed (a "Third Journey"), you can't just be a "next-gen" tool. You must re-educate buyers with precise messaging and a new category name, then instantly prove you're different by delivering undeniable value with minimal effort.