Category Design Advisors

There’s something we always tell startups about pitching to VCs or seed investors – something that founders rarely get right: Pitch the category first, and then why your company is the one to create and win it...(full article below) #Startups #VentureCapital #CategoryDesign

Congrats to our client Twos on the launch of their category today. Personal Active Lists (PALs). Lists that do things for you. This one is special to us as the idea took shape as a result of the #CategoryDesign process! #Startups #VentureCapital

Congrats to our client Mesa for launching their homeowner membership card! Get rewards for all things related to your home, not just travel and dining. #CategoryDesign #Startups #VentureCapital

New article. #CategoryDesign #Startups #VentureCapital

Want to turn investors into believers? It all starts with your pitch deck. Traditional pitch decks are designed to fit into existing categories. But what if your company creates a new category? That's where Category Design comes in. This article by Mike Damphousse and Kevin Maney explores how to build a Category Designer’s Pitch Deck that goes beyond product features to show investors a whole new market opportunity—and makes you the obvious choice. - Don't just pitch a product—pitch a movement. Turn your investors into true believers. #CategoryDesign #Startups #VentureCapital

Watson was one of the most successful #CategoryDesign leaders of all time, creating the computer category!

Congrats to our client CORBEAU™ on their lightning strike. Go Benjamin Rebeske and team, go! #categorydesign #startups, #venturecapital

Huge shout out to CDA's client Hotel Engine on a UNICORN valuation! This is the second company CEO Elia Wallen has worked with us on. The first was Travelers Haven, which was acquired just two years after working with us. Both show the power of #CategoryDesign. Congrats to Elia and team! #Startups #VentureCapital

Ever wonder why all ride share apps look the same? Uber set the rules for the category.

How Red-Hot Guidewheel Leveraged Category Design Into a $31M B Round - - When we first worked with Lauren Dunford during Covid, she was running a seed-stage company called Safi that had been started in Kenya. It was a small team making a relatively simple product, but she had a big vision around making millions of small and medium-size factories efficient, productive and sustainable. We took her team through the category design process to help them solidify and articulate that vision and define the category they wanted to create. Three Years Later, a $31M B Round…Guidewheel Link to full article in comments. #startups #venturecapital #categorydesign