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This microbook is a summary/original review based on the book: Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets
Available for: Read online, read in our mobile apps for iPhone/Android and send in PDF/EPUB/MOBI to Amazon Kindle.
ISBN: 0062407619
Publisher: Harper Business
The authors provide compelling examples of companies that successfully built their empires by designing categories, such as Uber’s disruption of the taxi industry and Amazon’s redefinition of e-commerce. They show how companies like Ford and Uber didn’t just improve existing products but introduced entirely new ways of living and solving problems. By doing so, these companies became category kings, offering visionary solutions that made old ways of doing things obsolete.
Key chapters emphasize powerful concepts that entrepreneurs and business leaders can apply, such as the importance of having a clear Point of View (Chapter 5) and how to “play bigger” (Chapter 10). The book stresses that timing is crucial—while category-defining companies may initially face skepticism, their revolutionary ideas often become indispensable once public opinion catches up. The authors also discuss the importance of market and technology insights to identify opportunities for new categories and the power of storytelling in engaging customers and motivating employees.
The book is more than just a strategic guide; it’s also a motivational tool for business leaders who aspire to change the world by building companies that don’t just compete but define entire industries. By following the principles outlined in “Play Bigger,” entrepreneurs can learn to spot untapped opportunities, create categories, and own them.
The authors introduce a central idea: the most enduringly successful companies don’t just offer better products than the competition; they actually create entirely new categories of products or services. This process—of carving out a brand-new space in the market and defining the terms of engagement—is what the authors call “category design.” By doing this well, a company can become what they term a “category king,” a business that dominates its industry so thoroughly that it ends up capturing the vast majority of the profits, market value, and long-term success.
They start by asking what common thread links iconic, game-changing businesses such as Facebook, Google, Salesforce, Uber, IKEA, and even historical pioneers like Clarence Birdseye, who introduced frozen foods in the early 20th century. Their key insight is that these companies and individuals didn’t just improve on what already existed; instead, they introduced the world to something altogether different. They framed a new problem in customers’ minds and then presented their offering as the best—and often the only—solution.
Birdseye’s story serves as an early example. Before him, there was no such thing as the “frozen foods” category. He had to build the entire ecosystem from scratch—developing flash-freezing techniques, influencing railroad operators to add freezer cars, convincing grocers to install freezer cases, and educating consumers about why they should prefer frozen goods over canned.
Similarly, Uber didn’t merely create a better taxi company; it redefined on-demand transportation. At first, people didn’t realize they had a “taxi problem,” but once Uber demonstrated a simple, tech-enabled solution, everyone understood the new category—and Uber dominated it.
The authors explain that becoming a category king involves more than inventing a product. It requires creating a new frame of reference in the customer’s mind, shaping the way people think about a certain need or problem. Category kings own that problem; in other words, when customers realize they need something, they naturally associate the solution with the category king’s name.
They detail how these category kings often take about six to ten years to form. During that time, they defined the category so clearly that the market began to revolve around them. These leaders attract the best employees, the most enthusiastic partners, and the majority of investors’ attention and money. Over time, category kings typically collect around 70% to 80% of the total value and profits in their space, leaving competitors far behind.
The authors also distinguish between mere product innovation and true category creation. You don’t have to be the first to invent something; you have to be the one that makes that something meaningful in people’s minds. They cite examples like Apple (with iPhones and iPads) and Tesla (with electric cars), both of which refined existing ideas but took the crucial extra step of defining and owning a new category.
Instead of just creating a product and trying to sell it, the authors argue that the real path to lasting success is about creating and defining an entirely new category—a new market space that changes the way people think about a problem. They draw a line from older ideas in marketing and innovation to what is happening now, showing that the game has changed. Simply having a better product no longer guarantees you a win. What matters is teaching people to see a certain problem differently—and then presenting your product as the best solution to that newly understood problem.
The authors mention some classic business and marketing books—“Positioning,” “Crossing the Chasm,” and “The Innovator’s Dilemma”—that were major influences on how we think about markets and innovation. Those books were written during times when television, early computing, or the rise of the internet was changing the way business worked. Each introduced new ways to think about market competition, but all were based on fitting new products into existing markets.
Today, however, the authors say we have entered the “category age,” where the real winners aren’t just launching something new; they’re creating a whole new type of product category that hadn’t existed before.
Why is this so important now? Because the world today is insanely complicated. Thanks to social networks, mobile devices, cloud computing, and endless choices, people are overwhelmed by too many options. The cost of starting a new company and launching a product is lower than ever, so hundreds of similar products pop up all the time.
Customers don’t have the time or energy to compare every product. Instead, they want a clear way to understand what problem they’re trying to solve and which solution is the best. This is why categories matter so much: a category gives people a mental shortcut. It tells them what kind of product they should be looking for, and usually, the company that defines the category becomes the one everyone thinks is best.
The authors connect this idea to how our brains work. Scientists have discovered that we rely on shortcuts—“cognitive biases”—when making decisions. We look for the number-one brand in a category because it feels safer and easier. Once we pick that winner, we’re less likely to change our minds. This explains why once a category king emerges—like Google in online search or Uber in on-demand transportation—other good competitors struggle to catch up, even if they have a slightly better product. Our brains have already decided who the leader is, and sticking with that leader just feels right.
The authors introduce a big idea called “category design.” They explain that category design is a way for companies, entrepreneurs, and innovators to shape the market around a new idea so that people will want what they are offering. Instead of just making a product and hoping people buy it, category design involves thinking about how to create a whole new category of products or services that addresses a problem people don’t yet realize they have—or don’t think can be solved.
To help us understand this, the authors first walk us through examples of category design throughout history. They show how leaders and visionaries, dating as far back as the Apostle Paul in the first century, introduced entirely new concepts to the world. For example, Paul spread the teachings of Jesus, and in doing so, he essentially created a new “category” of religion that emphasized love and forgiveness.
Much later, in 1776, the American rebels created a new category of nation founded on democracy and equality. Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and later Vladimir Lenin tried to create a new kind of country based on communism. Duke Kahanamoku popularized surfing worldwide, shaping an entirely new sports category. The Beatles launched a new era of music, and Salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff created a new category of cloud-based software that changed how businesses buy and use technology.
By showing these examples, the authors make it clear that category design is not just about products. It can shape nations, sports, music, and almost any part of culture. But in the modern business world, it’s especially important because we’re surrounded by so many new companies and ideas. Without designing a category, a business could get lost or fail, even if it has a good product.
So, what is category design solving? The authors say that not everyone has the natural genius of Steve Jobs or Marc Benioff. Many good companies fail simply because they never define what makes them different. They just put their product out there and hope people buy it. But with category design, a company can define a problem that no one else has clearly defined before. Once people understand this problem, they will demand a solution. And because the company “owns” that problem and its solution, it can become the “category king,” dominating that space and making sure its product leads the market.
The chapters emphasize that category design is a discipline, something you can learn and get better at, just like product design or experience design. It requires courage, creativity, and a willingness to shape the way people think. It means looking at every aspect of a business—strategy, product features, marketing, culture, and partnerships—and aligning them so that the world begins to see things in a new way. This new way sets your product apart and makes people realize they can’t live without it.
The authors explain how companies that aim to create and dominate entirely new categories of business must find ways to stay focused, overcome internal and external pressures, and then powerfully present their vision to the world. They introduce the idea of “gravity,” a natural force that pulls a business into making practical, short-term decisions—usually focused on fixing problems for existing customers rather than sticking to the company’s original bold idea.
While these practical decisions seem rational, they often cause a company to drift away from its “true north”: that founding insight that sets it apart from everything else out there.
At the start, a founder-CEO usually has a fresh, visionary idea: a product or service that’s different from what the market currently offers. In the beginning, it’s easier to stay on track because the team is small, and everyone knows what the big vision is.
Over time, however, as the product starts gaining traction and the company grows, the CEO gets pulled into all sorts of everyday tasks—managing sales, hiring employees, dealing with legal issues, and so forth. Without constant attention to the original vision, the product roadmap can get taken over by other people—such as sales staff who push to add whatever features a potential customer requests.
This is where “gravity” comes in. The authors explain that gravity is the force that lures a company to make safe, short-term moves that steer it away from the groundbreaking vision that could make it a “category king.”
The authors then describe a solution: category design. Category design is a deliberate approach to shaping the market’s understanding of a new concept, convincing customers, the media, and even competitors that your idea is the one that defines the category. This includes crafting a strong POV that clearly states the problem you are solving in a fresh way and exactly how your offering solves it. But it’s not enough to have the POV; you must spread it widely and effectively within your own company first and then to the outside world.
To effectively introduce and reinforce a new category, the authors advocate something called a “lightning strike.” A lightning strike is a focused, high-impact event (or series of events) that gathers all the company’s energy and resources to make a loud, attention-grabbing statement about the new category.
Instead of “peanut butter” marketing—spreading resources thinly over a long period—a lightning strike concentrates efforts in a short timeframe. This might take the form of a big product launch at a major industry conference, or a specially organized summit featuring noteworthy speakers and partners. The point is to create an unforgettable moment that plants the category firmly in people’s minds.
The authors acknowledge a core truth: every great start-up dreams of becoming a big, lasting company. Nobody sets out to fail. Yet, as companies grow older and bigger, they often lose the innovative spark that made them special in the first place. They get stuck making only slight improvements—“better, faster, cheaper” versions—on what they’ve already done. This leads to becoming a slow-moving giant that can be easily challenged by a new start-up with a fresh idea.
The authors cite research showing that large, established companies rarely succeed at launching brand-new products that reshape the market. Instead, it’s much more common that an upstart rethinks the problem and introduces a groundbreaking new category.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way. The authors explain that some big corporations can and do innovate continuously, turning their size from a weakness into a strength. They highlight companies like Corning, a 165-year-old glass manufacturer, as an example. Corning has repeatedly invented new categories of specialty glass—from the glass used in old television sets and laboratory equipment to the scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass used in millions of smartphones today.
Corning’s success comes from decades of patient research and a willingness to make big, risky bets. Even when no immediate market exists for a particular technology, Corning continues to invest in it, trusting that the right market insight—a key customer problem—will eventually appear. When Apple’s Steve Jobs needed a tough, touch-sensitive surface for the iPhone, Corning had the know-how ready to go. Together, Corning and Apple created a new category of glass that revolutionized how we think about phone screens.
The authors emphasize that the secret to continuous innovation involves more than just technology. It’s about listening closely to the market and your customers, but not just so you can improve what you already have. Instead, you must be on the lookout for “different,” not just “better.”
Customers typically ask for improvements to what they know. But companies focused on category creation listen for the underlying, unresolved problems that people don’t realize can be solved in a radically new way. And when that fresh solution is revealed, it permanently shifts expectations. This is the essence of category design: define a new space and convince the world that this space is vital.
They also point out that some modern tech giants have mastered continuous category creation. Amazon and Google, for instance, consistently invest in developing new categories—Amazon Web Services pioneered the cloud computing category, changing how businesses think about IT infrastructure; Google’s restructuring into Alphabet shows it’s separating its mature “harvest” businesses (like search) from newer, riskier “creation” projects. This approach encourages ongoing reinvention and shields innovative experiments from the gravitational pull of existing businesses.
"Play Bigger" is a business strategy book written collaboratively by a “band” of four coauthors—advisors who have helped shape some of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies. It focuses on a concept they call “category design,” which involves creating and dominating a new market category rather than competing in an existing one.
The authors merge their differing backgrounds and experiences to explain how companies can define a problem that only they can solve, craft a narrative (a “Point of View”) around it, and orchestrate powerful product launches (“lightning strikes”) to establish themselves as “category kings.”
Through storytelling, data analysis, interviews, and real-world examples, "Play Bigger" aims to serve as a guide for anyone—from startup founders to seasoned leaders—looking to chart their own course, redefine their industry, and leave an indelible mark on the business world. It’s a blueprint for “playing bigger” by carving out a unique space, thinking differently, and inspiring a company’s entire ecosystem to rally around a new way of doing things.
If you’re looking for a life-changing perspective on happiness, success, and love, we highly recommend reading “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins. This book reveals how a simple yet profound idea—two words, “Let Them”—can liberate you from the endless cycle of trying to control everything and everyone around you.
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He writes a weekly column for Newsweek and has contributed to prominent publications such as USA Today, Fortune, Fast Company, and Wired. Maney is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller “The Two-Second Advantage,” co-written with TIBCO CEO Vivek Ranadive, and the critically acclaimed bi... (Read more)
He is a co-founding partner at Play Bigger Advisors, LLC, with a strong background in entrepreneurship and marketing. He has held key roles at companies such as Vantiv... (Read more)
With a background in companies like Scient, Vantive, Platinum Software, and Mercury Interactive, he has extensive experience in shaping marketing strategies. Loc... (Read more)
He is a seasoned technologist, entrepreneur, and CEO with extensive experience in pioneering new markets. Ramadan co-founded Quokka Sports, which revolutionized sports immersion on the Internet, and later joined... (Read more)
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