How to become a category pirate | Christopher Lochhead (Author of Play Bigger, Niche Down, more)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 มิ.ย. 2024
- Christopher Lochhead is a 14-time #1 bestselling author, top podcaster, and former 3x public tech company CMO and has been an advisor to over 50 VC-backed tech startups. He is best known as a “godfather” of category design, and Adobe named his book Play Bigger one of “the five greatest marketing books of all time.” In this episode, we discuss:• What exactly category design is
• The “Frame It, Name It, Claim It” framework
• How to go about designing your category
• Why “languaging” is so powerful
• Rating yourself on the category design scorecard
• Why Chris considers “product-market fit” a dangerous concept
• Chris’s spicy take on positioning
• The “better trap” and why it’s crucial to avoid it
• The magic triangle of product, company, and category
• How to embrace negative feedback
• Why the greatest time in the history of innovation is now
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Find the transcript and references at: www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ho...
Where to find Christopher Lochhead:
• Twitter/X: / lochhead
• LinkedIn: / christopherlochhead
• Website: www.categorypirates.com/
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter/X: / lennysan
• LinkedIn: / lennyrachitsky
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Chris’s background
(05:08) Why Chris shares his negative criticism on his website
(11:58) A simple explanation of category design
(18:00) How Purell mastered category design
(23:07) What Gong got right (and wrong)
(29:01) The “better trap” and why it’s crucial to avoid it
(38:51) Reflective thinking vs. reflexive thinking
(44:45) How Lomi created a revolutionary solution for food waste
(48:50) The “Frame It, Name It, Claim It” framework
(49:08) The concept of “languaging”
(54:00) Examples of languaging
(59:19) Spend more time on the problem than the solution
(1:01:37) The power of “backcasting”
(1:07:33) The truth behind building legendary brands
(1:10:39) The problem with product-market fit
(1:16:11) Chris’s spicy take on positioning
(1:19:20) “Damming the demand”
(1:24:49) Laws from Chris’s book The 22 Laws of Category Design
(1:29:46) Word of mouth: the most powerful form of marketing
(1:34:05) Chris’s closing message to listeners
(1:39:01) Lightning round
Production and marketing by penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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Would love to hear Chris talk aboutthe rise of "Role Design" within a company designing a category.
Finally an old person with an articulated speech that makes you wanna keep listening. Unlike 98% of guests who can't say one sentence without be-me-hm-aa-youknow-like stuttering. So much pleasure just listening to such people, regardless of the content.
Agree!
th-cam.com/video/mS4B541m9xg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=zueFNqyWs07n0bVI&t=1730
This is a gift to the world, Christopher. Thank you for sharing it with us.
💯
Totally.
Great episode indeed. I have watched a few episodes but often found myself skipping forward. With this one though, I watched it all with a continuous smile on my face. Chris is a great "story teller" (pun intended). Really enjoyed it. The - probably unintended - irony of the sponsored product clip half-way through got me laughing also. Well done, Lenny!
Storytelling in the palm of your hand. In a new Giving Economy. My newly designed category. I get it. Best podcast and guest yet Lenny. Truly music to my ears.
My biggest takeaways are: the best entrepreneurs are market creators, the best startups differentiate well, and the best companies care deeply about the words they use to position their product. Of course, Chris adds a fun layer of storytelling on top of that as well.
I would love an online beef between Chris and April on Category Design vs Positioning. 😆
Fantastic, Lenny! Really informative. First time I listen to your podcast and this episode is legit! (From 🇧🇷 here)
Best episode! I never thought about category mindset, which makes total sense when you are defining your product and growth strategy. 👏
Love this episode !
Excellent, thank you!
Here’s the aha! Excellent podcast 😂🔥 Play Bigger had a massive effect on me & my startup. Categories make products 💯
This dude is a G i love how unfiltered he is. Immense value shared 💯 Lenny thank u for being a great listener and asking concise prompting questions, and then not interrupting. excellent interviewer. Cheers!
This was brain candy! Excellent show
Awesome podcast .. learnt a lot
This guy is insane! Also Bob Moesta too!
So so good.
Good one!
Unhappy naw, imho.
Christopher just designed a new guest catagory, and Lenny is thinking about other guests for this exponentially different new catagory! 🎤 drop
Lenny don’t look too happy throughout this
Lack of sleep
1.5x speed helped.
@@oz2011OMG, I just put it on 1.5 and it still takes forever to get to the point :)
When we were kids when we wanted to straw man someones argument but didnt know how we would repeat it with funny voice “Ya! Wya! Nya-Nya-Nya!” . He was bashing Tai Lopez but his discussion kinda reminded me of these gurus. This episode seems kinda scammy.
"This episode seems kinda scammy." There was some unnecessary profanity, LOL.
However, I found the idea of languaging, illustrated by the Starbuck's pricing dilemma, to be very insightful. That is real substance. Enough for me to subscribe to Lochhead's email list.
yea, he just seems like an unhappy angry guy
I could not stop listing to this episode. @lenny did you not like this episode? I can tell you were not into it much?
That’s because while the guest was very interesting every point had to be turned into a long, circuitous path.
@@GiantsOnTheHorizon cause you don't know how to listen.
@@eduardoPicazzo I know how to listen. Listened to the whole thing and bought his book and audio book too. Listened to the audio book twice. Both are excellent. I just personally found his style to be condescending and a bit narcissistic. Now, can you tell me I don’t know how to listen again?
@@GiantsOnTheHorizon Hey! I agree he was kind of condescending. But what I'm criticizing about your comment is why cutting to the chase if that's the style he chose to convey his answers with. It's a podcast just sit back and listen.
@@eduardoPicazzo I appreciate the fact that you want to give the guest his due. Many people in the comments (including the commenter I was responding to) were noticing Lenny wasn’t as engaged as normal. I just answered as to why I thought that may be though maybe it came off a bit harsh.
Some great advice, however the remainder is 34% not 24% like he keeps on repeating. 2/3 equals 66%.
😬
One thing i disagree with about this whole 'Create your own category' thing which ill put in the context of a concrete example.
I was watching MrBeast get interviewed on the "All-in-Podcast" on youtube. And at one point of the hosts says something like... "There's not really anyone like us" (because we are doing something different, etc.)
But MrBeast had this confused look because even though he'd seen the podcast a number of times.. he didn't have this same perception that they're different. And rather he'd probably mentally positioned their show to be along the lines of tons of other interview-styled podcasts with multiple hosts.
Point being.. These All-in-Podcast guys thought they were creating a new category. But the vast majority of folks will automatically associate it with things they're familiar with.
And not give you sufficient time to bother to understand whether or how you're actually different.
And i actually think that if you look at all the times someone tried to 'create a new category' in history... probably 95% ended up as i describe above. And 5% truly had something innovative that became the iPhone.
Great talk but he’s super patronising.
Don't tell me this isn't Robert Downey Junior
Why your host is mimicking a disable person voice ? You should be ashamed of yourselves allowing this behavior on your channel. My brother has a disability and speaks like that and hurts my heart seeing something like this
Lenny you need to slow down man . I can’t consume all that you are putting out so fast.
I hear you. Will slow down in the new year.
This man curses a lot and I don’t like this attitude