Field Notes · By Stephen Gilfus · April 2, 2026
Category Definition Is the First Act of Strategy
Before features, before funding, before the org chart — the category.
Most companies inherit a category and then try to win inside it. The more durable move is to define the category itself, then lead the conversation that decides who belongs in it.
Most companies inherit a category and then try to win inside it. The more durable move is to define the category itself, then lead the conversation that decides who belongs in it.
A defined category is not a marketing exercise. It is a strategic instrument. It tells the buyer what problem to take seriously, what success looks like, and what kind of company is qualified to deliver it. Done well, it makes competitors look like partial answers to a question you have already framed.
Three disciplines separate the firms that define from the firms that follow:
- Name the underlying shift. Categories are built on top of a structural change in how value is created — not on top of a feature comparison. Articulate the shift before you sell the product.
- Hold the language. The category leader owns the vocabulary. If the analysts, the buyers, and the press are using your words, the rest of the contest is downstream of that.
- Carry a point of view. A category without a point of view collapses into a feature list. A point of view forces a choice; a feature list invites comparison shopping.
The firms that compound over decades — the ones that survive cycles and platform shifts — almost always defined their category before they optimized inside it. That sequencing is not cosmetic. It is the first act of strategy, and most of the leverage comes from doing it on purpose.
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