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Strategy
Play Bigger
by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead
Essential Reading for Scale-Up Leaders
A comprehensive review with actionable insights, key takeaways, and practical frameworks for scaling your business.
Why This Book Matters for Scale-Up Leaders
Many companies focus on building better products, scaling operations, or improving execution. Yet the most valuable companies in the world often succeed not just by competing but by creating and owning entirely new categories. Play Bigger argues that category design is the missing discipline in business strategy.
The authors, all experienced entrepreneurs and advisors, introduce category design as the art and science of creating a new market category, defining its rules, and positioning your company as the leader. For scale-ups, this book matters because growth alone does not guarantee dominance. Without category leadership, you risk becoming just another player in someone else’s game.
The authors, all experienced entrepreneurs and advisors, introduce category design as the art and science of creating a new market category, defining its rules, and positioning your company as the leader. For scale-ups, this book matters because growth alone does not guarantee dominance. Without category leadership, you risk becoming just another player in someone else’s game.
Key Insights
Category design is as important as product design
Great companies do not simply create great products. They also create new categories that frame how the world sees and understands their products. Apple did not just make a smartphone. It created the category of modern mobile computing. Salesforce did not just sell software. It created the category of cloud-based CRM.
The category king takes most of the value
Markets tend to concentrate around one dominant leader. The category king often captures 70 to 80 percent of the value. This means being second or third is not good enough. To achieve outsized outcomes, you must aim to be the category king.
Categories live in the minds of customers
A category is not defined by a company but by customer perception. The way customers talk about and frame the problem determines whether your company is seen as the obvious solution.
Category design requires storytelling
Narrative is critical. To create a category, you must frame the problem in a way that customers adopt. This means telling a compelling story about the problem, why it matters, and why your solution is the inevitable answer.
Timing matters
Categories emerge when problems reach a tipping point and customers are ready for a new solution. Moving too early can be as dangerous as moving too late.
Category design requires alignment across product, company, and ecosystem
Category kings align their product innovation, company culture, and marketing around the same category story. They also cultivate ecosystems of partners, customers, and influencers who reinforce the category.
Actionable Insights for Founders and Scale-Up Leaders
Define the problem before selling the solution
Do not start by pitching features. Start by naming and framing the problem in a way that resonates with customers. Make the problem so compelling that your solution feels inevitable.
Craft a category narrative
Build a simple, powerful story that explains why the world needs a new way. Share this narrative with customers, employees, investors, and media until it becomes the dominant frame for the category.
Design the category, not just the product
Think beyond product design. Ask what kind of market you are creating and how you want it to be perceived. Align your marketing, sales, and partnerships with this vision.
Aim to be the category king
Do not settle for being a player in someone else’s market. Category kings take most of the value. Shape the narrative, own the definition of the space, and position your company as the leader.
Use ecosystem leverage
Engage partners, influencers, and early customers to reinforce your story. The more voices that repeat your category framing, the more powerful it becomes.
Balance timing carefully
Assess whether the market is ready for your category. Too early and customers will not understand the problem. Too late and the category king will already be established.
Practical Checklist Inspired by the Book
1Write a problem statement that names and frames the issue your company exists to solve.
2Develop a category narrative that tells the story of why a new way is needed and why your solution leads it.
3Share this narrative consistently in sales pitches, marketing campaigns, and internal meetings.
4Map your ecosystem of partners, influencers, and customers who can reinforce your category story.
5Evaluate whether your company is positioned to become the category king and identify what gaps need closing.
6Review your timing. Assess whether the market is at the right stage for your category to take off.
Conclusion
Play Bigger is not a book about incremental improvement. It is a book about market dominance. It challenges leaders to think beyond product features and operational excellence and to focus on shaping how the world perceives the entire category.
For scale-up leaders, this is a shift in mindset. Growth is not just about building a better product or executing more efficiently. It is about teaching the market how to think about the problem you solve and positioning your company as the obvious leader.
The enduring lesson is that in modern markets, value accrues disproportionately to category kings. To scale successfully, you must design the category as deliberately as you design the product. The companies that play bigger are the ones that win bigger.
For scale-up leaders, this is a shift in mindset. Growth is not just about building a better product or executing more efficiently. It is about teaching the market how to think about the problem you solve and positioning your company as the obvious leader.
The enduring lesson is that in modern markets, value accrues disproportionately to category kings. To scale successfully, you must design the category as deliberately as you design the product. The companies that play bigger are the ones that win bigger.
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