A Whole New Way to Play Bigger

We’re excited to share the latest news and updates for this month!

Today we’re: 

1. Making good on our New Year’s resolution to open Category Design to companies at all stages and debuting our brand new look.

2. Sharing the revamped Play Bigger engagement model.

3. Detailing a recent raise from one of our first early-stage companies to use this model, Adoreal.

The New Era at Play Bigger - Now In Web Form

In 2020, we shared an aspiration to create A New Era of Category Design at Play Bigger. And it has been a busy five years for the firm! In that time, we've brought on Two New Partners, created new methods to help companies at Every Stage of Development, and designed categories with some of the biggest and best known companies, as well as the earliest and most promising startups.

Today, we are excited to unveil a whole new look to go with all of this development, with the launch of our redesigned website. Here you can find examples of Play Bigger work, our philosophy and method for bringing categories into the world, and access to our latest research, publications, blogs and mini-books. 

Take a look, share with others and let us know what you think! 

Design, Mobilize, Execute

At the heart of our new look is the Play Bigger Engagement Model: an invitation for ambitious founders and companies at all stages to create enduring value with a point of view on how to solve a different problem.

As it turns out, designing a category is not a one size fits all proposition. While the core remains the same, the process for arriving at, mobilizing and ultimately bringing new categories into the world differs substantially based on company size, stage and make-up.

For instance, a public enterprise with 10,000 employees and an entrenched way of doing business requires a much different approach than a pre-seed startup with two employees searching for product-market fit. There are enormous differences in how we arrive at category strategy (a highly curated team at the public enterprise, the entire team at a pre-seed company and everything in between), the needed change management and socialization to existing employees (extensive at the public enterprise, but unnecessary at the pre-seed startup) and the necessary scope and scale of lightning strike execution and operations.

And that’s at the heart of this model. An ability to accommodate the needs of early stage companies with Ignite, growth stage companies with Activate and hyper-growth / public companies with Immerse.

If you’ve ever been curious about Category Design, but unsure it was right for the stage of your business, now would be the time to reach out to us.

That Seed Series Looks Good On You! 

Speaking of new looks, it turns out most people that are interested in finding one via an aesthetic procedure, never actually go through with it. And not because they don’t want one, but because the process can be anxiety-provoking and stigmatizing, can leave questions un-asked and therefore un-answered, and can force would-be patients to navigate an overwhelming amount of information alone.

It all creates an aesthetics certainty gap that the founders of Adoreal are working to resolve with a new category called Consumer Led Aesthetics, as they explain it here in the Founder’s Letter: 

"We have created an infrastructure which allows us to help clinics understand the needs of their patients, while helping them to deliver a better experience from consultation to surgery procedure to treatment and recovery. [We’re aiming for] nothing short of transforming the way consumers experience the aesthetics industry.” 

An ambition and new category that helped Adoreal nab its seed round in Q4 2024 and set itself and all of the aesthetic-interested people out there up for success in the years to come. Congrats Adoreal!

A Word on the Continuing LA Wildfires...

As a California-based company, Los Angeles has become more than just a meeting place for us - it’s evolved into a vibrant tech hub that’s home to many friends, investment partners and Play Bigger companies. The cast of thousands currently deployed to battle the devastating wildfires affecting LA are fighting for every inch of progress, and there is still an urgent need for help. Below are a few organizations we are currently supporting - we hope you will join us by making a donation if you are able.

Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation 

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Foundation provides vital equipment and funds critical programs to help the LAFD save lives and protect communities.

American Red Cross California Wildfire Relief 

As Californians cope with the trauma and massive destruction from the wildfires, more than 400 American Red Cross workers are helping to ensure no one faces this heartbreaking time alone.

The California Community Foundation

CCF ensures that resources reach those most in need, leveraging partnerships with community-based organizations and government agencies while using data from CalFire and the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index to prioritize underserved communities.

Share Bigger

If this email was forwarded to you and you like what you read, click here to be added to our Newsletter mailing list.

Final Thoughts

A lot has changed since we started Play Bigger, and while the fundamentals of Category Design remain the same, our methods and engagement models have evolved to enable more value creation, for more companies, at more stages, than ever before. Our revamped website is a testament to all that has changed, and a clearinghouse of information for anyone interested in learning more or partnering with us. 

- The Play Bigger Team