Santa Monica, CA – March 6, 2024 – Today, Play Bigger Founder & CEO, Al Ramadan championed a groundbreaking investment strategy at the Montgomery Summit by putting a spotlight on Category Contenders – innovative startups poised to become the next cohort of industry leaders and usher in an unprecedented wave of high-growth investment opportunities.
At the summit, known for gathering leading minds in business and finance, Ramadan showed investors techniques for identifying “Market Myopia,” a phenomenon where companies get stuck in existing market definitions. He highlighted an approach for uncovering Category Contenders poised to define and dominate entirely new markets, and the challenges they face as they transition to undisputed category leaders.
“Every Contender has a strategic decision to make. Compete in someone else’s category, or create a new one,” said Ramadan. “Most Founders and Investors choose to compete in someone else’s category. It’s easier. It’s less risky. The work can be done by one or two departments. They talk about themselves and their solutions. They do branding exercises, positioning exercises and feature comparisons - explaining to the world why they have a better mousetrap.” Ramadan continues, “But, here’s the ugly truth: It’s incremental thinking masquerading as exponential fanfare. Ultimately these companies are relegated to compete for just 24% of an existing category’s market cap.”
Category Design, a revolutionary new business discipline outlined in the international bestseller “Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets”, empowers Contenders to identify entirely new problem spaces and dominate the categories these unsolved problems give rise to.
“This category centric approach offers investors the potential for explosive returns,” says Eric Chin, Partner at Crosslink Capital. “By backing these audacious companies, investors gain a significant edge in today’s competitive market.”
Ramadan’s keynote address is a valuable resource for investors seeking high-potential investment opportunities and the founders that create them. It offers practical insights and frameworks for identifying and investing in Category Contenders - the future market makers.
About Play Bigger
Play Bigger is a category design firm that advises the world’s leading technology businesses and investors. The firm’s mission is to help clients create and monetize new markets.
