It's an exciting time at Play Bigger as we experience unprecedented demand for our Category Design solutions -- opportunity and growth driven in large part by the incredible success of our portfolio of clients. Category Design has increasingly become a strategic imperative, reinforced by leading entrepreneurs and investors reaching out to us from all around the world.
It’s also no coincidence that the discipline of Category Design is seeing such accelerated growth. In our book, we talk about the Category Lifecycle and its three phases of define, develop and dominate (see the full, updated Chapter 2 here). As noted, each phase is roughly five years in length. Through our 6-10 research we established the bulk of value creation happens during the “develop” phase. Well, it’s been roughly five years since we published our Blueprint for Category Design and it’s clear we’re transitioning into the develop phase of our own category journey.
As we look back over the define phase of Category Design, we’ve had the honor of being involved in more than 50 Category Design projects with some of the most iconic and disruptive technology companies in the world. Two of our alumni, in particular, have been making headlines recently and continue to be noteworthy examples of how Category Design can accelerate growth by redefining market opportunity.
Take Qualtrics (NASDAQ: XM, $39.52; Market Capitalization: $20.3 billion) for example. With their establishment of the Experience Management category, they made the leap from niche Market Research player to the leader of a new, more expansive category. This has contributed to a market capitalization many multiples higher than their prior category in its entirety. By continuously elevating the importance of experience across all of a business’ touchpoints, they’ve expertly expanded their opportunity for value creation. Just last month they announced 2Q21 results, reporting strong revenue momentum and customer metrics with total revenue growth of 38%.
Qualtrics Founder, Ryan Smith ringing in their IPO with CEO, Zig Serafin earlier this year
Celonis is yet another great example of Category Design in action as they continue to define and lead the emerging category of Execution Management. In June they announced new funding of $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation, making them one of the world's most valuable startups. Recently named to Forbes Cloud 100 list, Celonis is using its vision to pioneer the Execution Management space and help companies reimagine how they use data and intelligence to achieve executional excellence across entire business processes.
Celonis co-CEO Alexander Rinke, funding coverage in Forbes
Interested in joining the next phase of our Category Design journey?
To help meet growing demand and fuel our growth we are on the hunt for talented and passionate Category Designers. We're looking for dynamic innovators who live to reimagine, create and grow new market opportunities. If this sounds like you, check out our Category Designer in Residence job post here and let’s connect.