Testimonials
"XM has never been more important than it is right now. To be able to go into this next chapter at our size and scale as the leader in experience management — and do it alongside some of the best investors in the world — is a part of the Qualtrics story that no one could have imagined."
Ryan Smith
Qualtrics Founder and Executive Chairman
"Once you go through the process of category design with Play Bigger, how you see the world changes. The bridge between vision and its realization becomes clearer. It sets the foundation and everything else you do is built on it."
Kylan Lundeen
Qualtrics CMO
"Category Design is the new how-to guide for entrepreneurs and executive who want to build legendary, enduring companies."
Jim Goetz, Partner
Partner, Sequoia Capital
"The Ignite program was instrumental in developing a clear and cohesive way to communicate and execute our vision. The category work has been foundational to how we operate as an organization."
Thomas Fuller
CEO & Co-founder, Adoreal
"Play Bigger is more than a book. Play Bigger is also a consulting firm helping great technology companies design and dominate their categories. The website includes numerous category champion examples along with their framework for working with clients."
Mark Gandy
CFO Bookshelf
"Category Design is a principle that every successful entrepreneur has intuitively embraced. Now it is outlined here in Play Bigger for all business executives to learn and apply. An absolute must read for every person interested in the secret sauce found in Silicon Valley."
Ann Miura-Ko
Lecturer, Stanford University, and Co-Founder, Floodgate Fund
"Every entrepreneur looking to alter the landscape and every CEO looking to reimagine a business can learn from Category Design. [It] provides inspiration and a framework for building companies that transcend gravity."
Marc Benioff
Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
"Embracing Category Design with Play Bigger was easy, it was a game changer for us in that we had so much more clarity. It just produced this very clear role for Save The Waves because we never could get the category right. And that’s the hardest thing about category design, once you have it, it makes everything so clear."
Nik Strong-Cvetich
Founder of Save The Waves Coalition
"I had a post-lightning-strike-semi-depression because I miss the good ole days of working with Play Bigger."
Lin Hua-Wu
VP of Communications, Dropbox
"It was fantastic meeting you and having you at the retreat. I've been thinking about the blueprint for a ReGenerative VC firm all weekend! Excited to be connected again soon I'm sure.With gratitude."
Alex Carr
Chief of Staff, ReGen Ventures
"Mural’s category launch gave the entire company a positioning to rally behind, allowing product marketing to reinforce and highlight its role in delivering value for Mural and for our members."
Sean Lauer
Senior Director of Product Marketing, Mural.co
"There is no company that is going to go public that doesn't have a category defined."
Richard Wells
Managing Director, Insight Partners
"Business leaders of the future need to create movements with passionate employees and fans that change the world’s point of view, not just companies with employees that sell products. Play Bigger shows how category design is the road map for making this happen."
Mike Maples
Founding partner, Floodgate
"It’s been great getting to know the guys at Play Bigger. A while back I linked up with them at the Wave Ranch and talked about carving my own path as an athlete. In the process I learned a lot about becoming my own Category Designer. It’s all in their book, you should check it out!"
Kai Lenny
Wave Foil Innovator
"Don’t fight physics! The category needs continuous care and nurturing. A Lightning Strike is a powerful force that raises category momentum, pivoting a company away from the gravity-pulling events that aim to revert your efforts back to the status quo."
Jennifer Johnson
Chief Marketing Officer, CrowdStrike
"Thank you for being part of the ReGen Founders Retreat and schooling us all in category design. It was a highlight of our time together to see how everyone was leaning in to support each other as they design, define and dominate their respective categories. Many of the founders were deep in it for hours after your session and the next morning. We've got lots of work to do together!"
Dan Fitzgerald
Managing Partner, Regen Ventures
"Loved getting the opportunity to spend time with Al Ramadan learning about category creation with the Tractor Ventures + Rampersand team + founders. Thanks for including Euphemia in the day. 👏"
Judy Anderson-Firth
Group CEO, Euphemia
"Yesterday, the day before our 13th birthday, we announced to the world finally what werealized we are: a Connectivity Cloud."
Matthew Prince
CEO, Cloudflare
"You made it look so simple. Thank You."
Mariano Suarez-Battan
CEO, Mural.co
"Play Bigger’s established work was already awe-inspiring and I’m raising the roof re: your workflow redesign for remote collaboration. It’s powerful and inspiring, Al. Your team learns visual thinking fast (but I’m not surprised!) Very grateful to witness your incredible efforts and to support them."
Sunni Brown
Strategic Advisor, Mural.co
"Thank You Al and Mike! So proud of the team and everyone involved, and thank you Matthew and Michelle for supporting and driving this. Great vision! Everyone is so excited for the future as we build this category and solve a real customer problem with the connectivity cloud."
Brent Remai
CMO, Cloudflare
"Thanks for the discipline to create something amazing.Yes, people have been developing categories for centuries. Your team sorted through the data to provide a design toolkit for execution, along with the rationale to support an investment in learning something new. We have used the Play Bigger tools to design brands and companies."
Eric Spitz
Rootz.ai
"(We) think about category design a lot at Tractor Ventures: how the companies we fund approach it, and how we ourselves apply that to what we are executing in market as well. We gift a copy of Play Bigger to all the founders we fund (and a 'lil Lego Tractor) and that category design approach is very simply a priority at the top of our Tractor minds. Our huge thanks to Al and the Play Bigger team for the invaluable insights, and to Paul Naphtali and the Rampersand team for the collab."
Tractor Ventures
"Ended 2023 with a focus on Category Design // Entering 2024 with an invigorated focus on Category Design. That is a big emphasis & goal for me personally here at Tractor Ventures this year.
Who better to give you a kickstart on the subject than the guy who authored the book, Al Ramadan?
Al is a co-author of the seminal guide to Category Design: 'Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets.'
He was named by TIME Magazine as one of the most influential people in the digital economy, was a founder of the influential online sports media company Quokka Sports, and moved to Silicon Valley many moons ago, establishing Play Bigger as a company in the process, working with companies like Atlassian, Qualtrics etc.
Special day for me personally, just to see it all transpire - love the book, love the category design focus, loved the challenge of getting it all together with Paul Naphtali of Rampersand. But to see and hear founders think about their opportunities and the problem at large in very different ways in very quick amounts of time, that was quite cool to me."
Garry Williams
Director of Engagement, Tractor Ventures
"In the quiet of the holiday season, a moment of profound clarity emerged. I had the unique privilege of engaging with Al Ramadan and Meredith Ramadan at an end of year event. Our conversations about category design weren't just discussions; they were revelations, echoing the kind of innovation and bold thinking we at NDE Solutions Pty Ltd have always aspired to.
We've just completed a pivotal first stage in our collaboration with Play Bigger. This isn't just progress; it's a transformative leap. It’s about seeing beyond the status quo, challenging norms, and aiming not just to lead but to redefine the market. We've always believed in the power of visionaries to change the world. Working with Al, Jason Wellcome & the Play Bigger team, delving deep into the philosophy of category design, I was reminded of this. It’s not about just being a player in the market, it’s about being the market itself.
This experience with Play Bigger has been more than educational—it's been an alignment of vision and purpose. It's given us clarity, yes, but more importantly, it's given us a renewed sense of mission. The path to becoming category kings has presented itself.
To Al , Jason & Play Bigger, thank you. Your insights have not just contributed to our strategy; they have inspired our spirit. The journey ahead is not just about leading; it's about pioneering. And in this journey, we see not just a goal to be achieved but a destiny to be shaped."
Kimal Singh
CEO, NDE Solutions
"Play bigger is a compelling strategy for defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time. By applying category design, companies can create new demand where none existed, rising to a leading position."
The Montgomery Summit