---
name: designing-category-narrative
description: >-
  Builds a point-of-view-led category narrative using Play Bigger category
  design mechanics: a qualification gate, problem framing, the From/To journey,
  category naming constraints, the point of view document, and an aimed
  lightning strike plan on a three-to-six-month cadence. Use when the user says
  "category creation", "category design", "we're creating a new category",
  "point of view", "POV narrative", "category king", "lightning strike",
  "we need a bigger story", "our market doesn't exist yet", "analyst category",
  or "we're tired of being compared to a competitor". Do NOT use for
  positioning inside an existing category (see positioning-a-b2b-product), for
  quarterly budget and channel allocation (see planning-demand-generation), or
  for testing logo, color and sonic asset recognition (see
  auditing-brand-distinctiveness).
metadata:
  version: "1.0"
---

# Designing a category narrative

Produce one artifact: a category narrative package containing a qualification verdict, a problem statement, a category name, a point of view document, and a lightning strike plan. Out of scope: positioning inside an existing category, campaign media buying, and product roadmap sequencing.

Run the qualification gate first and be willing to return a "do not create a category" verdict. Category creation is the exception, not the default — roughly 90 percent of tech companies that went public positioned inside an existing category, and the vast majority of legendary businesses did not create the categories they are in ([Gavel, citing April Dunford](https://usegavel.com/april-dunford/positioning-process)). Treat that 90% as an asserted figure with no study behind it, and treat the direction as reliable.

## Workflow

Copy this checklist into your reply and tick items as you complete them:

```
- [ ] 0. Run the qualification gate; stop here if it fails
- [ ] 1. Frame the new problem and pass the 5-Year-Old Test
- [ ] 2. Size the category with the 85% Rule
- [ ] 3. Write the Froto (From/To) journey
- [ ] 4. Name the category against the naming constraints
- [ ] 5. Write the point of view document
- [ ] 6. Check the three-legged stool for missing legs
- [ ] 7. Design the lightning strike and assign the three roles
- [ ] 8. Run the validation loop until it passes
- [ ] 9. Emit the narrative package
```

**0. Qualification gate.** Answer all four in writing before any narrative work:

1. Is there a genuinely new problem frame, or a better version of an existing product? Category design applies only when the problem itself is redefined.
2. Can the company fund a multi-year evangelism effort? The 6-10 Law puts the sweet spot for a category-defining company to go public at six to ten years after founding ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)), so this is a decade-scale commitment, not a campaign.
3. Does the product actually deliver on the new problem frame today? The Air War of media and point of view must be supported by a Ground War — sales able to close and a product that works ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)).
4. Is the executive team aligned, or will the effort be relitigated by people who were not in the room? Internal saboteurs who "weren't in the meeting" are a named failure mode ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)).

If any answer is no, stop and return the verdict with the reason, and recommend `positioning-a-b2b-product` instead. Returning a negative verdict is a successful outcome of this skill.

**1. Frame the new problem.** Evangelise the problem before the solution, because whoever frames the problem most effectively is psychologically perceived by the customer to have the best solution ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Write the problem statement so simply that a five-year-old understands it — that is the 5-Year-Old Test, and a statement that needs product vocabulary to be understood has failed it ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)).

Then apply the Category Identification question: if this problem were solved perfectly, what category is the company in ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/))? Answer it before naming anything.

**2. Size with the 85% Rule.** Ask: if the company wins 85% of this category, what is the total category potential ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/))? The premise is that in tech the Category King typically captures roughly 76% of the total market capitalisation of the entire category ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)) — present that as the book's claim, since no underlying dataset is published on the summary source. If the answer to the 85% question is a number the board would not fund, the category is framed too narrowly; widen the problem frame and return to step 1.

**3. Write the Froto.** State the From/To journey: where is the customer coming from, and where are you taking them ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/))? Write both poles as descriptions of the customer's world, not of the product. Two lines, no product names.

**4. Name the category.** Apply both naming constraints ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)):

- Does the name describe **the problem** rather than the product? Product-descriptive names collapse back into an existing category on first contact with an analyst.
- Will it become **a line item in the customer's budget**? A name that cannot appear on a purchase order will never get funded internally by the buyer.

Generate at least five candidates and score each on both constraints plus pronounceability and search distinctness. This is judgment work: pick the name that survives being said out loud by a sceptical CFO, and record why the runners-up lost.

**5. Write the point of view.** The POV is a story that frames the problem so the solution becomes the only logical choice, not a sales pitch ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Build it as: the world changed → the old way now fails in this specific way → here is the new problem, named → here is the new category → here is what winning looks like for the customer.

Claim **different, not better**. Claiming "better" reinforces the incumbent King because it accepts their yardstick, while "different" forces a choice between the old way and a new way ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Scan the draft for comparative language against incumbents and rewrite every instance.

Then run the Position Test: are you positioning yourself, or being positioned by your competitors ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/))? If the POV only makes sense to someone who already knows the competitor set, it fails.

**6. Check the three-legged stool.** Category design means managing three interlocking elements at once — Product Design (a solution addressing the newly defined problem), Company Design (business model, culture, org structure to support the category), and Category Design (evangelising the problem and conditioning the market). Aligned they create a flywheel; a missing leg leaves a bag of doorknobs — features and ideas with no strategic centre ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Name the current state of each leg and the specific gap in each.

**7. Design the lightning strike.** A lightning strike is a shock-and-awe event that burrows the point of view into the target audience's mind and acts as an internal forcing function ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Apply these rules exactly:

- **Aim it.** Hijack a specific industry event the company can dominate rather than getting lost at a CES-scale convention ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). A strike at an event where the company is one of 400 booths is not a strike.
- **Set the cadence at every three to six months**, to deepen the grooves ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Plan at least the next three strikes, not one.
- **Pair the Air War with the Ground War.** Confirm sales can close and the product works before the strike date ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)).
- **Assign all three named roles**: Strike Master Controller (internal readiness), Strike Leader (flawless execution), Chief Hijacker (usually comms — injects the point of view into the news cycle) ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Leave no role unnamed; an unassigned role is the one that fails.

**8. Validate, fix, re-validate.** Run every check. If any fails, return to the named step, fix it, and re-run the full list. Only emit the package when all checks pass.

```
- [ ] Qualification gate answered in writing, all four questions
- [ ] Problem statement passes the 5-Year-Old Test with no product vocabulary
- [ ] Problem is framed before any solution is described
- [ ] 85% Rule answer is a fundable number
- [ ] Froto states customer-world poles, contains no product name
- [ ] Category name describes the problem, not the product
- [ ] Category name is plausible as a customer budget line item
- [ ] >=5 name candidates scored; losing reasons recorded
- [ ] POV contains zero "better than <incumbent>" claims
- [ ] POV passes the Position Test standalone, without competitor context
- [ ] All three stool legs assessed with a named gap each
- [ ] Strike is aimed at a dominatable event, not a mega-convention
- [ ] >=3 strikes scheduled at 3-6 month intervals
- [ ] Ground War readiness confirmed for the first strike date
- [ ] Strike Master Controller, Strike Leader and Chief Hijacker all named
```

## Output format

Use this exact section order and headings, because the package is reviewed section by section by the executive team and the qualification verdict must appear first. Wording inside each section is yours.

```markdown
# Category narrative — <company>

## Qualification verdict
**Verdict:** PROCEED | DO NOT PROCEED
| Gate question | Answer | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| New problem frame? | | |
| Multi-year funding? | | |
| Product delivers today? | | |
| Exec alignment? | | |
<If DO NOT PROCEED: stop here, state the reason, recommend positioning inside an existing category.>

## The problem
<Two to four sentences, five-year-old-readable, no product vocabulary.>

## Category size (85% Rule)
If we win 85% of this category, the category is worth <n>. Derivation: <how>.

## Froto
- **From:** <the customer's world today>
- **To:** <the customer's world after>

## Category name
**Chosen:** <name>
| Candidate | Describes problem? | Budget line item? | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|

## Point of view
1. What changed in the world
2. Why the old way now fails
3. The new problem, named
4. The new category
5. What winning looks like for the customer

## Three-legged stool
| Leg | Current state | Gap | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product design | | | |
| Company design | | | |
| Category design | | | |

## Lightning strike plan
| Strike | Date | Hijacked event | Air War asset | Ground War readiness | Strike Master Controller | Strike Leader | Chief Hijacker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

## Failure watch
- Gravity: <where the org is pulling toward "better">
- Zeds: <who was not in the room>
- Witching Hour: <what is pulling the CEO off category design>
```

## Freedom calibration

- **Fixed:** the qualification gate running first, problem-before-solution ordering, the two naming constraints, the different-not-better rule, the 3-6 month strike cadence, and naming all three strike roles. These are the mechanics that distinguish category design from an expensive rebrand.
- **Your judgment:** the wording of the problem statement, which event to hijack, how many name candidates to generate beyond five, and how to sequence the stool gaps. Adapt and explain.
- **Ask the user:** funding runway, exec alignment, product readiness, and the event calendar. Do not infer these; the gate is only useful if the answers are real.

## Gotchas

- The most common failure is running this process on a product that is a better version of an existing thing. Play Bigger's own delivery model is staged by company maturity — a structured three-month engagement at seed to Series A, an agile workshop series training an internal Category Design Lead at Series B to C, and full-service exec-team embedding for the first six months at Series D and beyond ([Play Bigger, Method](https://www.playbigger.com/method)) — which is a signal of the cost involved. If the qualification gate is marginal, recommend positioning inside an existing category.
- Gravity is the organisational pull toward "better" rather than "different" ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)), and it shows up first in sales decks, not in the narrative document. Check whether the current deck's competitive slide is a feature comparison grid; if it is, the POV will be quietly overwritten within a quarter regardless of what the narrative says.
- A category name that is also a product description hands the analyst community an excuse to file the company inside the incumbent category. Test each candidate by writing the sentence an analyst would use to place the company; if that sentence names an existing category, the name failed.
- Running a single lightning strike and declaring the category launched is the standard way this fails. The cadence is every three to six months precisely because one event does not deepen a memory groove ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)); budget the third strike before running the first.
- An Air War without a Ground War generates inbound the company cannot close and burns the point of view's credibility with exactly the buyers it just attracted ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)). Confirm sales readiness as a gating condition on the strike date, not as a follow-up task.
- The Witching Hour — the CEO being pulled off product and category design by company-building minutiae ([Play Bigger summary](https://www.antoinebuteau.com/play-bigger-book-summary/)) — means category narratives decay without a named internal owner. If no Category Design Lead exists, name creating one as the first company-design gap.