“How to build and market a new product category” by Niklas Jansen, co-founder of Blinkist
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— Niklas Jansen How to build and market a new product category
Transcript of “How to build and market a new product category” by Niklas Jansen, co-founder of Blinkist
— Niklas Jansen 👊
How to build and market a new product category
These companies are category creators.
They create new market spaces through breakthrough innovations.
Account of revenue growth
47 %53 %
Account of market capitalisation growth
26 %
74 %
Companies that created a categoryCompanies that did not create a category
Fortune’s lists of the 100 fastest-growing U.S. companies from 2009 to 2011
„Category creators experience much faster growth and receive much higher valuations from investors than companies bringing only incremental innovations to market.“– Havard Business Review
Beyond economics
Category creation may be the most fun you can have in business
It’s like surfing the unsurfable. 🤙
Market opportunity, yeah!
Market opportunity.. Or a fantasy?
The everlasting struggle
100kpaying subscriber
2mnregistered users
$17mn venture capital raised
200%y-o-y revenue growth
Seven things we learned.
How to build and market a new product category
LEARNING #1
Create a culture of learning
Culture > Everything else
#AlwaysLearning
Learn to unlearn
LEARNING #2
Changes are an opportunity
Understand what drives change
Demo-graphics Culture
RegulationTechnology
LEARNING #3
Identify the annoyances society has accepted
Start with the answers
Create empathy for your potential users
How do people solve their problem today?
Immerse yourself
Collect data points
LEARNING #4
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Validate your ideas
„Guerilla Customer Development“
LEARNING #5
It’s 50/50 product, branding
Make it easy to understand (and still cool)
Establish a frame of reference
MAYA – “Most Advanced Yet Acceptable”
Creative marketing
LEARNING #6
There’s always competition
There’s always a substitute
Competition helps legitimize a market
LEARNING #7
Be foolish 💪
„You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.“
– Steve Jobs
