Four Category-Making Case Studies

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about category making. In it, I suggested that there are three distinct challenges that must be tackled when creating a new category. In the article linked below I look back in history at a few of the more iconic category creators that have not only defined new product categories, but in the process, changed our lives. Understanding the decisions they made and the actions they took related to each of those challenges, and how their efforts paid off could be helpful as you consider your own category making journey.

Intel created the microprocessor category in 1971 that, in time, powered the microprocessor revolution. Google created the ranked web search category in 1996 which helped all of us discover the Internet revolution. In 1992 ARM created the mobile processor sub-category that enabled the mobility revolution. In 2010 Uber built upon the power of those three revolutions to create the mobility-as-a-service category.

Read each of these company’s stories through a category making lens and to see what lessons today’s category-makers can learn from them.

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