PODCAST · business
Category First
by Josh Lowman
Host Josh Lowman, and guests, share mini-masterclasses in category creation, strategy and brand design. Join us for Listener Q&A episodes and interviews with category creators at companies like Gong, Squarespace, Zapier and more.
Episodes
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Eric Wittman | VSCO
Subscribe to my newsletter → https://ownyourcategory.substack.com ____ VSCO CEO Eric Wittman shares how they finally found their story. And why having great products isn't enough if you can't say what they're for. In this episode of Own Your Category, Eric Wittman, CEO of VSCO, joined Josh to…
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Workshop: How to Fix Your Positioning
Josh hosted a live workshop to help folks get their positioning back on track. Topics included: The Three Hard Positioning Problems everybody faces. The best tool to fix each one. And why everything will fall into place when you master these tools. Josh has written the positioning for over 100...
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The Gold Front Category Design Canvas
Josh shares the Gold Front Category Design Canvas, a tool that helps you ask and answer the essential questions for crafting great category strategy. Plus, there’s a Mario-themed mnemonic that makes the canvas easy to remember. This is the actual tool we use to help tech companies design new...
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Live Strategy: Anna Furmanov
Join Josh and Anna Furmanov for live strategy work. Anna is the founder of Furmanov Marketing Consulting, who’s been called the “Marie Kondo of startup marketing”. Josh and Anna talk about: Gold Front’s category strategy. The unique problem Anna’s business solves. Giving the problem a name CEOs...
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WTF is Category Design?
We are back! Josh explains category design. Topics include: Why category design sometimes gets people so angry. Strategy is just thinking before you act. And category as a force multiplier for strategy. Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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Q&A: 5 Principles Every Category Creator Must Follow
Josh shares 5 foundational principles that category creators can use to stay focused on the work that really matters. It’s easy to lose your way when creating new categories, use these tools and insights to keep yourself, and your category, on track for success. They are: Is thinking happening?…
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Q&A: You Gotta Feel It
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. My boss, the VP of marketing, wants to test everything, even an Instagram story, and I think it's making us late to get content out. Have you dealt with this? What are the main signs that a Category POV is not working? Is designing a…
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Five Laws for Un-boring Brands
Josh shares 5 laws for branding to help you design original, interesting, and un-boring brands. Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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How Josh Writes Strategy
Josh shares his process for writing strategy. Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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Paul McDonnell | Insight Partners
Josh talks to Paul McDonnell, Vice President at one of the world's largest private equity firms, Insight Partners, about the qualities and mindset that successful category creation teams must have. In his work at Insight's Marketing Center of Excellence, Paul has seen inside many different…
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Q&A: The Three Deadly Sins of Category Creation
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. What are the biggest mistakes you see category creators make? Have all these hype-first startups like Theranos, WeWork, FTX, etc. made investors skeptical of companies that lead with story? How do you communicate that a company is more than...
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AI and the Squid Game-ification of Work
Josh tries to teach ChatGPT to be his strategist, which gets him thinking the future of knowledge work. Later, he shares four “New World Skills” that will be in high demand as AI takes off. Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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Special Report: Your Website Sucks
We hate to break it to you, but your website probably sucks. (Even ours needs some TLC). But don't stress, Josh will walk you through the 5 reasons why your website is not looking so good, and how to make it better. Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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Positioning vs. Category Strategy with John Weeke | Ironclad
Josh hosts a special Q&A episode with John Weeke, a Product Marketing Manager at Iron cloud, to talk about the differences between positioning and category strategy. Some highlights: How positioning can sometimes lead to companies being only incrementally better than their competitors. Why you…
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Q&A: Always Be Category Designing
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. Who are your biggest mentors and influences? You work for a lot of startups. Is business slow? Should my company design a category now for cheap? Or wait until we hopefully secure our next round of funding? My company offers a complex…
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Q&A: A General Theory of Happiness
Josh answers Patrick's questions about category creation. Why do we urge clients to stick to the "shift, gap, category idea" story structure? What do you disagree with or do differently than the book Play Bigger. What's the value of pushing B2B brands towards design that's so much different…
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Q&A: Creating Your Own Mediabrand
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. How does Andy Raskin's idea of "the old way vs. the new way," when creating a strategic narrative, relate to category? There's a lot of chatter about companies creating their own media brands. Will this replace category creation? How do you...
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Let's Write A Book
Welcome to a new feature of the pod: Let's Write a Book. Josh and Ben talk through ideas for the first chapter of the Category First book, entitled “Strategy Is Thinking”. Highlights include: Why "Strategy is thinking about what you do, before you do it" is such a powerful first principle to…
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Special Report: AI And The Future Of Everything
ChatGPT-4 is out. How will AI change category design (and everything else under the Sun)? Josh shares "Three Stages of AI" as it relates to category creation. Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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Q&A: No Drama? No Strategy.
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. Our story is way too safe, but our CEO is one of those engineering types that overanalyzes everything. How do I get them to take some chances ? How do we adjust messaging after buying a company that does something outside our category? With...
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Latané Conant | 6sense
Josh talks to Latané Conant, Chief Market Officer at 6sense. Latané takes us behind the scenes at the creation of 6sense's new category Revenue AI. We get a first hand account of some of the challenges they faced, the ups and downs of bringing this new category into the world, and how she preps…
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Q&A: Launching a Category in 2 Months
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. How would you launch a category in 2 months? What launch deliverables should we prioritize if our budget is tight? How do you come up with a good campaign line? Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here: categoryfirst.substack.com
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Q&A: How Josh Got Into Category Design
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. How did you get so interested in category design? How does category designing your own agency differ from the work you do with clients? We're thinking about writing a category strategy in house, but how do we know if we should bring in an...
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Ben Hughes | Squarespace
Josh talks to Ben Hughes, VP of creative at Squarespace, about their shared love for ads, brands, writing, and good creative work. Ben leads Squarespace's in-house creative team, which is responsible for crafting one of the most well-loved website creation company brands. He and Josh talk about:...
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Q&A: Talking Video
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. Who should be on my category design team? How do you get the most out of video (especially on a budget)? How does category design work alongside product design? What's the most common problem you run into during category design? Submit...
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Q&A: Can I Interest You In A Shiny, New Doomsday Device?
Josh answers questions from Weldon Pless, creative director at Gold Front, about all things category creation. Was there anxiety when remaking Gold Front as a category design studio? How has going through the category design process yourself helped you connect with clients? Are mixed drinks in a...
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Q&A: Playing it Safe is Killing Your Brand
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. What should we do if our executive team is not aligned? How do you define brand voice? Why do so many B2B brands suck? What's the relationship between category POV and demand gen? Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here:...
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Q&A: Putting an End to Copywriting BS
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. What's the business case for investing in brand? Do you have any advice for aspiring copywriters? How and when should pre-seed startups be thinking about category creation? Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here:...
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Dave Grow | Lucid
Josh talks to Dave Grow, CEO of Lucid, the makers of Lucid Chart, Lucid Spark, and Lucid Scale. Dave stepped into the role of CEO after building a number of different departments at Lucid and helping the company create the category visual collaboration suite. He and Josh talk about: The state of...
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Q&A: Product-Market Fit is Not Enough
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. What's the difference between doing workshops in-person vs. on Zoom? If our company already gained product-market fit, do we need to bother creating a category? How does brand design differ for category creators? Do you need to validate…
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Q&A: Is Category Creation a Fad?
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. Is category creation just a marketing fad? What's the criteria for a good cateogry name? Can we be successful if analysts keep putting us in the wrong category? categoryfirst.substack.com
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Q&A: Working With CEOs
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. What's your favorite kind of CEO to work with? Would you ever reccomend a company not do category design? Is brand design and advertising different for category creators? Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here:...
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Michael Jeter | Zapier
Josh talks to Michael Jeter, creative director at Zapier. Michael shares his process for leading Zapier through a major strategic and visual redesign. Some highlights: The one thing every business person must know about brand design. Michael’s process for curating a creative brief that leads to...
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Q&A: Don't Half-ass Your Category Launch
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. How do you measure the success of a category launch? What's the relationship between a campaign line and a category name? Is a category launch more effective when paired with a rebrand? Submit questions and subscribe to our newsletter here:...
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Category Strategy vs. Brand Strategy
Josh answers listener questions about category creation. What’s the difference between category design and brand design? Why do startups undergo category design shortly before their IPO? Our category launch didn’t have the impact we hoped for. And our CEO doesn’t understand their new category....
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Sheena Badani | Gong
Josh talks to Sheena Badani, head of product and customer marketing at Gong. Sheena led Gong’s category design effort resulting in the category Revenue Intelligence. She and Josh talk about: What is it like designing a category for the first time? How do you craft a visionary story and get...
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Category Launch with Sagi Gidali of Perimeter81
In this episode… Josh speaks with Perimeter 81 co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Sagi Gidali about their recent category launch. Sagi talks about how his company’s recent category launch went down, the power of getting his entire company aligned around a single strategic narrative, and where…
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Five Lessons From Successful Category Launches
In this episode… We dive into the most important moment in the life of your category: Launch Day. If you follow our five lessons, you will be miles ahead of most category launches. You may also find something else happens. Something remarkable: Your whole company working together in a way they...
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The Strategy's Done. Now What?
In this episode… We map out the category launch journey, and the steps companies must take using a clear process. Today, we’re focusing on the Category Launch Framework.. Here's a quote from Josh: “You need a process for setting, socializing and living by your category goals—and making this…
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A No-BS Approach to Category Design With Anna Furmanov
In this episode… Anna Furmanov of Modern Startup Marketing interviews Josh about the secrets of category creation—what he calls the Alchemy of Category Design. What is Category Design? We start by talking about what exactly is category design, and talk about the three superpowers of category…
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Behind the Scenes With Category Creator Bizzabo
In this episode… Josh chats with Bizzabo co-founder Alon Alroy about their category creation journey. Last year, Bizzabo pulled the rip cord on their existing category, event management software, and jumped into a new category of their own invention. Why create a new category? Bizzabo was stuck…
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Category Creator Archetypes: Part 2
In this episode... We unpack the rest of our list of The Six Category Create Archetypes. And this time it’s through a lens you might not expect. We already covered The Inventor, The Overlooked, and the Second Act. Now we dive into The Emergent, The Better, and The Huckster. Why Are Category...
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Category Creator Archetypes: Part 1
In this episode… We discuss potential strategies for category creation, the purpose of defining a strategy, and the Six Category Creator Archetypes. We’ll specifically focus on the first three archetypes in Part 1. A quote from Josh: “Customers make sense of your offering not just by what you do,...
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The Five Immutable Laws of Strategic Narrative
In this episode… We uncover the what, why and how of category creation. Today, we’re focusing on the strategic narrative, also known as a Category POV. Here's a quote from Josh: “A great strategic narrative opens up closed minds, helps align executives around the work of category creation, and...
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The Fundamentals of Category Design
In this episode… In this episode, we’ll discuss the fundamentals of category design, including what it is, how it works, and what makes it truly different. Here’s a quote from Josh: “...If you want to build a company of uncommon value, your product must be categorically, not incrementally, new....
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A Very Short list For A**-Kicking CMOs
In this episode… In this episode, we’ll uncover the essential steps you should take as a startup’s new CMO to successfully define your category, from setting your goals to launch day. We call it a short list for ass-kicking CMOs. Here's a quote from Josh: “It’s going to take herculean focus to...
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Why Listen to Category First?
Category First is a podcast by Josh Lowman, Founder of Gold Front, the world's first and only category design studio. Here's why you should listen.
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A Podcast For Unreasonable People
In this episode… We're launching a podcast, newsletter, and blog for category creators. Find out why we're going all in on category design, and why we created Category First. Here's a quote from Josh: “Founders are taught that category creation is too hard to do. It’s crazy to me because every...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Host Josh Lowman, and guests, share mini-masterclasses in category creation, strategy and brand design. Join us for Listener Q&A episodes and interviews with category creators at companies like Gong, Squarespace, Zapier and more.
HOSTED BY
Josh Lowman
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Category First have?
Category First currently has 48 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Category First about?
Host Josh Lowman, and guests, share mini-masterclasses in category creation, strategy and brand design. Join us for Listener Q&A episodes and interviews with category creators at companies like Gong, Squarespace, Zapier and more.
How often does Category First release new episodes?
Category First has 48 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Category First?
You can listen to Category First on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Category First?
Category First is created and hosted by Josh Lowman.
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