Ep 324 Designing the Category You Can Win with Kevin Maney, author and Co-Founder of Category Design Advisors; New York, NY, USA
What if the fastest way to win your market isn’t competing harder, but changing the category entirely?
This week, I sit down with Kevin Maney, co-author of Play Bigger and founding partner of Category Design Advisors, for a deep dive into what it really takes to create and win a market category. Kevin shares the thinking behind his latest book, The Category Creation Formula, and explains why most businesses unknowingly trap themselves competing inside categories they can never truly lead. We explore how shifts in technology, buyer behavior, and market context create hidden opportunities, why dominant design ultimately determines who wins, and how CEOs can use category thinking not only to grow their companies but to sharpen their own leadership positioning in a crowded, noisy marketplace.
Here are the highlights:
-Why category leaders win big: In most markets, one company captures the majority of the value, and competing inside someone else’s category often limits growth.
-The Category Creation Formula: Learn Kevin’s simple framework: Context + What’s Missing + Innovation = New Category, and how leaders can use it as a practical playbook for growth.
-From innovation to dominant design: Markets eventually choose a “dominant design,” and winning that position is what secures long-term leadership.
-Real-world examples that worked: How category design helped both large organizations and emerging companies reposition themselves and accelerate growth.
-What this means for CEOs and personal leadership brands: How leaders can differentiate themselves, stand out in crowded spaces, and build credibility by shaping the narrative around what they represent.
About the guest:
Kevin Maney is a veteran business journalist, bestselling author, and founding partner of Category Design Advisors, where he helps leadership teams discover, design, and win new market categories. He is the co-author of Play Bigger, which introduced the concept of category design and has become a foundational framework for technology founders, executives, and investors. Kevin is also the author of The Category Creation Formula, a practical playbook for building and leading new market categories.
Kevin has written for leading publications including Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company, CNN, ABC News, and USA Today. Through his work as a writer, advisor, and speaker, he brings clarity to complex market dynamics and helps CEOs position their companies to become category leaders rather than competitors in crowded markets.
His newest book, The Category Creation Formula will be released on February 26, 2026.
Connect with Kevin:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmaney/
Website: https://www.categorydesignadvisors.com/
Get the book: https://www.thecategorycreationformula.com/
Connect with Allison:
Feedspot has named Disruptive CEO Nation as one of the Top 25 CEO Podcasts on the web.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsummerschicago/
Website: https://www.disruptiveceonation.com/
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