Play Bigger

We specialize in Category Design - the discipline of creating and monetizing new markets. We are category designers
We are positioning and marketing advisors.

We are executive coaches. We believe the company that designs the category is best positioned to dominate it.

02/23/2026

Last week we had the privilege of running our 2nd annual workshop at the One Mind Accelerator.

Huge thank you to Pushkar Joshi, PhD and the entire team. They are world class at finding some of the most transformative, and certainly category-defining early-stage founders.

One Mind’s mission is deeply important: accelerating breakthrough science and innovation to radically improve how we understand and treat brain health. It’s hard to imagine a more urgent frontier.

Spending a few hours with this year’s cohort was equal parts humbling and energizing. So many bold approaches. So many founders willing to question assumptions and rethink what’s possible.

Encouraging to see this level of innovation pointed at problems that truly matter. Grateful for the partnership.

02/14/2026

If you spend time with , you know she prefers to take the stairs…
getting somewhere and getting some exercise is a two-fer.
Same with category design.
The easy path is rarely the one that gets you the best outcome.
Breakthrough comes from the climb.
wrestling with the problem, turning it over from every angle, iterating, and talking it through until the truth snaps into focus.
The stairs take longer.
They also get you to a different outcome.

Category design is often mistaken for naming or messaging.
That’s just the first flight.
Category design requires evolving the solution so it truly solves the problem and delivers breakthroughs for customers.
It’s shaping the whole system—product, partners, pricing, and packaging..
And none of it works without building belief:
first inside the company, then in the market—over time, with consistency.
It’s a long climb.
But that’s how categories are built—and how real results show up.

01/15/2026

Are you falling into the positioning trap?

Positioning often gets revisited in moments of financial pressure—fundraises, IPO prep, board scrutiny.

But somewhere along the way, positioning drifted—from owning a single, decisive idea in the customer’s mind to jockeying for attention inside an existing market.

That kind of “update” rarely delivers the valuation teams are hoping for. It optimizes perception without changing the game.

We break down this shift—and why it quietly limits growth—in the Emerging Market Trap Primer.

Not ready for the Primer? Read our short blog on The Fallacy of Positioning from Play Bigger via our 👆

01/13/2026

Our team is kicking off 2026 with a road trip to DC with and ✈️ We see it again and again: real clarity on the problem, and who has it, doesn’t just shape the solution story, it defines what must actually be built. 🎯 Play Bigger

01/08/2026

✨ New year, same question: will 2026 be incremental—or will it be a breakthrough?

Breakthrough growth doesn’t come from better ex*****on inside old markets. It comes from designing the category and creating the new market you’re meant to lead.

How do you do that? We will be sharing examples of market creation throughout 2026 in our newsletter. Sign up now.

12/19/2025

If you haven’t read The Existing Market Trap yet (authored by , , , and 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️), you are missing out! It was just named one of the Top 25 Books of 2025 by and we couldn’t be more appreciative.

‘Tis the season to gift these to your favorite Founder, Entrepreneur, or CMO. We can’t wait to see what you build in 2026!

12/12/2025

🎤 Yesterday Al Ramadan had the pleasure of talking with ~30 climate tech founders from Italy visiting San Francisco.

What stood out wasn’t their technology. It was their conviction.

That’s the real work of climate tech — creating new categories the world can understand, adopt, and rally around.

Huge thanks to INNOVIT - Italian Innovation and Culture Hub and Diane Schrader from TheNewClimate, Inc for convening such a thoughtful, committed group of founders.

Swipe to see some highlights from the event…

11/20/2025

📉The Existential Decline

When the category you created stops creating demand. “We’re still the leader. But the market’s not listening anymore.” What do you do?

shares insight into how to escape Sin #13 from the Exisiting Market Trap…

11/06/2025

had a great conversation with on The Library of Minds about the discipline of category design and why it matters now more than ever.

One of the consistent patterns we’ve seen working with companies like Salesforce and Qualtrics is that category creators capture the majority of a market’s value. Our research shows that, over time, ~76% of the market cap in any given space goes to the company that defines the category - not the ones trying to compete within an existing one.

For those interested, you can continue exploring these ideas by chatting with my Digital Mind on Delphi - the link is in our bio!

10/02/2025

Alianza just made telecom history.

Last week at their inaugural customer conference, Navigate, Alianza Founder & CEO Brian Beutler and his team didn’t just launch a product - they declared a new category: Intelligent Communications Fabric (ICF).

650+ telco leaders. From 20+ countries. A $3.6 trillion problem laid bare. And a bold solution unveiled.

This wasn’t about chasing market share. It was about creating the market. And watching Brian, Justin Cooper, Jonathan Wagner, Dag Peak, Kevin Dundon and their amazing team bring this to life over the past year has been nothing short of inspiring.

Full blog post link in bio

The first lightning strike is done. Now the race begins to build the future of communications on ICF and we couldn’t be more bullish on what comes next!

09/26/2025

🎙️Leaders take 76% of the category economics. Learn how category leaders made it happen in interview on ’s the Podcast Interview Marketing Show or Apple Podcasts

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