How do you think about the relationship between product positioning and category creation? When is it worth trying to define a new category?

Category creation sounds ambitious and usually costs more than teams expect. The interviewer wants to see judgment about when the payoff justifies the education bill, and whether you can test it cheaply first.

This question leans on strategic thinking. In the rubric, a Strong strategic thinking answer builds plans grounded in market and business context.

1. Relate the two. Positioning picks a frame of reference, and a category is the widest frame available.
2. Check the current frame. Does it make the product look thin or point buyers at the wrong comparison?
3. Test buyer language. See whether buyers already describe the problem in words that have no home today.
4. Count the cost. Time, content and analyst or community effort needed to teach the market.
5. Start small. Try a subcategory, watch what buyers repeat, then scale up.

The story is made up. Borrow the order of the moves and bring your own facts.

“I treat a category as the widest frame of reference a position can use, so the question is whether the existing frame hurts us. Take a product that automates internal approvals. Buyers file it under project management, where it looks thin next to twenty tools. That’s a sign a new frame might help. Before I try it I’d ask three things. Do buyers already describe the problem in words that have no home today? Can we afford two years of teaching the market? Could we win inside the existing category if we changed the comparison? Most of the time the answer to the last one is yes, so I’d start with a subcategory, project management for approvals, and watch whether buyers repeat it back. If they do, and search volume for the phrase grows, I’d invest in the bigger category.”

“Positioning is how you differentiate your product and category creation is defining a whole new market. It’s worth creating a category when your product is unique, because then you can own it and lead the market.”

The weak answer defines the terms and treats uniqueness as the trigger. Give the tests you’d apply, including buyer language, the cost of educating the market and whether you can win in the existing category.

• How do you tell a category from a marketing label?
• Who else has to adopt the term for a category to stick?
• What would make you abandon the attempt?
• How long does a category take to pay off?

Start with the follow-up you would least like to hear. The follow-up questions guide covers how to handle it.

• Messaging for a crowded category
• Repositioning or refining
• Positioning a me-too AI feature
• An AI-powered headline
• All messaging and positioning questions