The ultimate goal for many businesses in any sector is to be the category king - the one and only player in this particular niche. Is this an achievable goal? How can a good knowledge of category design help you stand out and develop your brand in full? And can you read someone's work habits by their shoes? Join Tenable CMO Jennifer "JJ" Johnson for her top insights on how knowing category design can put your business one step forward from your greatest competitors.

We all have moments where we're in a position to be our greatest self and we have hesitations around these moments. - Chris Lochhead

Takeaways

We started off with JJ explaining how important it is for CMOs to focus on category design and how controlling your category can mean everything in business. We then talked more generally for company values - with mentions of Mercury, Uber, etc. - and how working for a company with contradicting values wouldn't result into anything productive. JJ also talked about how upbringing can influence your business mindset later in time and gave an example with her own upbringing. Then JJ also talked about her experience with Andreessen Horowtiz, one of the Silicon Valley market leaders, and how she moved on to a portfolio company afterwards. Finally, we talked about JJ's plans for the future and how she feels about what's coming up for her company in the next few years. We also mentioned the problems of the headstrong outlook of CEOs in the security technology space and how a fear of innovation can lead to companies losing their market lead to new competitors that were brave enough to take ownership of a new category.

We also discussed;

Knowing how to best your competition is one of the toughest parts of running any business. Category design can help with that; at its core is the creativity and innovation to define your own niche in the market that you can dominate. But dominating a category also requires courage. Some big companies are too set in the values and ideas of their business' past that they risk being outperformed by newcomers with a lot more drive to try new things. Trendsetters belong in the present and future - that's why every CM...