Most founders don’t fail because they execute poorly.They fail because they execute really well—on the wrong thing.

In this opening panel of the Strike Marketing Summit, we dig into a critical but often misunderstood idea:

👉 Category design comes before marketing.

Before funnels.Before ads.Before content.Before AI tools.

Featuring a powerhouse group of category design practitioners and strategists—Kevin Maney, Mike Damphousse, Chris Stanley, Pablo Gonzalez, and Fernando Labastida—this conversation breaks down why marketing tactics fail when the underlying category hasn’t been designed intentionally.

You’ll learn:

- Why marketing can’t fix a poorly defined category

- How category design shapes the market before demand generation

- The Category Creation Formula: Context → Missing → Innovation

- Why language and vocabulary determine how markets form

How founders accidentally inherit categories—and the constraints that come with them

If you’re building a startup, launching a second-act business, or trying to escape competition traps, this session will change how you think about growth.

00:00 Introduction to Market Perception

00:49 Welcome to Strike Marketing Summit

01:27 Overview of the Summit Agenda

03:16 Deep Dive into Category Design

07:44 Panel Discussion: Defining Category Design

20:40 Identifying Market Problems

29:46 Engaging with Your Target Market

30:15 The Importance of CEO Involvement

30:57 Best Practices for Category Design

31:50 The Category Formula: Context, Missing, Innovation

34:15 Creating a Compelling Category Narrative

36:41 Challenges in Category Design

41:12 Mobilizing a Category

49:04 Real Estate and Category Design

55:18 Closing Thoughts and Next Steps

📌 This panel set the intellectual foundation for the entire Strike Marketing Summit.

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