We often get asked about measurable outcomes of category design. When we work on a project with a client, together we identify a category-creation opportunity, develop a category point of view, and come up with a category name. We then help the company plan how to roll that work out to the public.

Most of our clients wind up with a much stronger message and position in the market. Some get intangibles like a workforce morale boost and sense of purpose.

We’ve been doing this long enough now to see that category design leads to positive outcomes. Since we mostly work with pre-IPO companies, we can’t point to quarterly earnings or stock price trends. But we can see other indicators, like better-than-expected funding rounds, improved valuations, easier sales motions, and acquisitions. For example, one client, Diligent, was valued at about $4 billion when we worked with the company in 2020. By last year, it was valued at more than $7 billion.

We also hear from clients about outcomes we can’t precisely measure, like landing a significant partnership or expanding markets thanks to the category positioning. About a year after we worked with LinkedIn Sales Solutions on developing its “deep sales” category, the division’s VP of marketing, Gail Moody-Byrd, wrote this on LinkedIn: “What a wonderful way to end our fiscal year. Since September, we’ve been filling rooms around the globe with customers and prospects like this who trust LinkedIn and value our advice and perspective on how to navigate uncertain times. With #deepsales, we’ve captured a moment where our offering matches the market’s needs. On to FY’24 and even bigger and better outcomes!”

As a way to capture some of the outcomes of category design, we interviewed four CEOs of past clients, asking them about the value of the process and what it led to. Here are videos of those interviews, edited for length. They should help anyone better understand what to expect from CDA’s category design work.

Prescryptive Health – Raised a $26 million A Round

Seattle’s Prescryptive Health was at the seed stage when it worked with CDA in January 2020. Not long after, the company raised a $26 million A round. CEO Chris Blackley told us back then: “A week or two after our workshop I had a series of meetings at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference – with twelve to fifteen brand-name venture funds. I went from hundreds of pitches and conversations where people knew the space but could not understand what we do – to, in less than 10 minutes, they understood why we are different and understood what we do. They had talked to all our competitors, and quickly said, ‘I get it.’ That is success. So when we got to the right investor, it was easy and fast. We didn’t get hung up on clarity. In fact, part of it was getting to ‘no’ faster with some investors.”

Traveler’s Haven – Category Design Shifted their Valuation Model

Traveler’s Haven worked with CDA in late 2021. The company, led by CEO Carlos Abisambra, had trouble zeroing in on a focus and describing itself. We landed on a category name of “on-demand housing” and a POV that supported it. Abisambra shared how category design “was very impactful that we actually traded on our revenue multiple and not at EBITDA multiple.” In 2023, the company was acquired by Blueground.

Trainiac – Carved a Niche Category from a Crowded One

The leadership team at Trainiac worked with CDA in May 2019. The company, led by CEO Akshay Ahooja, was creating a new category of one-on-one virtual fitness coaching and needed to separate itself from other fitness apps and personal trainers. “We were offering what’s now called one-on-one coaching, but it was difficult to explain to potential customers…what it is because it was something that was different,” Ahooja said. “We eventually ended up getting acquired prior to our series A, but that category was the North Star.”  Trainiac was acquired by Gympass in December 2021.

Tallarium – The Consensus Building Brought the Team Together

London-based Tallarium was founded by Stanislav Ermilov and his team to bring a new kind of transparent, digitized price discovery to energy trading markets. In April 2022, as a seed-stage startup, the company worked with CDA on a category design project. Ermilov share the benefits of team work in category design, “We sat together in the room and going through all of the ideas inputs into this and I think getting the team around and actually getting everyone to contribute, comes out with a better better output in the end, as instead of someone like myself as a CEO coming up with everything and then telling everyone, this is what the future should look like.” About a year later, Tallarium raised an A round of $8.7 million.