Quick Loot: A 5-stage framework to rethink "disruptive innovation"

For established companies, disruption is not the path to survival.

Arrrrr! 🏴‍☠️ Welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition 🔒 of Category Pirates. Each week, we share radically different ideas to help you design new and different categories. For more: View the mini-book archive | Listen to a category design jam session | Dive into an audiobook | Enroll in the free Category Accelerator email course

---

Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,

This week’s Category Design Tip centers on the Category Five Framework, a powerful portfolio strategy companies like Apple and Amazon use to innovate.

Too many incumbent companies believe “disruption” is the only path to survival.

The truth is quite the opposite:

Successful companies know where to make incremental improvements and where to innovate.

The key to thriving as an established company is understanding how to respond to up-and-coming Category Kings. (Hint: The WORST thing you can do is ignore them.) By knowing your company’s category superpower, you can adapt to change, drive innovation, and design new markets.

To do that, you must know what to avoid and when to innovate.

Here are 5 potential responses you can take when faced with new challenges: