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Category Design

Stop competing in someone else's category.

When buyers have no mental model for what you sell, deals stall, prices slip, and you compete on features. That is a category problem, and it has a strategic fix. Drop in your URL and a four-agent strategy team will diagnose your friction and design three categories you could own instead.

The diagnosis is free. The three ownable category options unlock with a work email. Takes about a minute.

3 diagnosises remaining today. Takes about a minute.

A four-agent strategy team

1

Researcher

Reads your site to map what you do, your current category, ICP, and the alternatives buyers compare you to.

2

Diagnostician

Decides whether your commercial friction is really a category problem: buyers with no mental model, no budget line, and no buying process.

3

Category Strategist

Designs three ownable category options, in the tradition of Play Bigger and April Dunford, that reframe the market conversation.

4

Reviewer

Quality gate. Keeps the output sharp, specific, and free of generic strategy filler.

Why a category reset moves the numbers

Most fixes for slow, low-win pipeline are tactical: new messaging, a new sales play, more content. They help at the margins. When the real issue is that buyers do not have a category for you, the highest-leverage move is to redefine the conversation. Own the category and you set the criteria, the budget expectation, and the shortlist. That is what shortens cycles, lifts win rates, and protects price.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is category design?
Category design is the practice of defining and owning a new market category instead of competing inside an existing one. When buyers accept your category, they get a mental model, a budget line, and a buying process for what you sell, which shortens cycles and reduces price pressure. The discipline is associated with Play Bigger and with April Dunford's positioning work.
How is this different from positioning?
Positioning makes you the best option inside an existing category. Category design changes which category the buyer is shopping in at all. Positioning is tactical; a category reset is strategic, and it tends to move commercial metrics faster when the real problem is that buyers do not understand the space.
What do I get for free?
You get the diagnosis: whether your friction is a category problem and the specific blockers driving it. To see the three ownable category options the strategy team designed for you, enter a work email. A deeper, build-ready playbook is part of a paid engagement.
How does the multi-agent system work?
Four AI agents run in sequence: a Researcher reads your site, a Diagnostician identifies the category friction, a Category Strategist generates three options, and a Reviewer keeps the output sharp. It takes about a minute.
Will the category names be unique to me?
The options are generated from your actual positioning and market, so they are tailored rather than generic. They are strong starting points. Naming, trademark, and validation are part of a full category engagement, not this free diagnosis.

Built by Page Sands — 15+ years GTM leadership at Microsoft, ConnectWise, Drift, Avalara, and Blackbaud. These tools are powered by the same frameworks I use with clients.