Building a new category is difficult business.

Don't believe me?

• Just ask Miro, Slack, Asana, and Airtable.

Take Miro as an example.

What people call them: a digital whiteboard

What they want people to call them: a visual collaboration app

If you're a startup founder and you're thinking about creating a new product category, look at these examples and ask yourself:

"How do I refer to these companies?"

Most likely, you use the well-known, colloquial product category in conversation.

And that's in spite of these companies...

• having massive marketing & brand teams
• employing the world's best marketers
• and spending tens of millions of dollars

Rather than building a new category, the far safer option is to lean into what people actually call you today.

Gaining a position in customer's brains—no matter the category—is incredibly difficult in the first place.

Don't make it even harder by calling yourself a “Low-code platform for building collaborative apps."