Startup & VC Jargon · Managing Director level

"Category-defining"

"Category-defining" means creating or dominating a market segment so thoroughly that the company becomes the reference point for that type of product.

Say this instead: first of its kind

How "Category-defining" shows up at work

Every startup pitch deck in the last decade has claimed this. Genuine category-defining companies do exist, but the phrase has been used so freely that investors now hear it the same way the rest of us hear "innovative" or "disruptive."

Buzzword

We are building a category-defining platform for enterprise knowledge management.

Plain English

We are building the first product of its kind for enterprise knowledge management.

Corporate Rank: Managing Director · Category: Startup & VC Jargon

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