Diabetes and cardiometabolic health is packed with lookalikes competing for the same budget line. We help you create and own a category – a fresh frame that positions your approach as the obvious choice rather than another option on a comparison grid.
The Challenge
Buyers place you in an existing box designed to favor incumbents
When a payer or employer files your product under an established category like 'diabetes management app' or 'wellness point solution,' they evaluate you against the incumbents on that comparison grid, where established players have every advantage. You inherit a frame you did not choose and compete on the incumbents' terms. Winning inside someone else's category is the hardest possible game, and most cardiometabolic companies never realize they agreed to play it.
The category is filled with sameness, so buyers fall back on price and brand
Dozens of companies describe themselves with nearly identical language about personalized, data-driven metabolic care, and to a buyer they blur together. When everyone sounds the same, the decision collapses to price and whichever brand the buyer already knew, which is rarely the newcomer. Undifferentiated positioning does not just lose deals, it trains the whole market to see the category as interchangeable.
Buyers lack a budget line for what you truly do
If your approach is genuinely new – combining CGM data, coaching, food-as-medicine, or clinical integration in a way the market has not named – buyers often have no existing budget or evaluation framework for it, so they force-fit you into an old one that undersells you. Without a defined category, the thing that makes you different becomes a liability because no one knows how to buy it. Naming and framing the category is what creates the budget line you need.
Category design is lengthy and contested internally, so companies fall back on feature marketing
Defining a category takes conviction, consistency, and time, and it is easy for a team under quarterly pressure to abandon it for safer feature-versus-feature marketing. That retreat surrenders the highest-leverage position in the market to whichever competitor is willing to hold the line. The failure is rarely that category design does not work – it is that companies quit before it compounds.
How We Help
We begin by determining whether category design is right for you in the first place – it works only when you genuinely do something the existing categories fail to name, so we pressure-test that honestly before moving forward. If you are simply a better version of something that exists, category design is the wrong play, and we will say so. When the fit is real, it becomes the centerpiece of our [growth strategy](/services/strategy/) work.
Next, we define the category: the fresh frame, its name, the problem it addresses that old categories overlook, and why your approach is the defining example rather than another entrant. We develop the point of view that reframes the buyer's problem, making evaluation against legacy diabetes-app incumbents begin to feel like the wrong comparison.
Execution creates the category narrative and the proof that makes it real – the evidence, buyer education, and content that trains the market to view the problem your way – delivered through our [marketing](/services/marketing/) practice. Category design cannot succeed without substance, so we anchor the frame in your actual clinical approach and outcomes, not in a slogan.
We also develop the go-to-market motion that establishes the budget line: how to educate payers and employers on why this distinct category deserves funding, and how sales brings the frame into rooms where buyers revert to old comparisons. This turns a category story into a category buyers actually buy from.
Measurement follows category adoption, not leads alone – whether buyers, analysts, and even competitors begin adopting your frame and language – through our [measurement](/services/measurement/) layer, because ownership of a category appears in how the market speaks before it is fully reflected in revenue.
We are not giving you a bold tagline and labeling it a category – we are creating the frame, proof, and go-to-market discipline required to make a new category real.
What we deliver
- An honest assessment of whether category design fits your product
- A defined category – name, frame, and the problem old categories ignore
- A point of view that reframes the buyer's evaluation away from incumbents
- A category narrative grounded in your real clinical approach and outcomes
- A go-to-market motion that creates the budget line with payers and employers
- Category-adoption measurement, not just lead volume
Category design succeeds only when you genuinely do something the existing categories fail to name – so our first and most valuable contribution is honestly determining whether you represent a new category or a better version of an old one, because imposing the frame on a lookalike squanders the one play that might have won.
Our Methodology
Our 90-day sprint creates a category, not a campaign. Days 1-30 cover assessment and the honest fit test: we establish whether you truly do something existing categories do not name, examine how buyers currently categorize you and which incumbents you inherit, map the market's sea-of-sameness language, and verify that you have the substance to support a new frame. This phase concludes with a go or no-go decision on category design and, if go, a category direction.
Days 31-60 focus on definition and proof. We name and frame the category, develop the point of view that reframes the buyer's problem, and create the narrative and evidence that lend the frame credibility – grounded in your actual clinical approach so the category has real substance behind it. We also develop the buyer-education and go-to-market motion that establishes the budget line.
Days 61-90 cover launch and measurement. We bring the category to market, prepare sales to carry the frame into buyer conversations, and measure category adoption – whether buyers, analysts, and competitors start adopting your language. Since category design compounds across quarters and rewards staying the course, the sprint establishes a durable motion and the discipline to maintain it rather than promising category ownership overnight.
How We Work
During the first 30 days, we collaborate with your founder and clinical lead because both the honest fit test and the category frame require a clear understanding of what you genuinely do differently. Expect candid working sessions where we may determine that category design is not the right play – we prefer telling you that over selling you a frame you cannot sustain.
Days 30-60 shift to defining and proving the category. Instead of creating a slogan, we develop the frame, point of view, narrative, and evidence, along with the go-to-market motion that establishes a budget line among payers and employers. Every element is rooted in your actual approach so the category can withstand scrutiny from a skeptical buyer.
Days 60-90 center on launch and adoption measurement. We bring the category to market, prepare sales to reframe buyer conversations, and monitor whether the market begins using your language. Since category design delivers returns over quarters and requires consistency, most engagements last 5-6 months or longer to establish and defend the frame rather than deliver a one-time launch push.
The team includes a strategist who leads the category frame and go-to-market, a content specialist who develops the narrative and buyer education, and a measurement resource who monitors category adoption – scaled around the ambition of the category play, not a fixed package.
- A category you define instead of a comparison grid you lose
- A frame that reframes buyer evaluation away from incumbents
- A budget line with payers and employers for what you actually do
- Market language and analysts starting to adopt your frame
- The discipline to hold a category long enough for it to compound
If your diabetes & cardiometabolic health company needs category design leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
What does a category design engagement cost for a diabetes or cardiometabolic company?
Engagements generally cost $15K-$35K/month and typically extend beyond a single sprint because category design compounds over quarters. Pricing reflects the ambition of the category play and the depth of buyer education and proof needed, rather than a fixed number of deliverables. Because category ownership offers the highest-leverage position in a crowded market, the investment is evaluated against the pricing power and deal advantage created by that frame.
How can we tell whether we truly have a new category or simply a better product?
That is what we test first, honestly – category design works only when you genuinely do something existing categories fail to name, and applying it to a lookalike wastes the play. If yours is a better version of something that already exists, we will tell you category design is the wrong move and direct you toward positioning instead. A go or no-go decision on category fit is a core early deliverable, never an assumption.
Why is it so difficult to compete within an existing category?
Because once buyers categorize you under an established label such as diabetes-management app, they assess you against incumbents on a comparison grid where those players have every advantage. You inherit a frame you never chose and compete according to their terms, making it the hardest possible game. Category design shifts the game by making the old comparison seem like the wrong question.
How can category design establish a budget line with payers and employers?
We develop the buyer education and go-to-market motion that shows payers and employers why your approach represents a distinct category worth funding, instead of forcing you into an old line that undervalues you. When your approach is truly new, buyers often lack both a budget and an evaluation framework for it, so defining and framing the category creates the line. That education is built into execution, not treated as an afterthought.
How do you determine whether a category is truly taking hold?
We measure category adoption – whether buyers, analysts, and even competitors begin using your frame and language – because ownership of a category emerges in how the market speaks before it is fully reflected in revenue. Lead volume by itself misses the point, so we monitor the shift in language as the leading indicator. That signal shows the frame is compounding and worth continuing to defend.
What does it look like to get started with category design?
We start with the honest fit test – assessing whether you genuinely do something existing categories fail to name – together with research into how buyers currently categorize you and which incumbents you inherit. This reveals whether category design is the right play before you make the commitment. If your diabetes or cardiometabolic company is repeatedly categorized as just another app, we should talk.
