Category Pirates

Making a difference, for people who make a difference. Writing, teaching, and podcasting about the greatest (underground) skill in business. Category design. With the legendary Eddie Yoon & Katrina Kirsch.

Co-creator

Airspeed

Helping the Airspeed team cure the Digital Disconnect.

Advisor

Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different

CoAuthor Niche Down

Podcaster

Lochhead on Marketing

#1 apple business podcast focused on marketing & category creation/design

HarperCollins Publishers

Every entrepreneur looking to alter the landscape and every CEO looking to reimagine their business can learn from this book. Play Bigger provides inspiration and a framework for building companies that transcend gravity.” — Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce

“Play Bigger is the new how-to guide for entrepreneurs and executives who want to build legendary, enduring companies.” — Jim Goetz, Partner, Sequoia Capital

In this widely acclaimed, farsighted new book, the authors rely on experience, data analysis and interviews to understand the inner workings of “category kings”— companies such as Amazon, Salesforce, Uber, and IKEA—that give us new ways of living, thinking or doing business, often solving problems we didn’t know we had. 

Crossing the Chasm revolutionized how we think about new products in an existing market. The Innovator’s Dilemma taught us about disrupting an aging market. Now, Play Bigger is transforming business once again, showing us how to create the market itself with the new discipline of "category design."

CoAuthor: Play Bigger How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets

HalloApp

Play Bigger Advisors, LLC.

Advised over 30 Silicon Valley venture-backed startups in strategy, marketing & category design.
CoAuthored Harper Collins "Instant Classic" Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets.

co-founding partner

LOCHHEAD Enterprises, Inc.

Advised over 20 Silicon Valley venture-backed startups on Strategy, Marketing and Category Design

Founder

Orchestria

Board Director

Mercury Interactive (Acquired by HP)

I was lucky to be with a great team of people @ Mercury. HP Acquired the company for $5B in November of 2006, after Mercury had grown to over $1B in sales.

Chief Marketing Officer

Ever notice how much content is actually content-free-content?

Thanks for stopping by.  I’m a friend to the different and am  best known for Play Bigger, Category Pirates and being a Godfather of Category Design.
🏴‍☠️

I help startup founders, CEOs, marketers, creators, and ambitious professionals category design legendary markets and careers in a post-AI world.

**Why Category Design & Creator Capitalism?**

Category designers create markets, not competition, capturing **76% of the value** in the spaces they pioneer. 

Creator Capitalists unlock their different **superpower**—that unique edge only they bring—to build wealth and impact in an AI-driven economy. 

Whether you’re launching a company or redefining your career, I’ll show you how to own your niche and thrive.

**What I Do:**

With my partners at Category Pirates 🏴‍☠️ I empower you to:

*Design & dominate new markets through writing, courses, and community.

*Discover your superpower to become a Creator Capitalist, mastering your career in the AI era.

*Build legendary businesses & careers with strategies from our #1 Amazon-charting books.

Join us at **www.categorypirates.com** to start pirating.

**My Track Record:**

*Author: Co-authored 14 #1 bestsellers, including *Play Bigger* (the first book on category design), *Niche Down*, and *Snow Leopard*.

*Podcaster: Host of Follow Your Different* (“Best Business Podcast” – Podcast Magazine) and Lochhead on Marketing (#1 charting).

*Newsletter: Run Category Pirates 🏴‍☠️ Substack (top 0.5% paid business newsletter).

*Career: Former 3X Silicon Valley public company CMO, advisor, and VC limited partner.

**What People Say:**

*Play Bigger is required reading for entrepreneurs altering the landscape.” *Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce
*“A quasar of energy and ideas.” – Bill Walton, NBA Legend
*“Off-putting to some, but undeniably brilliant.” – The Economist

*The Future Needs You

If you’re ready to category design a market or unleash your superpower? 

Connect with me or visit **www.categorypirates.com**. 

Let’s build something legendary—together. 
🏴‍☠️

Christopher Lochhead🏴‍☠️

My brother Tushar Atre was murdered 2,228 days ago. Today, we head back to court. This is the third of four trials for the men who killed him.

Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️

“A quasar, a godfather of category design” Bill Walton | “Off-putting to some” The Economist | 15X #1 author Play Bigger & Category Pirates 🏴‍☠️| #1 Charting Apple Business Podcast

My friend brother Tushar Atre was killed 2,228 days ago. Today, we head back to court. This is the third of four trials for the men who murdered him. 

Open article: Walking Through Fire: 2,228 Days Since My Brother’s Murder by Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️ • 4 min read

Walking Through Fire: 2,228 Days Since My Brother’s Murder

Today is Al Ries Day. Yeah, I’m celebrating. And you should too. Because the man earns his own damn holiday. If you care about marketing, entrepreneurship, category design, business strategy, or frankly winning, then you owe Al Ries more than a polite nod. You owe him a standing ovation.

Today is Al Ries Day. Yeah, I’m celebrating. And you should too. Because the man earns his own damn holiday. If you care about marketing, entrepreneur

Open article: Happy Al Ries Day by Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️ • 3 min read

I always love it when people (donkeys) say, “category design is hard”… to which I respond. 

As compared to what?

Building a legendary company. Hard. 

Building a legendary product. Hard. 

Category designing a new market. Hard. 

If you don’t like to do hard legendary things. 

Get a job at the DMV.

Thank you for risking your lives, to save our lives.

No alternative text description for this image

Black Friday Is Stupid. Here’s Why: Every November, companies reenact the same clown show 🤡

•Slash prices. 
•Torch margins.
•Fight for existing demand.

Call it “strategy.”
It’s not strategy.
It’s surrender.

Black Friday is when a business publicly announces:
“We have no real category, no real POV, and no real value… so here’s 40% off.”

If you want to see how this movie ends, just look at Groupon. 
The company that turned Black Friday into a business model.

At IPO, Groupon was worth around $13B.
Today it’s limping along under $1B.

A 95% vaporization of value.
All because it trained customers to only show up when prices were in the basement.

That’s what happens when you live by discounting:

•You become a commodity.
•You teach your buyers to wait you out.
•And you die slowly, on sale.

Every business running Black Friday is doing a Mini-Groupon.

•A little hit of the same drug.
•A little erosion of brand, belief, and pricing power.
•A little “race to the bottom” disguised as “a busy weekend.”

Legendary category designers don’t bribe people to buy.
•They create value.
•They create demand.
•They create word of mouth.
So yeah.

Black Friday is stupid.
And to celebrate the stupidity?

Our new #1 bestselling Lightning Strike Marketing book is $100.
A middle finger to the publishing industry. 🖕
And to the Black Friday discount death cult. 🖕

Be legendary or be discounted.
Pick one.
🏴‍☠️

Most people. Accept the premise. If you want a legendary career, you gotta stop playing by inherited rules. 🏴‍☠️

Most people. Accept the premise. If you want a legendary career, you gotta stop playing by inherited rules. The fastest way to stay average is to acce

Open article: Reject the Premise by Christopher Lochhead 🇺🇸🇮🇱🏴‍☠️ • 3 min read

Most people have no idea how to value their value. And most companies? Even worse. 

They spend 51 weeks out of the year trying to convince the world they’re of value.

Only to torch their own brand. 
In one glorious, annual, self-inflicted ritual of value destruction: 
Black Friday.
🤡

Next week, you will witness the single greatest mass devaluation event in modern commerce.

A global orgy of:
“Please, please, PLEASE buy from us...we’ll do ANYTHING!”
The sad part?

None of the companies doing this actually need to.
They’re just trapped in the herd.

Following the script someone else wrote.
(Like the sad-uniformed donkey's they are)

Here’s the uncomfortable truth no one in marketing wants to admit:
The easiest way to crush yourself is to make your category worthless.

And nothing makes your category worthless faster than telling the world:
“Hey! Remember everything we said about being:

•scarce
•quality
•crafted
•curated
•premium
•advanced
•meaningful
•purpose-built 
•and category-defining?

Yeah. 
Forget all that. 
"Today we’re cheap.”

Once you burn belief. 
It doesn’t (just) grow back.

Legends don’t participate in the annual race to the bottom.
•They reject the premise.
•They set their value.
•Their own rules.
•Their own POV.

And the market comes them.
So please (with whiskey on top) value your value.
🙏

Stop teaching people to expect less.
Stop training your customers to wait for discounts.
Stop telling the world your product isn’t worth what you say it is.

Because if you don’t value your value…
No one else will.
(Read this three times)

And next week, while everyone else is lighting their brand equity on fire for sport?

You’ll be building yours.
Strengthening your category.
And proving what legends already know:

Price isn’t a number.
Price is belief.

And belief, once broken, is hell to rebuild.
Hold the line.

Protect the premium.
And for the love of all things holy.
Don’t Black Friday your future.
🏴‍☠️

Ps. Our new Lightning Strike Marketing book, is the first $100 book to hit #1 on the Amazon Global Marketing Chart.

It will not be on sale next week.
Hit the l!nk in comments to pick up yours.
The book also makes a legendary (not-discounted) gift.
😎

IA Path

We help new adjusters get to work in 90 days with our online adjuster mentorships.

Stanley Crew Publishing

How to Write Your Big Ideas in Small Books

Author of Mini Book Model

Unlock the Secrets to Reaching the Lost for Christ With the Principles of Internet Marketing

Author of God is Like Marketing

How Chasing Money Is Holding You Back From the Life and Business of Your Dreams

Author of The Misleading Money Mantra

Co-Author Noob Angel 02: Joshua and the Big Wall

Co-Author of Noob Angel 01: David vs the Giant

30-Day Devotional for When You Need a Brighter Day

Author of God is Like a Box of Crayons

Learn How to Stop Stressing and Start Enjoying Your Job As an Insurance Adjuster

Author of Burned Out Adjuster's Playbook

30 Day Devotional for Those Looking to Level Up Their Character

Author of God is Like a Video Game

30 Day Devotional for People Who are Looking for God in the Chaos of the Year

Author of God is Like 2020

A Career Guide for Getting Hired and Promoted as an Adjuster for an Insurance Company

Co-Author of Insurance Company Adjuster's Playbook

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Insurance Adjuster Resume

Co-Author of Adjuster's Resume Playbook

30 Day Devotional About God's Viral Nature Through Human Interaction

Author of God is Like a Virus

Insurance Adjuster Secrets For PDR Technicians: How to Increase Your Earnings and Lower Your Stress When Dealing with Insurance Companies & Shops

Author of PDR Cash Box

30 Day Devotional For When You Are Looking for Purpose

Author of God is Like a Rocket Launch

30 Day Devotional for When You Need Reconciliation Due to Politics

Author of God is Like a Democrat & a Republican

30 Day Devotional For When You Are Waiting on God

Author of God is Like a Geyser

Will vampires suck all the fun out of Halloween?

Co-Author of Sailing Adventures of Sol & Vox: Vampires of Vero Beach

Step by Step Field Guide to Writing Auto Damage Estimates as an Independent Adjuster or Auto Damage Appraiser

Author of Auto Adjuster's Playbook

Step by Step Guide & Journal to Successful Networking as an Independent Adjuster

Co-Author of Networking Adjuster's Playbook

Step by Step Guide & Manual to Writing Auto Damage Estimates With Audatex

Author of the Audatex Adjuster's Playbook

Category Thinkers

Ambassador

Independent Appraiser

Independent Auto Damage Appraiser. Meeting owners, inspecting vehicles, writing estimates, and uploading files. It's been woven into my career for 13+ years and introduced me to so many great people and businesses.

Independent Auto Damage Appraiser

Mobile Tech RX

I have the pleasure of finding ways to engage with the amazing customers-to-be of Mobile Tech RX. Key functions are marketing and sales.

Client Engagement Specialist (Consultant)

Hi-Tech Paintless Dent Removal, Inc,

Maintain and create new long lasting relationships with body shops, dealerships, insurance companies, and other potential clients. Create a team culture with our paintless dent removal technicians. Respond to hail catastrophe's and oversee operations in Colorado and Wyoming.

National Operations Manager

PARS (Paintless Automotive Repair Specialist)

Oversee technicians, write insurance quality estimates. Travel the country for catastrophic events.

Estimator/Project Manager

I Help Dadpreneurs Find Work-Life Balance & Have Time for the People & Things They Love | Independent Adjuster Mentor | 23x Author

For most people, self-publishing isn’t just hard. It’s wildly impractical.

They tell you:
🔹 “Write for months or years in isolation” (Without knowing if anyone even wants what you’re writing?)
🔹 “Do 100+ podcast interviews to promote your book” (Who has time for that?)
🔹 “Go on a book tour” (For what? Five-dollar royalties?)
🔹 “Hire four different editors for thousands of $$$” (Why, when I can use AI to edit it & most readers don’t even finish the book?)

No wonder most authors never finish, never sell, and never make money.

But there’s a smarter way.

Practical Publishing.

Practical Publishing isn’t about chasing visibility.
It’s about building income from your ideas.

It’s not about writing a book for exposure.
It’s about writing to build a business.

Some people write books.
Others build assets.

I call them Revenue Writers.
They use Practical Publishing to turn words into income, not just finished manuscripts.

Their go-to format?
Mini Books. Short, focused books that are fast to write, easy to publish, and built to sell.

Revenue Writers think differently:
They don’t write and wait.
They write and earn.

Every chapter, every Mini Book, every newsletter is a chance to generate revenue through coaching, courses, premium content, digital downloads, and more.

They monetize as they write.
They turn finished chapters and books into systems that bring in leads, customers, and sales.
They use Mini Books as tools, not trophies.

They create livable income from hundreds of readers, not tens of thousands.

And the result?
They keep writing.
Because the more they write, the more they earn.
And the more they earn, the more lives they change without burning out in the process.

I’ve used Practical Publishing & Mini Books to build a $700K per year business without a massive following, viral videos, or a publishing deal.

If you’re tired of playing by the old rules, it’s time to become a Revenue Writer and publish the practical way.

Join the Practical Publishing movement and start your first Mini Book today.

Visit https://www.minibook.news/ or DM me to get started.

Chris Stanley 🚢🏴‍☠️‍

This week I slowed posting on LinkedIn to apply what my coach Ryan Musselman wanted me to do.

I put on my first Workshop last night with a 2nd night coming for people tonight.

I normally charge $500/hr, but these 30 people are getting six hours of working with me to start their Auto independent adjusting career for FREE.

For those who follow me for Mini Book content I'm planning to follow this same model with Mini Books as well so stay tuned.

My workshop was filled within 1 hour of qualified prospects and I have 30+ follow up calls already scheduled.

Ryan knows his stuff and I appreciate him helping me find ways to serve my adjusting audience at a higher level.

Let's go!

Tonight Day 2 of the 30 Day IA Workshop.

If you need someone to help you fix your lead flow as a coach... check Ryan out.

Chris Stanley 🌀🏴‍☠️

The Mini Book Guy | 21x Amazon Bestselling Author | Founder @ IA Path | I help you write a Smart Book that builds belief in you, your business, and your category

Had to tell 2 clients I couldn't take them on over the last few days.. and I don't even publicy have a coaching offer for authors!

No, I don't hate money, but I'm already working with amazing people and have my own big projects going.

If you are struggling to get clients... write a mini book... thats how I get my leads and people coming to me for help.

It isn't by me screaming about my offers, just by helping through my Mini Books and they assume I could help them more.

It's a great busines flywheel to build for anyone struggling to get leads.

I found out you don't have to write a big book to be taken seriously.

You can write a 5,000 - 15,000 word Mini Book and build your business on the back of it.

That's what I did for my company that trains insurance adjusters.

If it can work for me it can work for anyone.

If I want to get a surge of sales on my books and only have $50, this is what I do.

1. Discount my book so I'm being honest about a limited time deal
2. Place a simple one line benefit driven ad on Bookbub with my book cover.
3. Choose to place ad for major categories (Business, How to) for my book at $10/day
4. Choose 3 relevant authors with audiences with 5,000 - 20,000 audience size ($10/day)
5. Run both those until my money runs out

This usually makes me an Amazon Best Seller in my Amazon categories and gets me not just sales of the single book, but the entire series. 

Tomorrow I'll tell what I'd do to get my book in thousands of people's hands for $100.

You can easily get your book's manuscript on every major bookstore for FREE 

I recommend doing this in 2 stages,

1. Use Kindle Direct Publishing (to publish to Amazon)

2. Use an aggregator like Draft 2 Digital for all other bookstores

I realized early on that much of the world doesn't rely as heavily on Amazon so getting your books on,

- Barnes and Noble 
- Kobo
- Apple
- Google 

Can be a great way to expand your audience and make additional sales.

5,000 words is all you need to establish yourself as a credible expert in your niche.

Write it as a Mini Book solving one problem your ideal customer faces and let them trust you because they get results just from your book.

They'll come back for more to solve bigger problems.

Here is the most powerful writing advice to help your book be a success, after 21 Amazon Best Sellers,

"Know what you believe."

Sounds stupid, but if we aren't clear on our point of view the reader feels it.

Katrina Kirsch 🏴‍☠️ does an awesome job helping other creators communicate their POV by writing for Category Pirates and others, but recently doubled down on finding her own voice around this topic so you can find your POV.

Follow her you won't regret it.

https://lnkd.in/eUEzKrbd

I help entrepreneurs turn scattered thinking into compelling content. | Co-Author at Category Pirates & How Solos Scale

View Katrina Kirsch 🏴‍☠️’s profile

Erica Schneider scraped my LinkedIn last month and asked: "You've only written 73 posts in 13 years?" I laughed. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

The wildest part is I'm a professional writer.

I've spent a decade writing for entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and businesses. I've ghostwritten hundreds of articles, newsletters, and books. I've helped grow the Category Pirates Substack and created courses that brought in over $500k in revenue.

I know writing, but I couldn't write for myself.

Not because I didn't know it mattered. (I did. I've gotten that advice countless times.)

I couldn't do it because I didn't have a clear point of view I felt confident sharing.

But in the past few months, Nick Bennett 🏴‍☠️ and Erica pushed me to articulate it. (Thank you both!)

Here's what I've discovered:

The point of a point of view is to have the VIEW first.

You can't refine your thinking into a clear perspective if you haven't first explored it through conversation, debate, and pressure testing. You can't compress what you haven't expanded.

Most people try to start with the one-liner, or the tagline, or the elevator pitch.

But you need the establishing shot first—the wide-angle view of how you think and why you believe what you believe before you can zoom in to the point. 

Articulating your POV is confronting.

But you can't stop thinking about it once you do. You know exactly who you're helping and why. Content ideas flow, and your business has a clear direction.

I've seen this happen for my clients and for students in the Category Design Academy. There's always an "a-ha!" moment when they explain what they do, and we instantly recognize it as a POV. Having that anchor changes everything.

You can't build the business you want when your POV only exists in other people's work.

(Photo: What it feels like when you don't have a clear view.)

taplio

The Battle

Christopher Lochhead🏴‍☠️

Chris Stanley 🚢🏴‍☠️‍

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreChristopher Lochhead🏴‍☠️'s LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreChris Stanley 🚢🏴‍☠️‍'s LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Christopher Lochhead🏴‍☠️

Chris Stanley 🚢🏴‍☠️‍

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Christopher Lochhead🏴‍☠️'s LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreChris Stanley 🚢🏴‍☠️‍'s LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreChristopher Lochhead🏴‍☠️'s LinkedIn Performance