#252 Category Creation | Dave is joined by Josh Lowman, Founder and Creative Director of Gold Front, a category design studio that’s worked with brands like Uber, Notion, and Qualtrics. Josh is a leading voice in strategic brand positioning and category creation. He’s spent over a decade helping high-growth B2B companies define what makes them irreplaceable in crowded markets.
Dave and Josh cover:
- Why most category creation efforts fail (and what to do instead)
- The four real paths to category leadership: create, transform, niche, or go solo
- How B2B marketers can align product, brand, and messaging around a single strategy to stand out and scale
Whether you're launching a new product or repositioning an existing one, this episode is a masterclass in strategic clarity.
Timestamps
- (00:00) - – Intro
- (02:51) - – Josh’s backstory and founding Gold Front
- (06:06) - – How Gold Front became a category design studio
- (08:21) - – What “category creation” really means
- (11:36) - – Why being irreplaceable is the real goal
- (14:41) - – The four paths to category leadership
- (18:26) - – Why Drift didn’t succeed in creating a true category
- (22:21) - – Clay and Notion as category-of-one examples
- (25:11) - – Marketing vs. actual customer perception
- (30:14) - – Can Exit Five be more than the “Dave Gerhardt community”?
- (33:09) - – How to scale brand DNA beyond the founder
- (35:59) - – Defining Exit Five’s ethos as a company
- (38:19) - – Strategy as a company-wide unifier
- (41:09) - – Advice for CMOs on driving strategy with CEOs
- (43:44) - – Why strategy is always the root cause
- (45:14) - – Vibe marketing and the rise of right-brain thinking
- (47:59) - – Josh’s mental health journey and long-term therapy
- (51:29) - – LinkedIn, self-worth, and staying grounded
- (53:59) - – Weightlifting, discipline, and mental clarity
- (56:59) - – Daily habits that improve mindset
- (01:00:14) - – What 30 days of silent meditation does to your brain
- (01:04:59) - – Final thoughts on presence, self-work, and leadership
Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/
***
Brought to you by:
Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive.
Optimizely - An AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Get a free, personalized 45-minute AI workshop to help you identify the best AI use cases for your marketing team and map out where agents can save you time at optimizely.com/exitfive (PS - you'll get a FREE pair of Meta Ray Bans if you do).
Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.
***
Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.
- They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
- Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.
- Visit hatch.fm to learn more
