# The Category Reframe

We Scale Startups · Free template

Buyers file you under the nearest familiar category within seconds, usually before they have looked at your product. The wrong file caps what you can charge and leaves your champion unable to explain you internally.

## Step 1. Find the file you are in

Ask five recent buyers, in their words: "Before we spoke, what did you think we were?" Write the answers down verbatim. Do not correct them.

| Buyer | What they thought we were | What that made them compare us to | What they expected to pay |
|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |

If three or more give the same wrong answer, that is your category problem and it is costing you price.

## Step 2. Place yourself on the map

Two axes: what you charge, and how clearly you are filed.

| | Filed as a competitor | Filed as its own category |
|---|---|---|
| **Priced high** | You look expensive next to the wrong competitor. Every call opens with a discount question. | Named as your own thing, priced against the outcome, easy for a champion to repeat. |
| **Priced low** | You win on price, churn on price, and nobody can say what you replaced. | Buyers understand you and still underpay, because the category itself is a low-value one. |

Mark where a buyer would put you after thirty seconds on your homepage. Most founders are one square left of where they think.

## Step 3. Write the reframe

Most people assume we are a ____________________ (wrong neighbour category).

We are actually ____________________ (real category),

which means ____________________ (the one thing the wrong category cannot do).

____________________ (proof point a sceptic can check).

**Worked example:** "Most people assume we are a scheduling tool. We are actually a revenue operations layer, which means we catch pipeline leaks a scheduling tool never sees. One client used it to recover 12 stalled deals last quarter."

## Step 4. Test it before you ship it

Read the reframe to someone outside your company. Then ask them to repeat it back from memory.

- [ ] They named the right category
- [ ] They named the thing the wrong category cannot do
- [ ] They repeated the proof point, or something close to it
- [ ] They did not ask what you actually do

Four ticks means a champion can carry it into a room you are not in. Fewer than four means the sentence is still for you rather than for them.

## The rule that makes this work

A reframe without a proof point is a claim, and buyers now screen hardest for the distance between a claim and a demonstration. Reframe the category, then immediately show the result the new category implies.

## Where it goes

Homepage hero. First line of outbound. The answer to "so what do you do?". Your champion's internal Slack message. All four should say the same sentence.

https://wescalestartups.com/resources/category-reframe