Category Design: Name the Game

Two startups sell essentially the same thing: software that records sales calls and surfaces what happened in them.

Startup A calls itself "call recording software" and fights twelve competitors on price. Prospects ask for feature checklists and pick the cheapest.

Startup B calls the same thing "revenue intelligence" — a category nobody was searching for. For a year, every sales call starts with ten minutes of explaining what that even means. Then analysts start using the term. Then competitors start describing themselves as revenue intelligence tools — and every definition traces back to Startup B.