Category creation and brand building | Barbra Gago (Pando, Miro, Greenhouse, Culture Amp)
Executive Summary
Barbra Gago joins Lenny Rachitsky on category choices, customer-language positioning, a rebrand run as a product project and the relationship between brand and product. Selected coverage omits the intro and final Culture Amp performance-review section. Company histories and outcomes are her account, unverified here. Untimed editorial topics are not video chapters.
Key Takeaways
Choose a category with room for the vision
Gago describes category creation partly as choosing the scope a product wants to occupy. Miro's visual-collaboration framing, in her account, brought different jobs together. A broader phrase still needs to make sense to buyers; ambition alone does not establish a category.
Listen when buyers keep the old category
She recounts a Greenhouse effort to promote recruiting optimization that did not displace applicant-tracking language or budgets. The team shifted from renaming the category to increasing its value. The example is her retrospective, not an independently verified company history.
Use customer language for positioning
Gago says her strongest positioning comes from conversations about customer problems, how people solve them and how they describe the product. Capture those words before selecting a market label. Internal enthusiasm is not a substitute for understanding the buyer.
Test the story in public-facing channels
She discusses PR as a way to put a category claim into the world and test whether it resonates. In B2B, analyst and directory sites also influence how buyers see categories. Those relationships and buyer education take work; a new label is not created just by publishing a headline.
Account for the cost of category creation
Gago describes a substantial investment in content, thought leadership and buyer education. A company can keep serving existing categories while developing a larger vision. Creating a new category is not the only path to differentiation.
Run a name-changing rebrand as a product project
A name change reaches legal work, contracts, the website, product and links. Her Miro approach used owners, sprint teams and reporting rather than treating it as a marketing-only reveal. Align the process and involve the affected teams before launch.
Connect brand to product and values
Gago argues that a strong brand cannot compensate indefinitely for a poor product, and that product quality alone may not create a thoughtful brand. Company values and how people interact with customers can make the brand more authentic. Selected coverage omits the final Culture Amp performance-review section.
The Conversation Breakdown
Choose a category with room for the vision
⏱ Untimed topicGago describes category creation partly as choosing the scope a product wants to occupy. Miro's visual-collaboration framing, in her account, brought different jobs together. A broader phrase still needs to make sense to buyers; ambition alone does not establish a category.
Listen when buyers keep the old category
⏱ Untimed topicShe recounts a Greenhouse effort to promote recruiting optimization that did not displace applicant-tracking language or budgets. The team shifted from renaming the category to increasing its value. The example is her retrospective, not an independently verified company history.
Use customer language for positioning
⏱ Untimed topicGago says her strongest positioning comes from conversations about customer problems, how people solve them and how they describe the product. Capture those words before selecting a market label. Internal enthusiasm is not a substitute for understanding the buyer.
Test the story in public-facing channels
⏱ Untimed topicShe discusses PR as a way to put a category claim into the world and test whether it resonates. In B2B, analyst and directory sites also influence how buyers see categories. Those relationships and buyer education take work; a new label is not created just by publishing a headline.
Account for the cost of category creation
⏱ Untimed topicGago describes a substantial investment in content, thought leadership and buyer education. A company can keep serving existing categories while developing a larger vision. Creating a new category is not the only path to differentiation.
Run a name-changing rebrand as a product project
⏱ Untimed topicA name change reaches legal work, contracts, the website, product and links. Her Miro approach used owners, sprint teams and reporting rather than treating it as a marketing-only reveal. Align the process and involve the affected teams before launch.
Connect brand to product and values
⏱ Untimed topicGago argues that a strong brand cannot compensate indefinitely for a poor product, and that product quality alone may not create a thoughtful brand. Company values and how people interact with customers can make the brand more authentic. Selected coverage omits the final Culture Amp performance-review section.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Customer-language positioning
Use buyer problems, descriptions and budget categories to test a positioning claim.
Category investment
Weigh scope and differentiation against the cost of education, content and market validation.
Rebrand as product
Assign cross-functional owners, a clear process and feedback before changing the name and its many touchpoints.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Record the exact words customers use for the problem and product.
- ✓Check whether a new category matches buyer language and budget.
- ✓Map the legal, website, product and sales dependencies of a name change.
- ✓Compare stated brand values with real customer interactions.
Notable Quotes
“One thing that's really important in category creation as well is actually PR.”
“With the rebrand at Miro, it was very much rebrand as a product approach.”
“You could have a great brand and if the product sucks, there's only so far a brand can go.”
The One Thing to Remember
Build positioning from buyer language and treat a rebrand as shared operational work, not only a new look.