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Welcome to Cutting Through The Fog.
Each week I share the thinking and frameworks I’ve used (and learned the hard way) to help you build with more clarity, more momentum, and fewer avoidable mistakes.
This week I want to talk about category creation: what it is, what it takes, what it costs when it goes wrong, and why the generation everyone is writing off right now might be the most naturally suited to doing it.
KEY INSIGHTS THIS WEEK
Category creation is not simply building a product. It is a new space in the market that didn't exist before you created it.
→ Timing is everything.
A market that isn't ready will break you, no matter how good your product is.
Category creation is intoxicating. You get there first. You set the rules. You own the space. But it can go very wrong.
Gen Z sees problems others have normalised. That is not fragility. That is the starting point of every new category ever built.
What is a category?
A category is the name given to a new type of product in a retail store. Customers have their favourite categories and shop them regularly. Other categories they ignore. Categories take a while to be established, to be recognised.
In 1987, I launched something the UK had never seen before: fresh soup in a carton.
Category creation is intoxicating. You get there first. You set the rules. You own the space. It feels like you can do no wrong.
They were pointing at the gap, not the wall
When we launched New Covent Garden Soup, the response was immediate and unanimous. The retailers said there was no chilled soup section. The buyers said the consumer didn't want it. The food safety experts said it couldn't be done safely.
Everyone, in other words, was pointing at every reason it wouldn't work. We thought they were pointing at the gap.
Conventional wisdom is not wisdom. It is an accumulation of assumptions, most of them made by people who have a stake in things staying the way they are. The retailer who said there was no chilled soup section was right. There wasn't one. But that is not a reason not to create it. That is the entire opportunity.
"Innovation isn't just about finding a gap. It's about making sure the world is ready for you to fill it."
And then I went to America
I thought I could repeat the success. I was wrong.
The market wasn't ready. The infrastructure wasn't there. We got a lot right, but not right enough. We burned through millions. The business collapsed. Investors lost everything. I lost more than money. I lost my confidence.
It took years to realise that failure didn't make me weaker. It made me sharper. I'm convinced one of the main reasons why my third business was a success was because my second one was a failure.
What I carry forward from those two extremes: timing is everything.
"In business and especially in the start-up world, you suffer so many setbacks which are out of your control. If you're not resilient you'll be beaten down and simply give up."
Gen Z sees what others have normalised
"Gen Z is soft." This has become one of the most repeated criticisms of an entire generation. I hear it especially from my own generation, Gen X.
But what if the world has completely misunderstood the solution? What if Gen Z's so-called softness is not the problem, but the basis for something much more powerful?
Gen Z possesses qualities older generations often lacked: emotional awareness, empathy, openness, social consciousness, and a genuine desire for meaning. They see problems everywhere. Problems with the food system. With sustainability. With fairness. With inclusion.
That is not fragility. It is literally market research.
Every new category starts with someone who sees a problem others have normalised and decides to do something about it. Gen Z strives for purpose. They do not simply want careers. They want a life with meaning. Entrepreneurship gives those ideals a vehicle. Purpose without action is just a conversation. Entrepreneurship turns that purpose into reality.
THIS WEEK’S CHALLENGE
Find one idea you have been holding back on because you are afraid it might fail.
Pressure-test three things: the timing, the market, and the infrastructure. Be realistic about how many times you will be told no before you get a yes.
If the stars align, go for it.
Final thought
New Covent Garden Soup Co sold for £25 million in 1998. The category we were told didn't exist became one of the most valuable sections in the UK chilled aisle.
The generation everyone is writing off right now sees the gaps more clearly than most. They just need the courage, the tools, and the resilience to fill them.
Nobody ever built something new by listening to the people who said it couldn't be done.
See you next week.
John
