Should I try to create a whole new category like 'bed in a box' did, or just fight for share in an existing one?
The short answer
Category creation (Casper's "bed in a box," Liquid Death's "heavy metal water") is the highest-upside, highest-risk move - if it works, you get to name the category and every competitor becomes a follower, but it takes real marketing muscle and patience most early-stage founders don't have yet. For most first-time D2C founders, the smarter move is Blue Ocean-style: find an uncontested slice inside a category people already understand and shop for, rather than trying to convince Indian consumers a whole new type of product exists. Save the category-creation bet for your second or third product, once you have distribution and capital to actually condition the market.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
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📖 Book
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Why we picked it
The definitive book on category creation and 'category kings' - relevant for founders weighing whether to fight for share in an existing category or try to define a new one entirely, a much bigger and riskier bet.
Why we picked it
The classic framework for finding uncontested market space instead of fighting head-on in a 'red ocean' - directly useful when you're deciding between a wedge strategy and going toe-to-toe with funded competitors.
Why we picked it
The clearest, most practical positioning framework available - a 10-step process for figuring out what market you're in, who you beat, and why, that applies just as well to a physical D2C product as to the B2B software it was written for.
