Name the Category: Drafting a One-Page Point of View
Objective: Apply the lesson's three-part naming test and POV structure to draft the opening of a category manifesto for a real product scenario.
You're a product marketer at Coinbase. Leadership wants to stop being described as 'a crypto exchange' and be recognized as the platform that invented a new category for everyday crypto users. You have one page to pitch the category name and POV opening.
Pass the three-part name test, then draft the opening three sentences of the POV manifesto.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free, real-time collaborative, no account friction for a written deliverable
The process
1 step
Step 01 of 01
The lesson's Phase 2 says a category name must describe the problem (not the product), travel in one sentence of word of mouth, and not already be owned by a competitor or a dying technology.
Coinbase's team has shortlisted 3 candidate names: 'Coinbase Wallet 2.0', 'Onchain Banking', and 'Self-Custody Finance'. Which one survives all three tests, and why do the other two fail?
Procedure
- List the 3 candidate names as rows in a table with columns for each of the lesson's 3 naming tests
- Mark 'Coinbase Wallet 2.0' as failing test 1: it names the product, not the problem
- Mark 'Self-Custody Finance' as failing test 2: it requires explaining 'self-custody' before the listener understands the benefit
- Confirm 'Onchain Banking' passes all 3: describes the problem (banking stuck off-chain), travels in one sentence, and is not yet owned by a bank or exchange competitor
- Draft the opening 3 sentences of the POV manifesto using the winning name
NAMING TEST SCORECARD Candidate: Coinbase Wallet 2.0 Test 1 (describes problem, not product): FAIL - names the product Test 2 (travels in one sentence): PASS Test 3 (not owned by competitor): PASS Verdict: FAIL overall Candidate: Self-Custody Finance Test 1: PASS Test 2 (travels in one sentence): FAIL - requires explaining 'self-custody' first Test 3: PASS Verdict: FAIL overall Candidate: Onchain Banking Test 1: PASS - names the problem (banking stuck off-chain) Test 2: PASS - one sentence: 'banking that lives where your money already is' Test 3: PASS - unclaimed by any bank or exchange Verdict: PASS, all 3 tests
Healthy
The winning name describes a problem a buyer already feels, and a stranger can repeat it back correctly after hearing it once.
Unhealthy
The team picks the name that sounds the most futuristic, then spends the next quarter explaining what it means in every sales call.
What this means
A name that needs a definition attached every time it's said has already failed test 2, no matter how accurate it is.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Sales reps each explain the new category name differently on calls | Rewrite the name until it passes the one-sentence test with zero reps disagreeing on the wording | 30 min |
Final deliverable
A one-page naming scorecard plus a 3-sentence POV manifesto opening for the winning category name.
See a reference example
Robinhood, category POV opening (excerpt) 'For a decade, investing meant filling out forms a bank designed for someone else. Robinhood didn't build a cheaper broker, it built the first brokerage with no forms at all. We call this Zero-Friction Investing, and it's the category every incumbent will spend the next five years trying to retrofit.'
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Correctly identifies which candidate name fails which specific test
- POV opening names the problem before naming the company