How to be Irreplaceable in B2B Marketing (with Josh Lowman)
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
Josh Lohman, founder of Gold Front, a twelve-year-old category design studio in San Francisco, sits down with Dave Gerhardt to clear up the confusion around category creation in B2B marketing. (12:30) The conversation explores the difference between fake category creation and genuinely building something irreplaceable, with Josh arguing that the real goal isn't naming a category but becoming number one in the customer's mind. (16:53) They dive into the four paths to category leadership, why most companies get category creation wrong, and how the best brands win by owning a spot in the customer's mind rather than just creating clever category names. The episode takes an unexpected turn as they discuss personal development, with Josh sharing insights from his nineteen years of daily therapy and recent month-long silent meditation retreat, emphasizing how personal growth directly impacts professional creativity and leadership.
- Main themes include distinguishing real vs. fake category creation, the four paths to category leadership, and the critical role of personal development in building successful marketing strategies
Speakers
Josh Lohman
Josh Lohman is the founder and CEO of Gold Front, a category design studio in San Francisco that he's been running for twelve years since 2012. He started his career as a digital designer in the 1990s during the dot-com boom, later transitioning to become a writer in traditional advertising before merging design, digital, and creative strategy skills. Josh has worked with major tech companies including Stripe, Uber, and Qualtrics, and is known for his contrarian approach to strategy that emphasizes intuition and "vibe" over spreadsheet-driven marketing.
Dave Gerhardt
Dave Gerhardt is the host of the B2B Marketing podcast and founder of Exit Five, a community for B2B marketers. He previously worked at Drift where he helped build their conversational marketing category and has extensive experience in B2B marketing strategy and execution. Dave is known for making marketing accessible and practical, focusing on fundamentals and principles rather than jargon and complex metrics.
Key Takeaways
Focus on Being Irreplaceable Rather Than Creating Categories
Josh reframes the entire category creation debate around a simple principle: companies should focus on becoming irreplaceable rather than just naming categories. (12:30) He argues that strategy boils down to answering "what is a good company?" - one where people are happy and the product is irreplaceable. Every company exists on a spectrum from completely replaceable (like commodities) to truly irreplaceable. The most powerful marketing question becomes: "Does this get us closer to customers believing our product is irreplaceable?" This shift in thinking eliminates departmental silos because product, marketing, and customer service all need to work toward the same goal of irreplaceability in the customer's mind.
Understand the Four Paths to Category Leadership
There are essentially four ways to become number one in a category, and most companies don't realize they have options beyond creating something entirely new. (16:53) You can create a completely new category, transform an existing category (like Tesla with electric cars), niche down within a larger category (like LinkedIn as a professional social network), or go solo where you do everything differently even within a rational category (like Notion). Understanding these paths helps companies choose the right strategy based on their actual product capabilities and market position rather than forcing category creation when it's not the right approach.
Real vs. Fake Category Creation
The biggest mistake in category creation is the difference between what companies call their category and what actually exists in customers' minds. (18:17) Josh uses Drift as an example - while they named their category "conversational marketing," customers still mentally bucketed it with Intercom under "live chat tools." Real category creation happens when customers genuinely can't put your product into an existing bucket, like with Clay, which doesn't consider itself a category creator but has built something so unique that users create a mental category for it automatically. The lesson: focus on building something categorically different rather than just naming something differently.
Strategy Should Feel Like Following Your Heart, Not a Spreadsheet
Josh advocates for approaching marketing strategy as if you're the CEO of the company, focusing on intuition and "vibe" over purely analytical approaches. (35:59) He argues that while B2B marketing has become increasingly left-brained with cheat codes and mechanical processes, the real magic happens on the right-brain side with feeling, soul, and taste. This becomes even more critical as AI automates more marketing tasks - the ability to bring genuine human intuition and creativity will become increasingly valuable. Successful marketers need to trust their instincts about what feels right while still being strategic about execution.
Personal Development Directly Impacts Professional Performance
Josh's nineteen years of daily therapy and month-long meditation retreats aren't just personal choices - they're professional investments that make him a better strategist and leader. (46:07) He describes how mental health work and meditation create clarity that translates into better decision-making and creativity. The goal isn't just to feel better personally, but to become someone who can serve clients and team members more effectively. This challenges the traditional separation between personal and professional development, suggesting that the best marketing leaders are those who've done the work to understand themselves and operate from a place of clarity rather than reactive stress.
Statistics & Facts
- Josh has been running Gold Front as a category design studio for twelve years, starting in 2012, and didn't pivot to calling it a "category design studio" until 2020 when the category creation trend became popular. (02:22)
- Josh attended therapy five days a week for nineteen years through psychoanalysis, demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to personal development that he credits with improving his professional capabilities and relationships. (47:20)
- Josh spends one month each year in silent meditation retreat, giving up his phone completely and only calling his family once per week on Sundays, showing how serious personal development practices can coexist with running a business. (52:12)
