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“We launched the Category Design Academy Mighty Pro app in November 2023, and it doubled our revenue that year.”

Katrina Kirsch

Head of Publishing & Ops

Born from a newsletter created by category design leaders Chris Lochhead, Eddie Yoon, and Nicolas Cole, Category Pirates’ academy combines M.B.A. rigor with real-world insight from industry pros and community members. Their highly selective 10-month course goes deep into business breakthroughs, innovation, and positioning to give their followers the scaffolding to build and dominate whole new markets.

What is category design?

Before Elisha Otis modernized the elevator in 1853, cities looked different. Buildings were often only six or seven stories tall, and the wealthy lived on the bottom levels of residential structures, lest they have to climb more than one flight of stairs. But the mainstream adoption of Otis’ safety elevator turned the Penthouse into the first-class floor and planted the seeds for skyscrapers to sprout from the streets. That big response to an innovation is how Christopher Lochhead explains category design.

"Category design is about moving the world from the old to the new,” Christopher explains. "It’s not just a business strategy—it’s the ability to redefine what’s possible. The bigger the breakthrough, the more help it needs for people to understand its possibility for the future."

Widely accepted as the authority on category design, Christopher and his co-founders Eddie Yoon and Nicolas Cole, known as the Category Pirates, have devoted their careers to mentoring category designers who want to take their next big idea to the top floor. In January 2021, the Pirates started a newsletter that quickly became one of the Top 5 paid business newsletters in the world. But their 32,000 subscribers aren’t just any kind of reader — these folks intentionally sit down to study their 4,000 to 8,000-word, self-described “mini-books.”

The limitations of a newsletter

“We started to recognize everybody was using the comments section of our newsletter to ask deeper questions,” says Katrina Kirsch, a Category Pirate who joined the crew in 2022. “They all wanted to go further. There are so many nuances to category design that don't come across just by reading. You have to have conversations with people. That was the missing element of the newsletter.”

While many networks start small and grow along with their audience, the Category Pirates, of course, designed their own game plan. They signed up for Mighty Pro right out of the gate to create the “worldwide classroom” they envisioned. Alongside Mighty’s dedicated team for Pro accounts, they quickly designed a 12-month training program — a timeframe Katrina says they couldn’t have imagined accomplishing on their own.

Deciding on a high-ticket membership

But they didn’t design their program for just anyone. The Category Pirates were looking to serve highly experienced, deeply committed business leaders. (“Knowing who you’re not for is just as important as knowing who you're for,” Christopher says). To join the network, Category Design Academy hopefuls fill out an extensive application for the Pirates to consider. If they’re accepted into the small, 25-student cohort, it requires an equally high investment: $1,000 a month. The Pirates decided to keep their membership small for two major reasons.

First, they want to give each person the personalized feedback and one-on-one discussions their ideas deserve. Secondly, they wanted to build the concept of “radical generosity,” a key idea of category design, into their business model. Much like the Category Pirates’ willingness to share their time, they wanted to deliver exceptional quality within the Academy’s content and workshops — so much so that the price tag would seem like a bargain.

“We started out investing in Mighty Pro with a premium course, and we're building backward from that. It gives us the runway to build other things in the future,” Christopher says. “We’re not interested in playing small. We’re building the next generation of Category Designers — and Mighty Pro gives us the platform to do it. This is a lifelong commitment for us.”

Mighty Pro is "digital word-of-mouth at scale"

Christopher equates their mission to his favorite restaurant, an Italian spot owned by a family who goes out of their way to use premium ingredients and deliver memorable service. In turn, they have the loyalty and adoration of the community. The Pirates credit Mighty Pro’s powerful tools with enabling them to focus on what matters most: creating exponential outcomes for their members. The “Crew Quarters” space (“The dive bar of our Academy,” according to Katrina) is always buzzing, whether members are sharing wins or troubleshooting obstacles, even celebrating and supporting each other in personal joys and losses. The Pirates credit their community’s sky-high engagement to the software’s ability to start conversations among members. It also lets the Pirates focus on mentoring instead of creating content or troubleshooting software.

“If we didn't tell people it was Mighty, they would think we spent a kajillion dollars building a gorgeous user experience and a purpose-built mobile app. But we’re proud to tell them it’s with Mighty,” says Christopher. “Category designers create movements. This platform is a way to create a movement. It’s digital word-of-mouth at scale. It’s incredible.”

Member Spotlight

Pablo Gonzales

"Since I’ve been a part of Category Pirates, I’ve become really clear on my narrative, reframing my value offer, and being much more confident in how to pitch that. Quite frankly, I just never thought I'd have a shot at making $10 million in the next five years. My life and my perception of what's possible have profoundly changed. Before Category Pirates, I never finished a single online course. I think Mighty Networks’ Best Year Ever formula is core to why this was different."