Wingspan’s Category Creation Strategy: Defining the Contingent Work Management Space

Wingspan’s Category Creation Strategy: Defining the Contingent Work Management Space

Creating a new market category requires more than just innovative technology—it demands a fundamental rethinking of how an industry operates. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Anthony Mironov shared how Wingspan evolved from competing in existing categories to creating an entirely new one.

The Category Creation Decision

The decision to create a new category wasn’t immediate. “We think about market categories a lot because of the context setting and going back to the positioning thats super important,” Anthony explains. “We’ve debated whether it’s category expansion versus category creation.”

Moving Beyond Payments

Initially, Wingspan considered positioning within the payments space. As Anthony notes, “Categories potentially better payments… But what we learned was some of those services are really a lot of these in terms of like, they’re not really about the entire workflow necessary to manage this business. They’re really kind of like, at the last mile.”

Understanding Market Evolution

The shift in market dynamics supported their category creation strategy. “There are more freelancers today than there were yesterday,” Anthony observes. “People talk about the future work today one out of three people in America are feeling to some extent that’s supposed to be north of 50% of population in the next five to ten years. But really nothing has been designed to service this new type of work.”

Differentiating from Legacy Players

Wingspan had to position against established competitors. “There’s ADP, there’s paychecks, there’s conglomerates that have been around for whether it’s 75 years or 25 years, and they’re trusted businesses,” Anthony explains. The key was highlighting how traditional solutions weren’t built for modern work patterns: “The adps of the world were never really designed for this because the w two role is really, you set it and forget it. There isn’t the same lifecycle management aspect of it.”

Creating the Category Definition

Rather than competing within existing categories, Wingspan defined a new one: lifecycle management of contingent work. This category encompassed the entire workflow, from onboarding to payment processing and benefits administration. As Anthony explains, “We service companies that are built on attention work… These aren’t back office functions. And that’s critical.”

Building for Industry-Specific Needs

The category definition resonated because it addressed specific industry challenges. “If you think about it like insurance or real estate or professional services, mental health therapy platforms, they have a pool of contractors that sell time,” Anthony notes. These industries need comprehensive solutions that handle everything from eligibility requirements to automated accounts receivable.

The Platform Vision

Wingspan’s category creation strategy extends beyond current needs. Drawing parallels to other category-defining companies, Anthony explains, “There’s Shopify that’s really designed for e-commerce businesses and they built a really beautiful ecosystem for developers to build on top of their APIs… Similar to that for folks that are selling their services in person. Square has built really beautiful ecosystems for merchants and for individuals.”

Market Validation

The strategy’s success is evident in customer adoption. As Anthony shares, “We oftentimes hear some workers won’t work with a company if they’re not on wingspan.” This network effect validates their category creation approach, showing that they’ve defined a new standard for how businesses manage contingent work.

For founders considering category creation, Wingspan’s experience offers valuable lessons. The decision isn’t just about being different—it’s about recognizing when existing categories no longer serve evolving market needs. Success comes from deeply understanding industry-specific workflows and building comprehensive solutions that address the full scope of customer challenges.

Looking ahead, Anthony envisions Wingspan becoming “the largest financial services company in the world,” built on their unique approach to contingent work management. Their journey shows how category creation, when aligned with market evolution and customer needs, can position a company to define the future of an industry.