Plumery’s Playbook: How to Create a New Product Category in a Traditional Industry

Creating a new product category is challenging enough. Creating one in banking—an industry known for its conservatism and resistance to change—might seem impossible. Yet that’s exactly what Plumery has accomplished by introducing the concept of headless architecture to banking technology.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Plumery founder Ben Goldin shared how his team is pioneering this approach, offering valuable lessons for founders looking to introduce innovative technology in traditional markets.

The Power of Pattern Recognition

After 25 years in banking technology, including serving as CTPO at Mambu, Ben noticed a persistent pattern: “I witnessed how many organizations are still building the same thing again and again. And the second thing, how many of them are actually failing to build it from the first try and still do not manage to create a proper experience for their end customers.”

This observation revealed not just a problem, but an opportunity to introduce a fundamentally different approach to banking technology.

Finding the Right Category Position

Instead of creating an entirely new concept, Plumery adapted a proven architectural pattern from other industries. “We are the first headless digital engagement platform out there,” Ben explains. This approach is well-established in e-commerce and content management but remained unexplored in banking.

The key was positioning this familiar technology pattern in a way that resonated with banking’s unique needs and constraints. Rather than forcing banks to choose between buying complete solutions or building everything from scratch, Plumery introduced what Ben calls a “buy for feature parity and build for competitive edge” approach.

Segmentation Strategy in Category Creation

When creating a new category, the temptation is to target everyone. Plumery took a different approach. “Right now our ideal customer is mid to small size financial institution anywhere in the world trying to modernize their digital experience. Or a neo bank or digital world trying to build a new proposition from scratch and need an acceleration,” Ben shares.

This precise segmentation allowed Plumery to:

• Focus product development on specific use cases
• Build credibility with a defined market segment
• Create reference customers for expansion

The Role of Domain Expertise

Creating a new category requires more than just innovative technology—it requires deep understanding of industry dynamics. Ben’s experience played a crucial role: “Being someone who did things before, being someone who stayed in the domain for a while, it’s definitely much easier to raise capital.”

This domain expertise helped Plumery:

• Identify the right problems to solve
• Understand implementation challenges
• Build credibility with conservative buyers
• Attract investment for category creation

Balancing Innovation with Familiarity

Perhaps the most subtle aspect of Plumery’s category creation strategy is how they balance innovation with familiarity. “We recognize the importance for banks to differentiate themselves and innovate where it matters the most,” Ben notes. “But we also acknowledge that there are things that banks would better take out of the box.”

This hybrid approach helps conservative buyers embrace new technology by:

• Keeping familiar elements in place
• Focusing innovation where it matters most
• Reducing perceived risk
• Providing clear migration paths

Looking Beyond Category Creation

Creating a new category is just the beginning. Ben’s vision extends far beyond: “My vision was always to change the way how people experience banking and do that for a meaningful number of people globally.” This broader vision helps position the category as part of a larger industry transformation.

Key Lessons for Category Creators

For founders looking to create new categories in traditional industries, Plumery’s experience offers several key lessons:

1. Look for proven patterns in adjacent industries that could solve persistent problems in your target market
2. Focus on specific market segments rather than trying to serve everyone immediately
3. Use domain expertise to build credibility and understand implementation challenges
4. Balance innovation with familiarity to reduce adoption barriers
5. Connect your category to larger industry trends and transformation needs

Perhaps most importantly, Ben advises founders to “don’t be too serious. Keep it simple and relaxed.” Even in conservative industries, sometimes the best approach to category creation is to focus on solving real problems rather than getting caught up in the complexity of innovation.