There are two interesting ways to solve a problem, find a startup or even write a blog post.

You can lump two previously disparate categories into one.

Or you can split a previously coherent category into two or more pieces.

Amazon is a lumper. They lumped 1,000 individual markets for bookstores into one giant one. They lumped dozens of different kinds of retail stores into one big one.

A high-end barber shop is a splitter. It doesn’t cut all hair. Just men. Not all men, just men who want to spend $50 on the experience.

You can choose to lump or to split, but either one will show you a new way forward.