Finding competitors: 'my problem is solved, time to move on'
Marat Chukmarov
3 replies
I think it can be useful to ask how to find competitors, cause it tackles down awareness of the other guys and approaches to or/and understanding the problem. And yes, the solution to the problem of financial independence of the maker will always be a derivative from the other problems maker's trying to solve. (assuming, that minority of the makers trying to beat cancer of malaria). Will you just give up months of work and use other product(or offer to your domain, where's the problem laid upon)?
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Abadesi@abadesi
@much_applied Are you thinking about competitors for a product you're building now? I don't think most makers are operating in 'winner takes all' markets, so even if you find your problem is already being solved by someone else, you could create a competitive advantage in your product.
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@much_applied @abadesi true. I always think: if there's already a cake on the table I also can get a piece of it. Of course it always depends on your goals. If you want to be/stay an indie maker it's fine if it just pays your (and maybe some contractors) bills. If you want to hire a dozen people each month you'll need a big cake. :)
Compared to products or problems that are in a small niche with less competitors you already know that there is a market where people pay for that solution you can always create a competitive advantage, like Abadesi said.
@much_applied I've had the opposite problem, trying to work out what genuine competitors exist. I'm hyper-sensitive about this because I've been told so many times you have to know your competitors and Adeo Ressi said to my face (when I visited Founder Institute HQ) that I wasn't trying hard enough if I hadn't found the competitors.
My main tactic is talking to people at conferences/casual meetups and asking them to think of any product or service that delivers the same service.