How To Differentiate

I've been seeing a lot of posts over recent weeks and months along the lines of "how do I find a problem to solve?".

The implication seems to be that hackers don't think they have a viable business idea unless they are doing something which no-one has done before.

Computing has been around a long time now and many hundreds of thousands of developers have been pointed at all the big problems. I reckon there are still interesting niches in the video and graphics areas, proper turn-key solutions for small businesses and a lot else. However, that isn't the point of this post.

I want to challenge people to think about product / service development from a different perspective to see if those of you who want to make something but cannot even begin to think what it might be can perhaps come up with fresh ideas simply by looking from a different angle at what makes a viable business.

I am assuming that most of you are solo founders and that you need enough to make you financially independent without wanting to take over the world. We don't need to dominate. Even an income of £1,000,000 (substitute currency symbol of choice) is small beer that the big boys wouldn't even notice ... but I bet you wouldn't turn it down if you could get it! Half of that is a very comfortable living which gives you the independence to make your own life choices. A quarter of that is certainly not to be sneezed at for most people.

So, instead of asking yourself "Is there value in solving a new problem?", ask yourself "Can I add value by doing something that exists but in a different way?".

The obvious area of differentiation is price but, in the long run, you really do not want to compete in a race to the bottom. It has been shown again and again that the lower your price, the lower your product or service is respected and the more troublesome your customers tend to be.

So how else can you differentiate yourself from the existing players in a given market?

Some random thoughts to get you going:

Language : we have a lot of non-native English speakers here all trying to make English-language services. Why? English is a universal language but it is not universally spoken.

Culture : all cultures are the same, right? Wrong. Even within the English-speaking world, there are differences. For example, I hate it when people try to be too matey with me. Formal organisations should call me Mr. Murphy; consumer organisations can get away with calling me Thomas but anyone who starts pretending to be my friend or addresses me with Hey and other age-inappropriate greetings will rapidly find I have deserted them.

For the purposes of this example, it does not matter whether you agree with my stance or not. The point is that you may be comfortable with specific cultures, sub cultures, age groups, behaviours, expectations and so on which you can exploit because the other players are less sensitive to such issues.

Geography: can you exploit the area where you live in some way by appearing more local, friendly, approachable, supporting your own economy?

Personality: can you exploit a niche just by appearing to be real people in a small but professional company? Not everyone likes the big monoliths.

So here's a quick list of some differntiators I have thought about but not even pretended to evalauate. I'm not offering answers here but attempting to provoke thought and discussion.

Privacy - value it.

Legalities - talk simply and honestly.

Complexities - work to remove them whether in complex functionality or process steps or compliance ... whatever market you are looking at, how well do the existing players keep it simple?

Focus - do one or two core things extremely well rather than many things less well.

Responsiveness - be responsive to customer needs (anyone ever tried dealing with Amazon or Microsoft recently?)

Friendliness - "remembering" birthdays / anniversaries if appropriate; sending the occasional "thank you" for using us or sharing the occasional motivational email to make you seem human (be very careful here but it can be done - influencers sometimes do this sort of thing).

Feel free to add your own ideas on what makes for a differentiating factor here .....