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16 Comments

Have I built something that already exists?

I wanted to make a place where people and stories behind the products are presented. Basically people like you are.

https://myproductstory.com

Now I see that there are quite a few similar pages, including IH Interviews section.

Do you think there is enough space for me in this field?
Should I try to find makers in other (maybe nontech) fields?

  1. 13

    Imagine you wanted to open a coffee shop. Does it matter if there's already another coffee shop down the road? Probably not. People will still buy coffee from your shop.

    I know what you're thinking. "What I'm doing is nothing like opening a coffee shop!?".

    Just like coffee, content is consumable.
    Just like coffee, people have different tastes.
    Just like coffee, people will still keep consuming it everyday.

    How boring would life be if there was only one coffee shop? I for one welcome a new coffee shop in my neighbourhood. I also signed up to your newsletter.

    Anyway, that's enough from me. It's coffee time ;)

    1. 3

      That is very true. Thank you for pointing that out. :)
      And first subscription. 🎉

      1. 5

        I just read a study that stated a Coke machine by itself will make a few hundred sales.

        If you put a Pepsi machine next to the Coke machine who do you think would make the most sales?

        The study showed that daily sales went up to 10x for both doing about 2k sales.

        When there is competition next to each other the consumer no longer thinks (do I want Coke or no Coke). The consumer now thinks (Do I want Coke or Pepsi).

        Competition is a mental game. Competition can be uncomfortable, but competition is not bad.

    2. 2

      I mostly agree with you, but I`ll offer a counterpoint. There can be many coffee shops because it's a service that heavily relies on location, as a coffee shop owner you'll mostly compete with other local coffee shops. Marketing and growing are also easy because is just a matter of having a good location, good decoration, and service. The consumer can find you just by walking around.

      With an internet business, you'll be competing with everyone. The SERP's on Google of your service will be really hard if there's a lot of competition, chances are almost every marketing channel is completely dominated by your competitors. And, for the consumer, it's often easy to just buy from the biggest brand of the niche, since they'll be easy to find and will probably have lots of social proof.

      You can only compete with 2 scenarios:

      1. There's some kind of discontent with the services of the niche and you can market with that
      2. Compete with lower pricing(very hard if your competitors have already a lower LTV).
      1. 3

        I used to think this way but there's a few reasons why this kind of competition doesn't matter (as much as you think, most of the time).

        1. In a small bootstrapped business you're only trying to get a tiny slice of a very large market.
        2. The customers you're targeting are the ones that don't love the competition. In a large enough market, there will be plenty.
        3. Customers will usually pay more for something that solves their specific problem better than the competition.
        4. Not being constrained by "location" in the geographical sense is a good thing. This makes your market bigger.

        As a real world example of this take a look at Plausible Analytics. They are competing with a very large player (Google) with a very low price point (free). They do a lot less (simple can be better) and their customers love them (willing to pay).

        Caveat #1: The above only works for a specific type of internet business (small player in a large market). If your goal is to make the next VC funded billion dollar unicorn then the above will not apply.

        Caveat #2: When posting things on the internet it's very easy to build a lot of assumptions into the advice. We all do it. For example, you said:

        [Coffee shop] marketing and growing are also easy because is just a matter of having a good location, good decoration, and service.

        Is this actually true? I've never done it before, but my guess is opening a coffee shop is not easy, but it's doable.

  2. 4

    There's nothing wrong with building something that's already there. In fact, its a proven market so you don't need to worry much about product validation.

    Just make sure you pick a particular niche. For eg: IH targets SaaS makers while failory targets tanked startups. Starterstory targets ecommerce businesses. You can target youtubers, journalists, digital agency people, etc. This particular market is huge.

  3. 3

    I believe there's always enough market space for everyone, considering that they must be focusing on narrow down the niche.

    1. 2

      This is certainly true. Some markets are a serious uphill battle, and you can definitely get a piece of the pie in any market.

      The key is to move up the market.

      For example, my Girlfriend LOVES this local salsa at our local farmers market in San Diego.

      Salsa is not new by any stretch of the imagination, it's been around for ages. However, she, the small-time, no-name brand, is still making sales.

      She makes amazing salsa and has great customer service. Something the major salsa brands don't have a human touch. She has a great product, the thing she lacks is business savviness.

      If she wants to move upmarket and turn this into a 6-7 figure business, she needs to focus more energy on distribution. Her strength right now is her niche (locals in Little Italy/San Diego). Then from there, she can get the locals to share her salsa on social media, get the word of mouth going. She can hit it hard with finding the people to help get her in the local grocery markets.

      She can slowly wipe out the bigger mass distributed brands by being this charming salsa brand with a powerful story.

      Even if she doesn't wipe them out, she can provide the consumer with a new option. Since it's a healthier salsa, she should target healthy local markets and eventually Whole Foods.

      1. 1

        Thanks for such a valuable insights!
        Loved the example.

    2. 2

      Thanks, hope I will be able to get my chunk.

  4. 2

    I think one of the commenters mentioned it, this is less of a "product" but the content is the product which means you need something interesting first, even without having anywhere to put it. You could start with an interview and create a Medium publication for instance... as you interact with founders and readers, the product will move into a certain direction by which time maybe a medium publication is no longer suitable, or it is the perfect match. But here comes the interviews before the website I think.

  5. 2

    and one more suggestion, a bit off topic... let your project deserve the domain, don't jump in buying domains first and then building the product. see if you have enough traction to buy a domain first.

    all the best with the project, don't worry about the competition

  6. 2

    While I agree with others in that generally-speaking, competition is a good thing and that you can always find a segment to niche-down on, there is one aspect of your idea that makes this slightly more challenging.

    This type of business is a little bit like a marketplace model. You need both supply and demand. You need a steady stream of interesting new founder stories to make your site a place that people will want to visit regularly or subscribe to etc. If you are unable to find or create that steady stream, this type of business fails.

    The people who have made this model work are the ones who aggressively pursue founder stories - cold calling, following up multiple times, reviewing drafts etc. Make no mistake about it, it is hard work. I also think there is somewhat of a zero sum aspect to it. Once a founder has shared their story on one platform, how likely are they to share it on another?

    You might think founders are out there looking for coverage from anywhere but in my experience this kind of thing gets very time consuming and having shared my story on one or two of these sites I'm not really interested in going through the motions to share it on another - just being honest. So the challenge then becomes to be the platform who reaches out first, and perseveres the hardest, to get the exclusive story.

    Sorry to ramble a bit.

    I guess my point is, the fact that this idea has been done shouldn't be much a deterrent. The fact that it's a brutal slog and relies on delicate, marketplace-style economics to really work, is what would put me off, personally speaking.

  7. 1

    I believe competition is good @klosarman, this means the market is proven. If you are the first you end up having to create the market and sometimes the demand. Yes, you've built something that exists but that shouldn't stop you but rather you should be asking how can you make it stand out?

  8. 1

    Hey Blaz, I would love to help you with the design of myproductstory.com

    Email me at [email protected] if you're interested :)

  9. 5

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 2

      Definitely. Will try to find some niche first, thanks.

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