Ok, I rationally knew that I had no reason to worry or assume malicious intent. I coincidentally I found someone on Reddit pitching the idea of messaging async videos, literally just a few days after I launched https://vidrec.org. They said they were currently building it and were asking for beta customers to sign up.
Some reasons why having an emotional reaction is not the right answer:
But when I saw the idea, scared, worried, and even a little angry haha. Was NOT expecting that reaction.
Anyone else ever experience this? I felt like I knew it was best to ignore the noise and just keep on chugging, but it was in my head for a good couple hours.
When I was working for a start-up we had a few competitors like this in the early days. They didn't intentionally copy us (as far as I could tell) but we had similar products.
What fixed our problem was simply building a better product. The fact that we had similar competitors actually validated our idea even further, and I think that's the only take-away you should have from finding this similar product :)
Great perspective, thanks! I wanted to train myself to have a different reaction the next time I see a potential competitor. Just was struggling to figure out what I should re-train myself to feel. I love your idea- look at it as validation.
this might be useful... just saw it!
+1 to this. validation!
@8bit has a great write-up on this here
thanks for sharing that friend!
it can be super-tough to find someone's idea... and realize that it appears to be EXACTLY the same.
the reality is that it's not. it's born out of the creator... and so it could never be, completely, 1-to-1.
also, it's worth noting that there seems to be a correlation between the amount of insecurity that someone has around their idea and their need to let others know about the event.
in other words... the more
secure
that you are in your own implementation and direction and vision / mission... the less time you spend focusing on other people's work.Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In other words, follow not only what your business partners are doing, but what your competitors are involved in as well.
Think about this sentence! If I were you, I wouldn't get mad and angry. This should make you feel even more that your idea is good! And maybe you should try the guy platform, list the bad points and focus on that to make it better! It's good because you can learn from his mistakes! 🤩
Ps. Don't fight just BE SMARTER 🧠
It's a bit of additional validation that you are working on something that needs to exist in the world!
This is actually very likely good news. If you had no competitors, it's likely a very strong signal that you have no market. If you have a lot of competitors, it's likely a very strong signal that there is a big market.
Also, remember that with new products, your competitors are doing some of your marketing for you. People need to be educated about why they need new products at all, and you and your competitors are on the same team about this. You'll of course want to adapt your marketing to identify why your product stands out from the competition, but it's absolutely not apocalyptic - it's the opposite.
As a revenge, try the app and copy what is good into your app. Move faster
Just wanted to say there are 8 billion people on the planet. You can not expect that you are the only one with a specific idea. Someone somewhere had exact same idea as yours. Some just never worked on it and some did and today or tomorrow you will find them for sure. After 2 years of researching I still find some ideas like mine. You just have to find that one USP within your idea that differentiates you from others.
While it can definitely be a shock to run across an unexpected competitor, especially after you have built and/or launched your project, the fact that someone else created something similar further validates your idea and provides you with a great A/B testing method.
Hey, it’s got to mean something for idea validation if you’re not the only one to push it through development! Ideas always feel unique to us but its almost a guarantee that someone out there sparked the same, I think it’s natural to feel that little bit of deflation when you have the feeling you were onto something unique, I’ve certainly felt it - but as As 8-bit said, it’s very unlikely to be exact, just focus on your model and path forward - it can’t hurt to explore the competitions angles and approach to implementation to strengthen your own too!
Yes, this happened to me all the time! It usually came from people saying "hey have you seen this startup?".
I'd check the website and see that they were similar to my company. To calm myself, I would highlight all the differences between their approach and mine. Was there anything I could learn from them? Anything that I didn't like as a first impression of their website or features?
Take that knowledge and use it to improve your product. A lot of competition means you are in a good industry. Offer an amazing experience that solves the problem effectively and you will succeed no matter how many competitors.
Congrats, you now have validation that apart from yourself there are others who are thinking similarly to a problem ! I also created Dezilo as there were already products like this in US/Canada market, you must have competitors otherwise the problemis not something which is unique and also it gets boring being alone the market , just make sure you are providing enough value which might be different from your competitors to your customers.
One good thing about competitors is that it usually signals the market exists, so continue to iterate and build the better product!
There are over 2 billion people on the internet. There is enough space for many apps solving exactly the same problem in the same way.
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