I built project for 6 months and just now discovered an existing competitor's project which is better than mine

When I started my project 9 years ago (B2B SaaS), I did fair amount of research, during which I also discovered competitors, but that didn't stop me, since I did really want to build this, I believed in it and so I continued working on it.

It took 2 years (thought it will be 6 months) to launch, during which I have seen how other two competitors (back then very small market - now there are about 30+ competitors), raised insane amounts of money - $100m+, built superior features, etc.. which caused me endless nights thinking about the project, frustrations, anxiety, but also happiness building it and facing challenges.

Looking back at it, I would tell myself, don't worry about them as long as you are enjoying what you are doing, as long as you have validated your idea, as long as you know who to sell to. If in doubt, do more research, to lessen any doubt. Start selling your solution to real customers. The truth is, if it is a good idea, there will be more and more competitors. Talk to your customers, talk to your potential customers/prospects, they might do the research about the other competitor for you (since they might be looking for a solution and comparing already).

We are a self-funded (bootstrapped), profitable company now, with Fortune 500 customers all around the world. What I enjoy now is winning new customers who are using our competitors. In many times, our personality won, who we are, how we approach the business, how we sell. It was worth it. :)

Dude that's great! What's crazy is going after an area where there is no competition. Because what's more likely - that you are the only person in the world who has come up with the idea, or that others have tried and it's tough to make money? Competition is a great validation of the niche!

So?

How many fishes are in the sea?
How many type of animals are in the jungle?
How many brand of cloths or shoes are at the store?

As an indie hacker, it means you're independent, you are doing your own thing, and you're earning money. Who cares if there's someone out there doing it? Startups go for monopoly maybe, indie hacking is not about monopoly or lack of competition, it's about getting a small piece of a large pie. The pie is larger than we often imagine. So don't give up and keep going.

People like different things :). Imagine if we could only eat cheese pizza from Dominos. That would drive me nuts. Just because companies have tons of money and more people doesn't make them successful.

I think your best bet would be to acquire a customer somehow and iterate. Focus on something that the competitor does not have.

You don't have to be better in general. You just have to be better on one metric. That one metric could even be a distribution channel, which gets you enough customers to get started and learn from.

Mantas -- You found a competitor after 6 months. It took 6 months to find them. Think about that. The world is HUGE there is plenty, PLENTY, of room for a you and a competitor.

A scarcity mindset would say - They're better and they already exist how can I compete.

An abundance mindset will say - There is proof the market supports them, the world is huge, I bet I can get a piece of this pie.

I'm starting in a space that has at least 14 competitors. Some look fantastic. But my vision is unique and I think there's a place for me.

Good, they've validated the market for you!

Our product is in a tiiiiny niche with existing well established products and we're still getting customers. We have... a 10th of their features. Do you know what they buy? Our team (of two) and the one core feature we've obsessed over.

Go forth, talk to customers!! Find out what they need.

I'm actually going through something similar. I found competition for the application I am building after I finished the prototype. However, I made a spreadsheet where I list the competitors product and mentioned how my product is different. That helped me not feel so overwhelmed.

What's the project on?
Just because a competitor existis and is "better" doesn't mean there isn't room for you and your project. I'm sure they have been around longer than you. They have had time to make a "better" product. They probably started small too.

Plus, in the end if you decide to not move forward with the project then I'm sure you learned some good stuff. Whether it was coding, marketing, or research. And the practice of making your project is a learning experience too.

I wouldn't be so worried about it, for a couple reasons:

1. He's already validated the idea for you. That means that the idea you're building works! That's actually great news. How big is the market share? Are you telling me this guy has captured 100% of the market? I'd imagine it's a big enough pie to go around.

2. Now you should be asking yourself: "How can I do it better?" You've already done so much of the early work to build the foundation of the product, now the bar has been set a little bit higher. The benefits of competition in action. Get into his product and figure out how you can differentiate. Mimic / improve on his marketing and I think you'll do ok!

It happened to me as well. but just look on the bright side, the market is there! you just need to be a little bit better than the rest.

They have validated your idea. Now go and execute execute execute.

Hello Mantas,
This sucks and is indeed a blow to the moral... BUT: If you, someone having spent months on a topic didn't know about a product, many many of your potential customers might miss it too.
The good news is: Now, you're the challenger. Differentiate yourself, copy best features, improve lesser ones. Soon enough you'll have a product better for another category of people and this will all be just a forgotten test of your will :)
-Jules

You found one competitor? Just one? That’s a great news! It’d be a blessing for most people here who are building things with hundreds or even thousands of competitors, dropshipping, blogging, newsletters, podcasts, etc. you name it. Maybe you should tell me what is it that you are doing so I can do it too haha! All jokes aside, I think it’s great to have competitions since now you know that it works. Don’t give up.

I blame google, I feel like they know what you don't want to know so they don't show you what you need to know :)
Halfway through my project I started seeing ads on social media for almost exactly my project, then I found out that they're not the only one.
After that I started to change my direction, I haven't found success yet but I started getting attraction recently. Maybe its for the best!

What problem are you trying to solve and for whome ?

Firstly, having competition is just one way to validate that your idea is worth pursuing - someone's already done the market research for you.

Secondly, just do a great job and stay focused on your customer, you'll get a long way by doing that. Unless your prospects or customers are actually telling you 'you're worse than your competitor', then this is just a mental block you need to clear up.

Thirdly, no matter what you do, there will always BE competition. Nothing stopping anyone from copying you once you would have launched and doing a better job at it.

Forthly (is that even a word?), there are way too many (success) stories of new competitors coming in and beating their predecessors. What's stopping you from being one of those competitors.

Fifth, just find ONE thing that you can do much better than your competitor then double down on it.

So... just stay focused, execute and go into the ring to win that match. I'm in the same boat - and although I know that Imvidu has a tonne of competition, I'm going in knowing that and finding our own little space in the industry.

I agree with you. After research i stopped my deadly product so it is important to not waste time. i read that post https://www.entrepreneur.com/amphtml/175242
so it save up my time