I have a ton of competitors and I love it

Hey IH,

Context:

For a long time, I hated seeing someone execute the idea I had.

I tried to build a VC-backed startup with a vision of creating a new category. Failed and lost my investor's money.

So after my failure, I decide to join a Calendly competitor and learned so much that having competition actually is a good thing and it helps you so much.

---

1. You know the market is there and the problem is there. AND that people are willing to pay for a solution. This already saves you from wasting time on tools that no one needs.

2. You can "copy" things that work. If all your competitors have a $20 starter plan. Guess what, you also can start with a $20 starter plan for your tool.

3. You only have to worry about how to market your solution and how to overcome objections "how are you better"

Example

And to illustrate my points - this is what I'm doing with CategorySurfers.com.

It's a free newsletter about trends in B2B and growing software industries.

I found 2 solid competitors and both of them charge between $20-$50/mo for 2-5 reports and both of them have a $500/mo plan with about 20 reports.

This essentially tells me that I don't need to validate if people will pay for such research.

I KNOW THEY WILL, the only question I need to answer is which acquisition channels will work for me to get such customers. And if my product is good enough for people to stick.

So pick an existing problem and just be a bit different. Like 10% different.