My Idea Already Exists, What Do I Do?
I've been working on a simple web app to help people maintain their existing professional networks, but it looks like another IndieHacker has capitalized on this idea already. How do I know whether or not this is still worth pursuing?
Businesses don't compete on ideas, they compete on execution.
This is a perfect answer. I would still build it unless the competitor already executes well to the point you could be his customer.
Businesses don't compete on execution, they compete on sales and marketing! :)))
Execution includes sales, marketing, product...
I would strictly separate such things.
Else, you'd include generating ideas into execution!
Secondly, it's not hard to generate a good idea.
It's not hard to execute.
But it's almost always hard to market and sell.
That's why I'd separate them - I see most of projects just die because their founders face the necessity to sell but in fact, it's the most important ingredient.
I don't know if there's a simple rule but it's very common to build a product even when there are existing competitors. In most cases, if you had product idea that no one has tried, that would be even more of a red flag.
Some ideas to break into a competitive field:
Would you personally use and pay for their app? If you don't love it as a user, think about designing a product that you personally would love.
Try to connect with existing users and chat with them. Are they happy? Do they have any pain points?
Can you do the same idea but target it at a different niche, maybe a specific industry, maybe a different use case?
Or think of it this way. If their app isn't really famous, you probably aren't even competing with them for customers. You're both competing for the 99.9% of potential users that have never heard of either of you.
Absolutely. If nobody had done it there is a redflag for sure.
Be glad it already exists, that means there's a market for it. Now, see if you can do something at least 2x-3x better than your competitors.
Do you know how many email marketing products exist? What about domain name registrar, twitter scheduler, web analytics, scraping api?
It doesn't matter, build it, make it better than your competitors and you win.
The market is big enough for different apps to exist at the same time. Focus on improving yourself and your app and the rest will come.
First off, don't claim "yours", ideas are cheap
Next step, try to do a better job and execute in a unique way, if people switch from competitors to your solution, then you win.
Steal Like An Artist: it's actually a book
Make a niche product. Remember, even the King Solomon said "There is nothing new under the sun".
I think one main thing you can do is find the niche of the market that the current solution doesn't solve for the best, double down on it and make it really good from them.
If it's already pretty niche (you mention some other Indie Hacker so I assume it is) it will be much tougher albeit not impossible, a common saying is that your solution must be 10x better tho not just a little bit.
It might help to give more insight into your idea and what it is you're up against so that people can give better advice from how the question is framed it should not necessarily stop you from pursuing it but obviously we don't know the full story.
Yes, focus more on improving your own app, and maximizing your marketing efforts. People also need some choices.
This comment was deleted 3 years ago