To worry or not to worry about competition?
Early startups often worry a lot about competitors.
The thing is that very few startups die from competition — or as YC likes to say: “most startups don’t die from murder but from suicide.”
The chance of never really getting anywhere due to internal problems in the startup is much more likely to stop you than being outcompeted.
Do you agree?
In my opinion the point is that each company is different because it reflects a vision of its founders. Hence, even if multiple startups work on the same problem, if they focus on the solution itself and not on the other solvers, then, in fact, each of them is completely different - evoking different emotions, enabling to demonstrate a status and express an inner life of different kind of people.
The competition does not matter if you are a visionary.
You shouldn’t ignore competition completely—you should know what the market looks like after all. But, I think the general sentiment is true.
However, this advice does not mean you should just go out and be a copycat and not care about the competition. You should actually be trying to solve problems, establish a niche, and make your product cheaper, better, or faster (pick 2). Anyway…