Unique ideas vs existing ideas: competition helps you succeed
Back when I started Indie Hacking, I used to look for unique (app) ideas that didn’t exist yet. Every now and then I would get this crazy app idea that I thought would be a guaranteed success. I would get overly excited, buy a domain name and start hacking away. But every single time, my excitement disappeared like snow in the sun, the moment I found out that even a single competitor was doing something similar.
I now think this was a mistake. A mistake I made way too many times. Obviously there are advantages to being the first in your field, but it’s not as great as it’s made out to be.
What about you? Would you rather work on a unique idea or an existing idea?
The story in under 60 seconds
Unique ideas are great
The upside of being the first to launch an idea is that you’ll become an authority in your field more easily. With the endless scalability that comes with modern technology, you can grow your company to millions in revenue before there’s even any competition.
So why is it a mistake to look for a unique idea to work on as an Indie Hacker?
- You’re unlikely to find a truly unique idea. There’s nothing new under the sun, and there’s almost always someone that thought of the exact same thing as you did
- If you manage to find a unique idea, it’s unlikely there’s a big market for it yet. You’ll have to educate your audience on why your idea should matter to them
- Though it’s possible to go viral, it’s difficult to keep the public’s attention and to benefit from it long term. When was the last time you were active on Clubhouse?
- Maintaining your first mover advantage is near-impossible in a fast moving tech market
- Validating a unique idea takes a long time, and Indie Hackers don’t generally have a massive runway to work with
Existing ideas with competitors are easier to build
because the idea is already validated by your competition. You can basically skip a few steps that normally take a lot of time, money and effort. Existing products with proven markets open up a whole new world of opportunities for Indie Hackers:
- Geographical opportunities
- Bundling or unbundling
- Moving upmarket or downmarket
- Improving on existing products' features or pricing
- Which opportunities did I miss? Let me know!
When working on an existing product idea you might work towards a smaller piece of the pie, but at least you know there is a pie to be had!
Originally published on Ruudniew.com
This was me early on in my life. These are all valid points. Great contribution.
Thanks Kareem!
These are great points. Being a solo founder is already hard and trying to find something unique makes things harder. When you find it, you have to be so good at communicating it. I had some experience and it's soul-crushing. They weren't unicorn ideas but having something slightly unusual to sell is worse than tapping into an established, crowded space.
Thanks Anıl! I agree, it can be fantastic if you manage to educate your audience, but it takes a lot of time, effort and some luck to make it work. For Indie Hackers it probably makes more sense to do smaller projects in an already established space, like you said
Thank you very much for this evaluation! You have really good points. However, you should keep in mind that the most important point is always timing! If you launch your product at a bad time, it will always fail. After that, you have to make sure that your product has the right market fit. Find out what your potential customers want and what they value the most. The idea itself plays only a minor role.
Hi Jaqueline, timing is super important, I agree! And you need some luck to get the timing right. I posted about this topic (idea vs execution) two weeks ago: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/idea-or-execution-what-is-more-important-af9bdd3322
Solid read.
I think at the end of the day it doesn't matter.
Although it's important to break down the pros and cons as you have, at the end of the day if you can provide value for someone, how you got there isn't all that important (to the user).
For instance I'm building a simple + customizable timer app which is far from reinventing the wheel but the interest in it has surprised me.
This pre existing idea with a customizable spin will likely only grab a smaller piece of the pie like you mention but that's good enough to learn something new.
Yes I absolutely agree with your point. For example I started working on a project after a chef friend of mine got screwed over at a place he worked. It’s a project that combines social media, food, and market place in one place, and I’ve gotten some good responses from chefs especially. Singularly they’re not unique ideas, but the combination of all makes it feel unique.
Love to hear that.
It's all about combination, proper timing and the right people (audience)
Thanks Dan, the idea might not be completely unique, but as long as it provides value to the users and they know how to find you, you'll have a business :-)
Haha I can so relate. Finding that one other implementation of my ideas used to be so demotivating.
Definite have tried to change and think about it in similar terms as you have. I think you are making some really great points here! Thanks for sharing this.
Haha glad to hear it's relatable! Maybe it's a phase that a lot of Indie Hackers go through?
Great points.
I'd like to add that as an Indie hacker you treat your customers almost as friends. This thing should never be underrated—actually should be part of the pitch in bold.
Customers for established companies have to go through help center, email, customer support, product expert—then get an answer. Compare it with just messaging you.
Hey Oleg, thanks for your addition! I thought of personal relationships with customers as something that happens automatically. Or even as a necessity to get customers in the first place. But you're right, it can be a great benefit to customers as well! Maybe I should try to advertise / pitch this more in my next IH project :-)