What do you feel if you see other indiehackers solving the same problems as your idea?
I’ve been silently building a product for about 2 weeks, so not a long time by any stretch. Recently becoming more active in the maker culture, I found out 2 others companies working on very similar products.
As a newbie, I don’t know what I should feel about this.
I feel behind, because my product is nowhere near as finished/mvp ready/launchable as theirs.
I feel sort of validated, because there are people doing the same thing and others paying to use it.
So, what do you think IH? I bet there was a time when you’re in the same boat as I am. What do you feel then, and what you do think about it now? I’d love to learn from you all. Thank you.
TLDR; normal to feel that way but just go for it
I’ve definitely let this discourage me in the past, but my favorite example is Zoom Conferencing. GoToMeeting had a 7 year head start on Zoom and Zoom currently has a $24 Billion market cap.
Zoom competes with Skype, Google Hangouts and plenty of others I’m not thinking of.
Every now and then I see a company thrive in a market I thought was too saturated/mature for a new entrant (Digital Ocean is another example).
I noticed a similar app on IH like my one (https://idbloc.co) after I'd finished my MVP, and then last week Apple basically implemented our core feature / product in their Sign in with Apple feature.
At the end of the day it simply proves there's market demand. We all have a slightly different spin on our products, and if you're going for a B2C product, remember the internet is HUGE. Half the world is online now, so there's still another 3bn people who aren't online, that's a LOT of potential customers. If anything having lots of similar companies in your space will only help generate more interest for you.
This is really good news for you, it means that you're not alone solving this problem, so it seams that the problem really exists :) at least... How behave in such case? Feel relaxed, happy and try to be the best (or at least better) at some angle, comparing with your competition! The worst thing would be just to drop off that idea just because someone is already developing it. Good luck!
I agree with what everyone has said before me about competition being a good thing. 1 extra thing I could add is that perhaps there is a great collab opportunity for you and you're current "competitors", maybe you're taking a unique spin on things and can add a lot of value to their development?
I'm all for working with others to share a common vision. It definitely makes the startup journey much more enjoyable than struggling at it alone!
I feel bad because it's already taken but on the other hand I feel good because it motivates me and is an indicator that I'm finding worthy ideas, so eventually I'll nail it (this has happened to me a couple of times, some of them the companies have become REALLY big).