Approved on IndieHackers

coders.fm was approved on #IndieHackers! Just as promised, the turnaround was less than 24 hours. That's impressive for such an active community. ​My thanks to Channing, Courtland, and the hard-working team here.

While looking at my listing, another business showed up in recent updates with a nearly identical idea as me but for the broader podcast market, WebiCaster.

WebiCaster's tagline is "Connecting podcasters with guests." Mine is ​"Connecting tech podcasts & guests." And WebiCaster isn't in the "what the heck am I building" stage like me. WebiCaster is live and looks impressive. The design is super clean. The graphics are smashing.

Uh oh, right?

But believe me, competition is good.

If there's no competition, you're working against an unproven idea. When someone is doing what you're doing and doing it well, it means there is market potential to tap into.

Competition means you can learn from their successes and challenges. If you see a business crushing it, don't be afraid to learn from it and then do your own take with the knowledge you gather. All successful companies do this, especially innovative ones because they need to focus on the core innovation. Tesla is first and foremost focused on building a great electric car, not designing a better side mirror reflectant coating.

A controversial way to put this, but one I bet you will remember, is Steal with pride.

Finally, competition can evolve into a partnership. Successful businesses rarely capture the entire market. A market segment gravitates to them. As each player finds their niche, opportunities emerge.

I wish WebiCaster great success, a success I can learn from.