How do You Compete with a Startup Doing the Same Thing as You?
time to read: 2 min
That’s a slide I see in most pitch decks.
That’s how most founders think.
Now, appreciate this…
Also known as Cheaper / Better / Faster, you get to pick two.
How do you compete with a startup doing the same thing as you?
You study them.
It's called Marketing. That's what Marketing actually is, too many think it means promotion or advertising. see: Is Advertising Marketing? The Best Marketing Advice to Give a Startup Founder
Marketing is the most important and valuable thing a venture does. That's not *my* opinion, economists for decades have been pointing it out.
Marketing means knowing the market. And since you're asking this question, I'm led to conclude that you aren't prioritizing that above all else. How you compete is among the most paramount questions in a startup and not having figured that out first is a little foolish (no disrespect ;) ). You started a business without having done this first?? That's okay, most do.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result… let's not keep spending time and money to start a business the insane way.
Founders who show me that slide are insane. Founders who really believe that they can be Cheaper AND Better AND Faster, at everything, than anyone else in the world, are insane.
They keep plodding along doing the same thing, expecting it to finally work, when the market(ing) should be telling them what to do; constantly changing and challenging their assumptions as they pivot to find what works.
“Marketing and Innovation are the only two things that create value in business”
- Peter Drucker.
That's your answer
You do either, or preferably both, of those things better.
To do that, you have to study them.
Be less expensive, or better, or faster, in each of the considerations of your business from how the product works, to the customer support you deliver, to how you promote and advertise.
Accomplishing AND maintaining just ONE of those things is your competitive advantage.
Don't make the mistake of presuming it's a race to get your solution to market. That's a BS, Lean Startup alluded misunderstanding. Your Product/Solution, just as does your idea, doesn't mean anything if you can't compete in the market (it's called marketing for a reason)
Originally published at seobrien.com on March 19, 2019.
