How to react when your idea has already been done?
Hey! I recently had an idea for a website that I was very excited about but looked up some things and found out that it already exists. Have you ever dealt with this sort of thing and how did you react?
There are two ways to go about this.
The first being that you abandon the idea and walk away after all its already been done, right?
The second is to take this as a blessing and realize the idea you had has been done and executed. Which means, it can be executed better. Do you have the potential to execute the idea better than your competitors? Did Lyft decide that it was too late because Uber was founded before them? No.
Find what features are unique to them and what features are unique to you. You should be seeing more clearly after studying what they have done.
Can you improve and execute the improvements?
Just adding, you can take it to a sub niche as well as the different implementations.
Also look at how many task managers still get lunched and how many can make a dime.
It might be the bigger question, why are you so focused on that one? is that a long time idea you had for years and decided it's time? or did you just have it? if so just have another ^^.
I surely like many others had ideas that I didn't implement and someone else did during that time, in a way that's a good thing both for validating your thought process and for progress to be made for everyone..
Listening to Reid Hoffman's podcast - Masters of Scale, he said this in an episode and I noted this down as a quote to reflect on, every time I think maybe I shouldn't run with a certain idea after seeing others doing some of what I thought up.
“Just because your idea has been done by others, it doesn't mean it has been done well. A single idea can be implemented in countless ways. There are millions of more bad ways, than good ones. The challenge isn't to find the approach that appeals to the most people, rather you should make something that a small group of people will love. They will then become your evangelists.” – Reid Hoffman
Now, obviously you should do research into market fit and whether your ideas have been done and check whether you think they've been done effectively.
When I came up with the idea I am working on now, it was because I really needed this tool to help me on a general task. I researched existing tools but none looked great (one selling point) or were soloing themselves and didn't actually have the basic functionality I needed (second selling point).
A light bulb went off. This idea will help me, none of the existing options do this, or do it well. I then wrote all ideas down, including how I could monetize the idea to not to make money but to cover running costs.
The result, a unique tool that does the things I need, has a lot of differentiators and could make enough money to stay online for as long as I can maintain it or hand off to someone to maintain.