I shared everything with my competitor
The more I am into entrepreneurship, the less I care about the idea, and the more I care about the execution. Execution is more important than any idea.
It doesn't mean that I don't have preferences over ideas, but I care less and less about them.
A friendly folk reached out to me with a compliment about the product I am building and asked a few questions about the internals of my product and my journey.
I wasn't hesitant for a second and was happy to share everything I knew. Besides sharing financial data and my marketing strategy in public, I freely shared with the folk details about my architecture and infrastructure issues and how I handle them.
The only thing I don't share now is my future plans and source code. Because I don't have plans and my code is not that good. I hope I will have the courage to share it later after refactoring.
I share everything because I believe that idea doesn't matter. And because open startups built by others inspired and still inspire me. And I want to pay back that way to the community. And let's be honest, it is a good way of marketing.
I am not afraid of copycats. And I want to have strong competitors. Now I know hard to bootstrap any idea and find the first paying customers. And if you need help, I am ready to help you.
Damn, even if you want to build that screenshot API, let me know, and I will tell you how.
I've actively reached out to competitors to establish a relationship and talk shop. It gets lonely building your thing and it's nice to chat with founders doing the exact same thing you are.
I offer advice and try to help out. In my space, most people are still using old-school established tools, so the more successful my competitors are, the more I will be too, because we're all educating the market together.
A rising tide lifts all boats.
What an approach! I haven't thought about it. But it looks even interesting to reach out and meet competitors. We could share our experiences.
Thanks for sharing!
https://sive.rs/multiply
Who could summarize it better than Derek Sivers?
Great move! I'd add that perhaps only first-time founders are scared of competitors.IMO, most competitors should be loved as doing lots of work for you
The first movers create markets (?) and teach users habits of using solutions.
I can share a story:
A couple of months later a few other people started building in the same space, I gave up because I had no traction and I also had no customers - got depressed-ish and wrapped up.
Today I see businesses like bannerbear.com making 500k ARR - and they have had the exact same idea as me - EXCEPT they operated and market it way better than me.
So the story is, the idea doesn't matter, it's all execution, just like @DmytroKrasun said :)
But it is still worth building, I believe. The market is huge and there is no signs that it won't grow.
But I got your point, and as you understand, I am 100% agree with it.
Anthony and I have been organizing events together and working together quite a bit even though we have competitor communities :) I am quite happy with the collaboration and we learn a lot from each other
Are you in different niches? Or it doesn't matter?
You nailed it with "Execution is more important than any idea"
Guess this is all part of startup ageing. Wish you the best in your startup journey
btw - also love your seo first is a long term strategy thinking.
Thanks a lot! It took me time to realize it.
Anthony and I had been organizing activities together and running collectively quite a bit even though we've competitor groups :) I am pretty glad with the collaboration and we analyze lots from each other. cowsquishmallow.com
It looks like a copy of @tiagorbf's reply.
whatt??? The bots are copying me XD
your shop button returns a 404 so there's no way of adding the product to cart
Not relevant, looks like an automated answer.
no sir i am not a robot
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Why do you believe that idea does matter?
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Nowadays, you can use GPS and other navigation systems. So, it doesn’t matter that much.
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Yes, everything I achieved so far, I attribute mostly to luck. And I know it for sure. And that's one of the more reasons why the idea matters less.