Hi there IndieHacker Fam!
TLDR; Microsoft Teams just released a Premium version feature last week (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/intelligent-meeting-recap-in-teams-premium-now-available/ba-p/3832541) that basically provides exactly the same features in my product for an additional $7/user/month. I have lost sleep over this and tried to research more to decide whether I should totally pivot or keep going at it. I finally decided to reach out to the IndieHacker community to get some advice, constructive criticism or just some encouragement.
Background: I am working on an AI Transcription + Summary/Key Topic Identification + Analytics tool for sales and customer success teams in SMBs and startups. AI Transcription and Summary/Key Topic Identification is not new. Companies like Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai have been around for a few years. And of course with GPT-3.5 and 4 now, the key topic identification has become even easier to develop. My value proposition was to aggregate the data across calls and help sales and customer success teams give the most relevant data and urgent customer issues to the product and engineering team as quickly as possible (as a B2B software Product Lead, I know how mission-critical this is to developing software that customers want to pay for. Being quicker to prioritize and launch the right features = 10-30% increase in revenue per month).
Before the news was announced, I have been getting overwhelmingly positive feedback for such an AI tool that transcribes calls and recordings and converts them into actionable insights. I have spoken to dozens of prospects - who were not just keen (you know, the usual kind, friendly albeit patronizing 'OK sign me up!') but said things like: "Wow! I wish I could have bought this 6 months ago!", and got them on my Beta Tester list. In the recent few days, many people who I have pitched our tool to have been telling me about the Teams Premium 'Intelligent Recap' feature.
I won't say I didn't see this coming. But I thought I had enough time to build a niche, captive audience before it did. Here's some of my own analysis below:
Strengths:
Risks:
Opportunities:
I really am lost. I also wonder what other AI transcription SaaS companies are going to do about this (if anyone has any insights or been in similar situations before). All comments/roasts/feedback/encouragement welcomed T_T