When founders ask about positioning vs competitors, I think of Glengarry Glen Ross— 1st prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. 2nd prize is a set of steak knives. 3rd prize is you’re fired. Better to find a niche where you win first prize than to be one of an undifferentiated many.
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On the other hand, few startups are killed by competitors. In this particular case, if you get the steak knives instead of the Eldorado, it's usually because you executed badly, not because you did a great job but someone else did a better one.
So in this case I'd give the opposite advice. Crowded market? That's a good sign, because it means there's no solution yet. So jump in. But don't pick a niche market in order to avoid competition. If you want to avoid competition, what you want is a job, not a startup.
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If you start out in a niche market naturally, like Facebook only working for Harvard at first, or Microsoft only running on the Altair, that's great. But don't choose a niche market except by accident.
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Curious. Why can't you pick the niche?
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Is this advice domain dependent? Like a highly regulated market vs non regulated market
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Yeah this resonates a lot. Have always been in crowded markets making things that miss the mark. Founders with the ability to hit marks others are missing can surf a wave. Then the question becomes what that ability is, precisely. That's the answer I'm working on now...
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LOL where *competitors* were making things that miss the mark...
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Or just work on what gives you a fire in your belly. Doesn’t need to be a billion dollar market. I’ve started ignoring markets and just build for what I’m interested in.
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I’m experiencing what you probably experienced on college tours in my Instagram DMs. Most people are working on probably doomed things due to no differentiation, no reason why it’s better. There seem to be two possible responses:
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1/ don’t work on that, which is more brutal but probably better advice
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Would you say then that it's better to focus on having a unique product in a large market rather than focusing on a niche?
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Didn’t get there first? It’s OK--even first-movers compare themselves to someone else. It’s more important to know why your customers should choose you.
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