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Ask HN: Is it ethically right to build product that might end up as a rip off

4 points by cod3boy ↗ HN
Two weeks ago we launched a product on Product hunt that went on to #1. There were a lot of new users coming in and asking for new features/feedback, we were trying hard to keep up with the requests (used Notion for a while to track). Then I found Canny (one amazing tool) and a few others. But all of them were a little expensive for us and decided to make one for ourselves to track and manage feature requests from customers. http://featurequests.com/ is the landing page.

Is it ethically right to build a product that I know might end up as a rip-off, especially because these products already influence my design and thinking?

6 comments

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gus_massa
You can reimplement the features of other business/webpage if it's clear that it is a different page. (Just don't sneak in the server room at night to steal the source code. :) )

It's like Coca Cola and Pepsi. Just keep the look and feel / label different to avoid confusions. If you want an example in software, think about MS Office vs Open/Libre Office.

cod3boy
:) Thanks for the feedback. Will keep in mind! I was not planning to build an exact rip-off but rather thinking how existing products that we know would influence our thinking.
bbody
A lot of large companies have ripped off or been accused of ripping off other companies and made millions if not billions e.g. Xero and Apple UI, Microsoft & Apple UI, Facebook & MySpace, MySpace & Friendster, etc. It is common but this doesn't exactly speak to the ethics, which is what you are asking.

I am a similar situation as you also working on a similar product. Here is what I would ask myself:

- Are you intending to copy them?

- Is their product particularly novel?

- What are you doing differently? Price, UX, features I require, integrating into different API's, etc.

I would highly focus in on differentiation, what makes you different from them? Are they too expensive, so you are disrupting their market with a comparable lower cost option. This is how a free market is supposed to work in a capitalist society.

Edit: Formatting

cod3boy
Got it. My idea is to simplify pricing and just offer the core functionality and not too much distraction. Pricing is one reason I decided to build this. Agree about the free market. I was also more concerned about how existing products we know would influence our thinking about the product (even though I could see a few different directions this could go).
bbody
Oh I see. I think your self-awareness about the fact that other products will influence you is probably a good sign. None of us build products in a vacuum, I think most companies (big & small) keep tabs on their competitors to get ideas. Is it immoral for eCommerce websites to also implement things that Amazon does? Unless it is something that has some protection (i.e. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click), I don't think there is really a problem. Your competitors are also looking at your site, doing similar things.

This might make you feel a little bit better, instead of focusing on the other products. Focus on your own, what features do YOU need? Build for that and let your customers guide you product. At your lower price point, you might be attracting customers with different pain points than your other higher priced competitors. This way you are solving your problem but your journey might take you on a completely different path. Use their features as inspiration but not necessarily your own road map.

oliv__
Is it ethically right for there to be competition in any given industry?