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Ask HN: How to differentiate my business from a competitor with crazy momentum?

10 points by anonfounder747 ↗ HN
I'm a solo developer with an identical product to a well-funded competitor ABC (has crazy momentum). The competitor is well-loved and widely recognized in the market.

When I describe my startup to anyone they ask "how is this different from ABC?".

Being solo and the startup being my main occupation and ambitions to scale, it is very discouraging to hear time and again that what I've built is similar in most important aspects to ABC.

I have paying users, but operate at probably 1/1000th the scale of ABC.

I would work on narrowing my target audience and building for them, but results are not guaranteed. At this point I would like some certainty that my efforts will pay off, but honestly, I don't think I can expect that.

I'm pretty frustrated with the risk I've taken on so far and the years of effort I've put into it, only to end up a clone.

That said, I think this situation is probably familiar to those new calendar-booking apps, email apps, etc. They've found a way to stand out despite the presence of calendly, gmail, etc. I take inspiration from them and will carry on trying to find differentiation.

My question goes out to anyone familiar with this situation: how do you change your product strategy to be successful despite an 800-lb gorilla in your market?

Regardless of my question, if you have words of motivation or general advice, please share that too. I could use some positive energy from the universe today.

28 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 55.1 ms ] thread
themodelplumber
> "how is this different from ABC?".

What's your answer to this? I'd expect a pretty good range is possible without any changes to product, from "you get support direct from the engineer and CEO?" to "Can ABC do this...?"

Related to the pitching or communications aspect, is it really a clone, or is it a clone-if-you-ignore-the-various-details? Those are way different.

Do you support charities, do you have a cuter mascot, do you regularly integrate direct client feedback, do you send out a mixtape every year?

Hang in there, define your goals, it really sounds to me like you are already done being awesome and are poking at legendary, wondering where the back door is. Could be really great from here, or it could be that this is more like a side gig to support your full set of life interests...

anonfounder747
> What's your answer to this?

My product does important things that ABC doesn't. Just that my product overlaps with the main 80% of the product.

> is it really a clone, or is it a clone-if-you-ignore-the-various-details?

It is the latter -- clone-if-you-ignore-the-various-details. But, people I talked to (people I consider important for my startup) are so enamored with ABC their eyes glaze over when I mention the differences, as though they feel they're insignificant differences.

> do you regularly integrate direct client feedback

I do this but not the charities, mixtape, etc. You could say my logo is actually cuter.

> Hang in there, define your goals, it really sounds to me like you are already done being awesome and are poking at legendary

Your comment made me cry a little and made me believe. Thank you.

I get the idea that you have a lot to say about aspects of business differentiation, useful to someone like me for sure. I hope you get a chance to elaborate either here or in a blog someday.

themodelplumber
Ah it sounds like you've really been putting in the hours. Hope you'll take good care of yourself, set some firm boundaries to protect what you have yet to become.

I'm sure you'll find really good clients as you ask these questions and try new outreach experiments. Maybe people who are even sick of ABC for bureaucratic reasons. You never know. :-)

gostsamo
Well, without knowing what the product is, the advice could be rather limited. You can offer better support or you can offer something that a big company cannot afford like data exportability. VC financed companies need to show exponential growth to justify their valuations while you maybe can afford to invest in your users that is not profitable but that might give you an advantage in the long term.
anonfounder747
> You can offer better support or you can offer something that a big company cannot afford like data exportability.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will look into how I can do these.

> VC financed companies need to show exponential growth to justify their valuations while you maybe can afford to invest in your users that is not profitable but that might give you an advantage in the long term.

I can see their messaging has become more convoluted, while the product is still good. Recent reviews by users also indicate they are not as attentive to users' needs -- perhaps a function of their scale. For these reasons, their rapid scale-up could be a competitive disadvantage in the long term, or they might have such massive mindshare (like they do now) that it will drown out alternatives like mine. The latter vision is the one that keeps me up at night.

gostsamo
Mindshare is overrated. It matters for programing languages where joining the hype helps you land a new job or social media due to network effects. However, if you are selling a tool, the user asks does it solves my problems without creating new ones for a reasonable price? and not how many others are using it? So, focus on your users because they pay your bills.
anonfounder747
Really good to hear those examples. That makes a lot of sense.
gus_massa
As always, read whatever patio11 wrote about that. For example:

"Wufoo + Free Incentivization = Cheap, Effective User Surveys" https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/01/17/wufoo-free-incentivizat... (No HN discussion)

"Your first ten customers: How should you communicate with customers?" https://stripe.com/atlas/guides/starting-sales#how-should-yo... (HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15534034 598 points | Oct 23, 2017 | 133 comments)

Can I add my own advice: In a previous post you said that you are using surveys. How long are them? I have very little patience and I'd answer only 2 or 3 questions, like

* Do you have any comment or feature request?

* Email/phone to ask more about this. (optional)

* [Not enough patience. I ignored the third question and closed the browser!]

Probably people has more patience than me, but try to make it short.

MaknMoreGtnLess
> In a previous post you said that you are using surveys. How long are them? I have very little patience and I'd answer only 2 or 3 questions

I don't like using surveys for initial user research at all, preferring actual 1:1 user interviews instead, which is why I ask you these:

1. What is your biggest business pain point now - something that frustrates you and you're struggling to solve well/with low overhead?

2. If I were to solve this, would you still have very little patience or would you be excited to meet 1:1 with me and explain this pain point?

anonfounder747
> preferring actual 1:1 user interviews instead

That's my gut instinct as well.

Thanks for the ideas on how to approach getting user feedback.

anonfounder747
I took my time to read the patio11 articles you've shared (hence the delay in replying). They were excellent and practical.

> Probably people has more patience than me, but try to make it short.

Thank you for this feedback.

jka
In answer to both parts of your post: you're a clear communicator (you outlined the situation concisely and effectively, and everyone commenting in response so far has found a common understanding of that) and you're approachable and thoughtful. It'll take time but those are valuable compounding traits to have; carry on with them and try to hone them.
anonfounder747
Thank you so much for saying that. I deeply appreciate your kind words.
jdvh
Your competitor may have crazy momentum today, but who knows about the future. Companies with bright futures blow themselves up all the time.

Startups with momentum that don’t self-destruct are likely to get acquired. VCs happy, founders happy. Senior engineers will bail soon afterward and the mood will change. More unhappy people on twitter. Bugs linger and don’t get fixed. The business is now focused primarily on getting larger customers or expanding to different markets.

And that leaves you with plenty of opportunity. It might not look like it now, but their 15 minutes won’t last forever. Be happy for their success and be happy that they’re expanding the size of the market for everybody. Keep plugging away and focus on your customers.

anonfounder747
Thanks for the insights.

> Companies with bright futures blow themselves up all the time.

I'm curious why this happens. Are there any telltale signs when a company is headed for blowup?

sjg007
Easy, don't focus on them. Get yourself happy customers and solve problems your customers have. Be the competitor that offers exceptional customer service and goes the extra mile.

There is a lot of room in these markets.

eatonphil
Yup, the coffee market is so unsaturated Starbucks even ends up opening cafes across the street from other Starbucks. If coffee can handle this level of competition, being a complete commodity, surely tech startups have much room to grow.

Credit to patio11 for this thought https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1159463520917811201

anonfounder747
> surely tech startups have much room to grow

Thanks for that example. Good reminder there's always room to grow.

anonfounder747
Thanks for your message. I have to periodically get my mind out of this competition-obsessed frame and instead work on improving my product offering. The stress of competition is a part of life but I have to learn how to take it in my stride.
leashless
1) Find what their customers are complaining about on their forums, blogs, and social media.

2) Fix those problems. Tell the VCs you're better because you have fixed these problem.

I don't mean bug fixes, I mean conceptual problems, fwiw.

anonfounder747
> 1) Find what their customers are complaining about on their forums, blogs, and social media.

I honestly did not think of this. It seems the obvious thing to do.

> I don't mean bug fixes, I mean conceptual problems, fwiw.

Thanks for this deep point.

MaknMoreGtnLess
> My question goes out to anyone familiar with this situation: how do you change your product strategy to be successful despite an 800-lb gorilla in your market?

Happy to discuss more in details but if that 800-lb gorilla is VC funded, depending on the details, it's extremely likely they will fail and you will enjoy the rush of customers who are left hanging

anonfounder747
Yes, ABC (the competitor) is VC funded. They have funding from top VC firms, with unicorn valuation. Could you elaborate why you think they are extremely likely to fail?
97-109-107
Difficult to say at this level of abstraction, but there's one strategy that we see quite often.

  - Identify shortcomings in ABC, particularly on the intersection with other software, integrations or edge cases for specialized users  
  - Build feature spikes in your project for those cases  
  - Market your product around thise cases - ie. have dedicated pages where you have a hook "Better alternative to ABC for veterinarians"
anonfounder747
Thanks for the strategy.

About having dedicated pages with direct product comparisons, are there any downsides to doing that such as inviting legal or other problems?