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I worked on an idea for 4 months, found out it already exists

5 points by poiuuiop ↗ HN
...and is probably being done better than I can do it. My question to HN is whether or not it's worth continuing, and what are your similar experiences (and what did you do).

For context, if I were to finish building out my prototype (at least another 4 months of work) it would essentially be one feature of an existing language learning application. Maybe I could do that one feature better and differentiate on that, maybe not.

I'm just really flabbergasted that this happened, and I'm not sure how to proceed. I mean I learned a fair deal of engineering skills from my work thus far, but I'm unsure how to turn this into a business that I can approach investors with.

"Oh, so what you're building already exists as a part of this other application..."

"But I'm gonna make it much better, I swear!"

Like if I were to continue with this project, I'm not sure how I could convince anyone to invest in it. Given the circumstances, would nothing short of a full prototype (mobile app) that I could put in peoples' hands be sufficient to convince them of the potential?

Thanks for any advice, I've never run into this situation before.

19 comments

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ztratar
If you aren't confident you can do it better, then go find something you're more confident in.

Getting a business profitable and scaled is about doing it better. You need to maximize your impact through careful positioning.

Also:

- If it takes you 8 months to build a prototype, you need to either learn to build things faster or find ideas with a smaller MVP spec. - Don't be surprised things already exist or people are working on similar things. It happens all of the time. If it doesn't happen to you, you're lucky -- not vice versa.

narayankpl
"is probably being done better than I can do it" .. probably you answered your own question with this. How are you going to take him on based on one feature if he is better? IMHO, Get going on another idea.
poiuuiop
I meant more in terms of the quickest prototype I can launch; their mature product's version of this feature will be superior to my first creation. I do believe that over time I can compete and surpass them though.
beryllium
See if there's one feature that you can target and polish better than their version. That can be your spearhead selling point.

Edit: Just editing to comment on how full of "derp" this comment is. Reading comprehension fail on the original post - sorry! :/

narayankpl
I might be asking myself these questions... How important would that feature be? Would having the feature make a lot of difference? With this feature would your product be better? Will that feature alone allow you to sell better? How long would it take your competitor to add the feature? Would having this feature help your competitor to sell better?

If competitor will take time and will help him sell better then one option if you develop the feature is you could sell it to him if you can't compete

dave_sid
There must be few original ideas out there, or few that are original for long. Maybe get some feedback on what you've done.
onion2k
Being different is easy: you can always be cheaper. Selling your product as a 'cut-down, cheaper alternative to BrandX' is an age old tactic that really works if your marketing is right. It's not the most glamourous business model ever but it definitely works.

Just because I'm curious, why approach investors after the product is built in 4 months? If you can afford to eat for that long, work twice as hard to get the product done in 2 months, and then spend 2 months doing selling. You won't starve to death and you'll retain full control.

If that isn't an option, you should be setting up investor meetings right now.

beryllium
There are other ways to be different. Be friendlier (or edgier). Be more mobile. Be faster (see: Pinboard versus other bookmarking services). Be exclusive. Be more expensive.

...

The last one is a hard sell, obviously, but said sale is much more valuable.

beryllium
I've worked on something for four years, then went to market it and saw that it had already existed for a decade.

But, of course, I already knew that I was not unique.

The reason I spent so much time on it is because I have a small but active community of users who like it very much. I am not confident I can monetize it (it's a chatboard service), so I may ditch my "chatboard as a service" plans, but I will continue to work on it.

Maybe I should forge ahead with the CaaS plan anyway, just to see if I can get any takers? A handful of paying customers would be better than none, after all.

cygwin98
So what? We have 7Billion people on this globe, every niche you can think of probably already has tons of folks there.

Find your unique selling point and COMPETE with them!

poiuuiop
I definitely resonate with this attitude, but I'm unsure how I can raise money from investors like this. And, IMO, raising funds is what will allow me to quit my day job, create a team, and really compete.
stevenameyer
From my second hand knowledge of investors, I actually believe that competition actually works in your favor when seeking investments. It is a good for establishing that the idea is viable and can really help them understand the product and vision. It's just important to understand what your competitive advantage is and focus on that.

As much as people seem to believe that all investors are looking for the next new idea that no one has ever seen before, its not really the truth. They are often looking for a high probability of a return and nothing has a higher probability of a return then something that is already working with a different take or a couple improvements.

beryllium
There's something else that can do that:

Revenue.

But perhaps this is the wrong forum in which to point that out ;-)

kaiku
If it already exists as you say, would you mind sharing what that feature is?

I ran into this problem time and again with my own language acquisition startup. My cofounder and I did what research we could and gleefully discounted all the big names in language learning as true competitors. But as we talked to more people, ones who knew about some other new startup (or worse, a feature on an existing product), I'd run back to my computer with a sinking feeling in my gut.

In the end, financial reasons prevented us from continuing, but we did produce a product that we ourselves used. We were happy for meeting our personal goals. Furthermore, there might be academic/non-profit applications for your technology that might encourage you to continue work. If you can pivot and regain momentum, try it for a little bit.

In the end, if you're too disheartened to go on, you probably won't and you'll be miserable. So figure out a way to address the competition, alter your own path in response, or move on and feel good about the fact that you did four great, solid months of work, learned a ton, and that your time was well spent.

millzlane
There is ALWAYS room for competition.
huherto
For every good idea you are going to have several competing products. Furthermore, the fact that somebody else is trying the same thing should be validation that your idea is good.

Now, you don't seem too convinced that you can compete. That is a more important problem. Is the market small enough for only one company? Will you be able to differentiate your product/service? You might be able to convince the investors that you are able to execute better. But you have too have very concrete ideas on how to do it. Good investors will invest on you, not in your idea.

ilikecoke
I had an idea that I started working on. I found out there was a similar website doing the same thing and I liked their implementation. At the time I thought it was smart and thought "why didn't I think to do it like that?". After being disheartened, I scrapped the idea and went on to think about other things/problems.

I haven't come across that site or that idea in other sites since which leads me to believe that it didn't take off. I can't remember the name of the site either. This either tells me that the idea was flawed or their execution was poor.

Since I (still) like the idea, I logically think that their execution must have been poor. I'll probably start working on my version again soon. Unfortunately that was a lot of time wasted. If I had continued back then instead of stopping, I could have a successful product by now (or not, of course!)

I'm not sure if this comment will help you decide to continue or not but in my opinion is that you should. If it doesn't work out you will have learnt a lot anyway.

Good luck!

monkeyspaw
"Oh, so what you're building already exists as a part of this other application"

Perhaps it doesn't focus on that component, then? Can you resegment the competitor's market, at a lower price, so that your product does just the one thing but does it better?

I like the strategy of finding one thing that your competitor does and focusing on that but doing it really well. Makes it easier to explain the value prop, too.

So many times, large offerings are very expensive, have 15 components, but the primarily value for a segment of the target market is just the small piece.

Provide value, price accordingly, and you can succeed.