How can it be the exact same product when developed independently? Your product will fork away as you and your customers decide what is important just as they w

How can it be the exact same product when developed independently? Your product will fork away as you and your customers decide what is important just as they will. Answers to your questions: 1) Yes. It happens to everyone. And you want it to happen because being first is very expensive. You have to educate the market place and that takes time and money. Plus if you were the first and started to succeed, do you think that other startups (or larger companies that smell an opportunity) wouldn't pour into that marketplace? That's the market-based system hard at work. 2) Joel Spolsky and a million others have said to ignore your competitors and concentrate on the customers. Nothing your competitors ever do will be as significant as just listening to the people who will ultimately use your product. So carry on. Mate, eventually you will have to deal with competitors so you might as well train your mind and your company to deal with this as early as possible. 3) That's ridiculous. If you are passionate about the idea then fight harder now. 4) Yes, you could create an economy where the first company with a particular idea gets a 17 year monopoly. Seriously, you fight because, eventually, if the idea is good and the market is large enough, the competitors will be flocking in. Learn to handle this now. You buckle down and work twice as hard. You need to realise that nothing, and I mean nothing, gets done until you have customers. You think you've been working hard now but you haven't. Customers are the only difference between a startup and a successful business. Overall, I think this will be a good thing for you. It's (bluntly) lit a fire under your ass and will make you re-assess your plans to create a more customer-centric plan. Good luck.