3 ms·
Definitely user experience is the new IP. Some startups are getting some advantage over competitors just based on user experience. But do you think user experie
by adityakothadiya 16y ago
Definitely user experience is the new IP. Some startups are getting some advantage over competitors just based on user experience. But do you think user experience is really defensible? How hard it is for competitors to imitate your user experience? (Apple just didn't have user experience. They had multi-touch technology as well, which was defensible.)
I remember reading one post from Union Square Venture blog about defensibility is not about features, or technology layer you use - but now a days its about the network effect (Craigslist, eBay), and accumulation of data asset (Google, Facebook).
So how startups can win over competitors in long run just based on User Experience? Sure, it can give great head start, but I think to sustain that leadership in the long run, you need to also innovate defensible technology or above mentioned network effect or data asset.
- ugh 16y agoDropbox has many competitors but none seem to be able to or even want to copy the very smooth experience of using Dropbox. I tried many competitors and found none that comes close. I don’t know why that is but it seems to me that really copying an experience is not at all easy. (I also think that multi-touch is a neat feature of the iPhone but in no way essential to the experience. Pinching makes for a nice tech demo but on the small screen the ordinary and somewhat clever double-tap works much better. You can theoretically build a great iPhone clone without any multi-touch.)
- Periodic 16y agoThere's a lot of user experience that takes a lot of coding to get right. Sites, apps and devices with good user experience didn't just get it magically, they worked at it. Copying it would also take work. It's similar to startups. Ideas are cheap and easy, but executing them well (profitably) is hard.