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I have an interesting question. Say there is an already established business that has more than proven the idea is viable. What does it take to... join the sa

I have an interesting question. Say there is an already established business that has more than proven the idea is viable. What does it take to... join the same market space? Can you offer the same features at the same price? Can you offer the same features at a lower price? Can you offer less features at a lower price? Are there cases where there is only room for one player and no matter what you do, you will not be able to steal any sizable amount of market share from them?

csytan 8y ago
"What does it take to... join the same market space?" Speaking on the SAAS space. IMO the bar for entry is getting higher every year. It's getting easier and easier to build apps, and the number of developers keeps growing. What does it take to join the same market space? Here's some strategies: 1. Find a niche that is being ignored and really needs your specific product. This is getting harder to do. 2. Raise money. One way to build a good product is to throw good developers at it. 3. Give yourself a longer runway. Think years instead of months. 4. Buy an existing business, and run it yourself. "Are there cases where there is only room for one player and no matter what you do, you will not be able to steal any sizeable amount of market share from them?" Definitely. If you go very niche, you'll find areas where there is a strong competitor dominating small a space. It might not be worth entering the space because the market is so small.
- enraged_camel 8y ago
  >>Speaking on the SAAS space. IMO the bar for entry is getting higher every year. It's getting easier and easier to build apps, and the number of developers keeps growing. The flip side of the coin is that demand for software is increasing, as software is "eating the world". This is why average salaries for software developers have been increasing: growth demand is outpacing growth in supply.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
itsbenlee 8y ago
If you could deliver more value at a lower cost than your competitor (without sacrificing your profits of course), I don’t see why you couldn’t compete. Short answer: let the data do the talking. How big is the market? Have you driven paid/organic traffic to a landing page? Have you tested any funnels? Have you gotten feedback your prospective customers? You can do all these things with a minimal investment.
- bobbles 8y ago
  It doesnt even need to be lower cost, if they understand the business. We compete with a lot of startups (im not at a startup) that build their entire case on 'you are our entire client base, whatever you want, we can build' where our approach has to weigh up all client requests and build towards what we think the best overall solution is going to be. For those clients its beneficial to them to go to someone new that will cater to their exact wants
briandear 8y ago
Find a differentiator. Often simply the UX differences can be enough. Look at the CRM space for example. Salesforce is a collosal mess from a UX standpoint, so companies like Pipedrive can do pretty well by specifically not being Salesforce.
boxcarr 8y ago
Super simple. No matter the industry, you can beat the competition with AI + blockchain written in Rust.
- ineedasername 8y ago
  I still remember when all it took was synergy and outside-the-box thinking.
- aeriklawson 8y ago
  Don't forget deep learning!
- joshmn 8y ago
  VR! It's all about VR!
  - e1ghtSpace 8y ago
    Don't forget AR!
    - fabricexpert 8y ago
      and RR!
      - knicholes 8y ago
        ARR is really the big one.
- quickthrower2 8y ago
  Or if you want to get really big, PHP.
- bhengaij 8y ago
  Which server would you use to host it? Hint: It's a trick question
keerthiko 8y ago
All of those are viable if the audience exists along the spectrum of power users. Another alternative is to just offer features better -- better support, better reliability, fewer bugs, etc. Better support being the most impactful value you can add.
- kijin 8y ago
  If you can offer better support and better reliability, you can even get away with charging a lot more money than your competitors. Position yourself as a purveyor of premium goods, hand-crafted using genuine leather with a personal touch for each customer. Make the competition suddenly look like cheap knockoffs, the kind that serious people should never even consider buying. Convince people to pay for the privilege of buying from you instead. This strategy doesn't work in all markets, but when it does, it does wonders.
- paulie_a 8y ago
  Those are all nice and good value propositions, but at the end of the day you need to sell better. You need to get past the gate keeper and deliver a pitch that makes you seem amazing. Being better is clearly an advantage. but without the pitch, no one will care.
goatherders 8y ago
You can 9ffer the same features at a higher price and succeed. It's a big big world out there.
anyzen 8y ago
Execute better. It depends on the idea what this means, but in general your product should be a better choice for the customer than the competitor's. You probably won't be able to achieve that for all customers, but the more you convince you are better for them, the more market share you will have.

csytan 8y ago

"What does it take to... join the same market space?" Speaking on the SAAS space. IMO the bar for entry is getting higher every year. It's getting easier and easier to build apps, and the number of developers keeps growing. What does it take to join the same market space? Here's some strategies: 1. Find a niche that is being ignored and really needs your specific product. This is getting harder to do. 2. Raise money. One way to build a good product is to throw good developers at it. 3. Give yourself a longer runway. Think years instead of months. 4. Buy an existing business, and run it yourself. "Are there cases where there is only room for one player and no matter what you do, you will not be able to steal any sizeable amount of market share from them?" Definitely. If you go very niche, you'll find areas where there is a strong competitor dominating small a space. It might not be worth entering the space because the market is so small.

enraged_camel 8y ago
>>Speaking on the SAAS space. IMO the bar for entry is getting higher every year. It's getting easier and easier to build apps, and the number of developers keeps growing. The flip side of the coin is that demand for software is increasing, as software is "eating the world". This is why average salaries for software developers have been increasing: growth demand is outpacing growth in supply.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

itsbenlee 8y ago

If you could deliver more value at a lower cost than your competitor (without sacrificing your profits of course), I don’t see why you couldn’t compete. Short answer: let the data do the talking. How big is the market? Have you driven paid/organic traffic to a landing page? Have you tested any funnels? Have you gotten feedback your prospective customers? You can do all these things with a minimal investment.

bobbles 8y ago
It doesnt even need to be lower cost, if they understand the business. We compete with a lot of startups (im not at a startup) that build their entire case on 'you are our entire client base, whatever you want, we can build' where our approach has to weigh up all client requests and build towards what we think the best overall solution is going to be. For those clients its beneficial to them to go to someone new that will cater to their exact wants

briandear 8y ago

Find a differentiator. Often simply the UX differences can be enough. Look at the CRM space for example. Salesforce is a collosal mess from a UX standpoint, so companies like Pipedrive can do pretty well by specifically not being Salesforce.

boxcarr 8y ago

Super simple. No matter the industry, you can beat the competition with AI + blockchain written in Rust.

ineedasername 8y ago
I still remember when all it took was synergy and outside-the-box thinking.
aeriklawson 8y ago
Don't forget deep learning!
joshmn 8y ago
VR! It's all about VR!
- e1ghtSpace 8y ago
  Don't forget AR!
  - fabricexpert 8y ago
    and RR!
    - knicholes 8y ago
      ARR is really the big one.
quickthrower2 8y ago
Or if you want to get really big, PHP.
bhengaij 8y ago
Which server would you use to host it? Hint: It's a trick question

keerthiko 8y ago

All of those are viable if the audience exists along the spectrum of power users. Another alternative is to just offer features better -- better support, better reliability, fewer bugs, etc. Better support being the most impactful value you can add.

kijin 8y ago
If you can offer better support and better reliability, you can even get away with charging a lot more money than your competitors. Position yourself as a purveyor of premium goods, hand-crafted using genuine leather with a personal touch for each customer. Make the competition suddenly look like cheap knockoffs, the kind that serious people should never even consider buying. Convince people to pay for the privilege of buying from you instead. This strategy doesn't work in all markets, but when it does, it does wonders.
paulie_a 8y ago
Those are all nice and good value propositions, but at the end of the day you need to sell better. You need to get past the gate keeper and deliver a pitch that makes you seem amazing. Being better is clearly an advantage. but without the pitch, no one will care.

goatherders 8y ago

You can 9ffer the same features at a higher price and succeed. It's a big big world out there.

anyzen 8y ago

Execute better. It depends on the idea what this means, but in general your product should be a better choice for the customer than the competitor's. You probably won't be able to achieve that for all customers, but the more you convince you are better for them, the more market share you will have.