> No, you don't know what ideas the existing company had (that were simply not implemented yet). Perhaps they had brainstorm sessions too. Of course they did.

> No, you don't know what ideas the existing company had (that were simply not implemented yet). Perhaps they had brainstorm sessions too. Of course they did. All I'm saying is that by giving yourself the opportunity to explore your ideas in a green field, having not seen others' implementations, you give yourself the opportunity to extend your idea into new directions that others may not be exploring yet (maybe they didn't think of it, or maybe they aren't attacking that direction, or maybe they want to but they just haven't gotten there yet). > Also, what prevents them from copying your ideas? Nothing. But also, nothing really prevents anyone from copying any of your ideas, whether or not similar solutions exist. > they are one step ahead of you At their game, yeah. In my experience, if I give it a week, I end up exploring a pretty different game anyway (different niche or audience, different way to solve it, etc.). They'd only be one step ahead of my game if they decided to pivot away from theirs and into my direction.