I think that depends why you didn’t know about the existing solution when you started. Is it because the existing solution has a major flaw or gap (mediocre pro

I think that depends why you didn’t know about the existing solution when you started. Is it because the existing solution has a major flaw or gap (mediocre product, no awareness among its market/users, under or over capitalized, solves a related problem but not yours, etc.) or is it simply because you didn’t know anything about the field? If it’s the former, the problem hasn’t been solved. Keep going. If it’s the latter (and as a customer, you’d have used the existing solution if you’d known about it when you started), reconsider.