> you can't sell your product if you don't have any competition What he meant was that competitors indicate there's a market. It's unlikely that he meant that

> you can't sell your product if you don't have any competition What he meant was that competitors indicate there's a market. It's unlikely that he meant that having competitors for competitors sake was useful in itself. An interesting example is Airbnb vs. the existing "legit" homestay sharing companies. The older companies proved there was a market, but Airbnb grew quickly without the older competitors being top of mind. And in fact, Airbnb actually illegally competed with hotels, not sharing homestays.