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Even the most obscure ideas have plenty of competitors (I know I write table planning software for events). If you come up with something that has no competitor

Even the most obscure ideas have plenty of competitors (I know I write table planning software for events). If you come up with something that has no competitors, either: -you didn't look hard enough -you are a genius who spotted an untapped demand (very unlikely) -no-one wants it (very likely) Also, remember that the main competitor to a lot of software is Excel and post-it notes. That said, the more competitors the harder it is to get noticed. Ideally pick something where you have got a reasonable chance of getting on page 1 or 2 of Google.

Akcium 6y ago
Agree, you should keep balance here. Between something very competitive and something non-competitive at all.
hermitcrab 6y ago
BTW Don't clone a successful product. Have some respect for yourself and for others. It rarely works anyway (struggling to think of a single case where it has).
- k__ 6y ago
  Yes, what are all those people copying Ferdinand Verbiest thinking...
- nadermx 6y ago
  vk.com?
  - Akcium 6y ago
    I guess we should not clone a product, but its okay to clone the idea. I used vk.com a lot in the past and in terms of UI it was much more convenient for me than Facebook. Same ideas, different implementations.
    - hermitcrab 6y ago
      Coming up with a different way to solve the same problem or using ideas from other products is cool. Nothing is truly original. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants, after all. I'm talking about people who just rip-off someone else's design with adding anything original.
- wiremaus 6y ago
  Nearly all the tech giants of today were not the the first in their niches; they just executed better.
  - hermitcrab 6y ago
    So probably not cloning (making a nearly exact copy) of another product.
- nlitened 6y ago
  This reminds me of a funny story. I am using a service called Invoicely for recurring invoices in my small business. One day I randomly googled for some of its features and found a post of a guy who claimed (and I believe him) that Invoicely is a blatant screen-by-screen clone of their own SaaS. I felt really bad for that guy, and after some time I thought that it's a good idea to switch to them. The problem: their website name is so difficult to remember, I never got around to actually opening an account there. Some shifty guys literally copied an existing service up to their Javascript and CSS, and improved it dramatically just by giving it a name I can remember.
  - joegibbs 6y ago
    Hiveage is the one you're talking about, there's a big post about everything they ripped off here: https://medium.com/@prabhaths/invoicely-a-hiveage-rip-off-b92fa411a2bb https://medium.com/@prabhaths/invoicely-a-hiveage-rip-off-b9...
  - hajimemash 6y ago
    Haha the copy-pasting part is terrible, but the name invoicely is vastly superior to a name that sounds like an allergic reaction or bees.
- HeyLaughingBoy 6y ago
  > BTW Don't clone a successful product You mean, like gas stations?
etherio 6y ago
Isn't also possibled that although the idea in itself might be desirable every potential competitor who attempted to build something similar encountered a technological or administrative problem that stopped them in their tracks?
- LeifCarrotson 6y ago
  Sure, that's conceivable, though there are three very limited ways that it can happen: 1. It's always been technically and administratively possible, you're just the first genius to overcome those hurdles. All the combined efforts of thousand developers at a FAANG found it impossible, but against all odds, you succeeded where they failed. Congratulations if that's you, but don't bet the farm on that being the result before you start. 2. Technological developments have only just now made it possible. Maybe your idea requires resource-heavy neural networks on the users' mobile phone, and current high-end models have just become capable of that. If tech has only now made it possible, you also have to be the first of millions of developers to realize that and get to market. Good luck, this is how most of the startup ecosystem has worked for a long time. 3. It's currently illegal, and you're just going to hope no one stops you. This is a big administrative problem, and maybe all the efforts of a big company couldn't change the law and make their idea work when fighting eg. the hotel or taxi lobbies, but if you side-step all that and just do it anyway, well, you might see all your hard work disappear in a courtroom, or you might succeed.
  - tpxl 6y ago
    >All the combined efforts of thousand developers at a FAANG found it impossible, but against all odds, you succeeded where they failed. I'm working on a product where google is my competitor and the thousands of super genius engineers utterly failed to achieve what we did. Just because the big company of the day didn't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done.
count 6y ago
And don't count out competitors that are non-obvious, like 'excel' and 'email'.
- skeeter2020 6y ago
  ...but definitely think about why you are better than excel and email, because they are a solution to almost every data & workflow problem. You need to move them from "good enough" to "painful compared to" your solution.

Akcium 6y ago

Agree, you should keep balance here. Between something very competitive and something non-competitive at all.

hermitcrab 6y ago

BTW Don't clone a successful product. Have some respect for yourself and for others. It rarely works anyway (struggling to think of a single case where it has).

k__ 6y ago
Yes, what are all those people copying Ferdinand Verbiest thinking...
nadermx 6y ago
vk.com?
- Akcium 6y ago
  I guess we should not clone a product, but its okay to clone the idea. I used vk.com a lot in the past and in terms of UI it was much more convenient for me than Facebook. Same ideas, different implementations.
  - hermitcrab 6y ago
    Coming up with a different way to solve the same problem or using ideas from other products is cool. Nothing is truly original. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants, after all. I'm talking about people who just rip-off someone else's design with adding anything original.
wiremaus 6y ago
Nearly all the tech giants of today were not the the first in their niches; they just executed better.
- hermitcrab 6y ago
  So probably not cloning (making a nearly exact copy) of another product.
nlitened 6y ago
This reminds me of a funny story. I am using a service called Invoicely for recurring invoices in my small business. One day I randomly googled for some of its features and found a post of a guy who claimed (and I believe him) that Invoicely is a blatant screen-by-screen clone of their own SaaS. I felt really bad for that guy, and after some time I thought that it's a good idea to switch to them. The problem: their website name is so difficult to remember, I never got around to actually opening an account there. Some shifty guys literally copied an existing service up to their Javascript and CSS, and improved it dramatically just by giving it a name I can remember.
- joegibbs 6y ago
  Hiveage is the one you're talking about, there's a big post about everything they ripped off here: https://medium.com/@prabhaths/invoicely-a-hiveage-rip-off-b92fa411a2bb https://medium.com/@prabhaths/invoicely-a-hiveage-rip-off-b9...
- hajimemash 6y ago
  Haha the copy-pasting part is terrible, but the name invoicely is vastly superior to a name that sounds like an allergic reaction or bees.
HeyLaughingBoy 6y ago
> BTW Don't clone a successful product You mean, like gas stations?

etherio 6y ago

Isn't also possibled that although the idea in itself might be desirable every potential competitor who attempted to build something similar encountered a technological or administrative problem that stopped them in their tracks?

LeifCarrotson 6y ago
Sure, that's conceivable, though there are three very limited ways that it can happen: 1. It's always been technically and administratively possible, you're just the first genius to overcome those hurdles. All the combined efforts of thousand developers at a FAANG found it impossible, but against all odds, you succeeded where they failed. Congratulations if that's you, but don't bet the farm on that being the result before you start. 2. Technological developments have only just now made it possible. Maybe your idea requires resource-heavy neural networks on the users' mobile phone, and current high-end models have just become capable of that. If tech has only now made it possible, you also have to be the first of millions of developers to realize that and get to market. Good luck, this is how most of the startup ecosystem has worked for a long time. 3. It's currently illegal, and you're just going to hope no one stops you. This is a big administrative problem, and maybe all the efforts of a big company couldn't change the law and make their idea work when fighting eg. the hotel or taxi lobbies, but if you side-step all that and just do it anyway, well, you might see all your hard work disappear in a courtroom, or you might succeed.
- tpxl 6y ago
  >All the combined efforts of thousand developers at a FAANG found it impossible, but against all odds, you succeeded where they failed. I'm working on a product where google is my competitor and the thousands of super genius engineers utterly failed to achieve what we did. Just because the big company of the day didn't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done.

count 6y ago

And don't count out competitors that are non-obvious, like 'excel' and 'email'.

skeeter2020 6y ago
...but definitely think about why you are better than excel and email, because they are a solution to almost every data & workflow problem. You need to move them from "good enough" to "painful compared to" your solution.