"If you pick an ambitious idea, you'll have less competition, because everyone else will have been frightened off by the challenges involved. (This is also true

"If you pick an ambitious idea, you'll have less competition, because everyone else will have been frightened off by the challenges involved. (This is also true of starting a startup generally.)" Given the right set of circumstances of course this is exactly where the opportunity is with many things. Take real estate as another example. If you buy a nice looking, appealing, ready to go condo or home in a well know building or neighborhood, assuming values aren't rising, there is really no way to make a killing. You make a killing by transforming something. By adding value. You take an unappealing piece of real estate and you transform it. Or you buy a piece of land and you build something on it ready to go. It's well known that people buy on an emotional level. And if they can't get attached to something they won't pay as much. (This is why homes are staged for example or cars are shined up at the dealer).