First of all will agree with whatever has been said so far, that this is a sort of validation that the idea is not totally bonkers. However the validation at th

First of all will agree with whatever has been said so far, that this is a sort of validation that the idea is not totally bonkers. However the validation at the moment is from investors, not customers - which is much more important. Also, you benefit from the second mover advantage in the sense that you get to learn from them and also benefit from the market they create and improve upon it. However, one thing to note.. you said you're working on it "on the side", while the other company just got some funding which not only implies that now they have money but also that they were most likely already doing this fulltime. So, if anything, you need to make a serious decision right now - whether you want to drop it or pick it up fulltime. Most likely keeping on doing it on the side is not going to cut it anymore since the race is now on..