Ask HN: Should I clone a SaaS company and compete on price? - SaaS_dreamsr
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mindcrime
Probably not, unless you have some real "secret sauce" that lets you operate
at greatly lower cost than the original. Otherwise you just create a "race to
the bottom" scenario where, at best, you (and your competitor) will wind up
with a profit margin of like 0.000001% or something. Why bother?

If you're going to clone something and engage the "fast follower strategy"[1],
I'd still try to choose some other dimension to compete on. See _The
Discipline of Market Leaders_ [2] for more.

[1]: [https://hbr.org/2012/06/first-mover-or-fast-
follower](https://hbr.org/2012/06/first-mover-or-fast-follower)

[2]: [https://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Market-Leaders-
Customers-D...](https://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Market-Leaders-Customers-
Dominate/dp/0201407191)

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N_trglctc_joe
Without knowing more details about your resources, your skill set, and the
other company, nobody here can possibly provide a helpful answer to that
question. And even if all that information had been provided, you would run
the risk of somebody slightly-better-positioned stealing your idea.

Here's a counter-question: why do you think you would be able to compete with
them on price? If you have a good reason to think you can, then I'd say you
have a chance, but if your reason is "Saas X just feels like it should be
cheaper", do some more research.

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bifrost
If you clone it, are you really doing something you want to be doing?

