
Ask HN: Is it ethically right to build product that might end up as a rip off - cod3boy
Two weeks ago we launched a product on Product hunt that went on to #1. There were a lot of new users coming in and asking for new features&#x2F;feedback, we were trying hard to keep up with the requests (used Notion for a while to track). Then I found Canny (one amazing tool) and a few others. But all of them were a little expensive for us and decided to make one for ourselves to track and manage feature requests from customers. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;featurequests.com&#x2F; is the landing page.<p>Is it ethically right to build a product that I know might end up as a rip-off, especially because these products already influence my design and thinking?
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gus_massa
You can reimplement the features of other business/webpage if it's clear that
it is a different page. (Just don't sneak in the server room at night to steal
the source code. :) )

It's like Coca Cola and Pepsi. Just keep the look and feel / label different
to avoid confusions. If you want an example in software, think about MS Office
vs Open/Libre Office.

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cod3boy
:) Thanks for the feedback. Will keep in mind! I was not planning to build an
exact rip-off but rather thinking how existing products that we know would
influence our thinking.

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oliv__
Is it ethically right for there to be competition in any given industry?

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bbody
A lot of large companies have ripped off or been accused of ripping off other
companies and made millions if not billions e.g. Xero and Apple UI, Microsoft
& Apple UI, Facebook & MySpace, MySpace & Friendster, etc. It is common but
this doesn't exactly speak to the ethics, which is what you are asking.

I am a similar situation as you also working on a similar product. Here is
what I would ask myself:

\- Are you intending to copy them?

\- Is their product particularly novel?

\- What are you doing differently? Price, UX, features I require, integrating
into different API's, etc.

I would highly focus in on differentiation, what makes you different from
them? Are they too expensive, so you are disrupting their market with a
comparable lower cost option. This is how a free market is supposed to work in
a capitalist society.

Edit: Formatting

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cod3boy
Got it. My idea is to simplify pricing and just offer the core functionality
and not too much distraction. Pricing is one reason I decided to build this.
Agree about the free market. I was also more concerned about how existing
products we know would influence our thinking about the product (even though I
could see a few different directions this could go).

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bbody
Oh I see. I think your self-awareness about the fact that other products will
influence you is probably a good sign. None of us build products in a vacuum,
I think most companies (big & small) keep tabs on their competitors to get
ideas. Is it immoral for eCommerce websites to also implement things that
Amazon does? Unless it is something that has some protection (i.e.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click)),
I don't think there is really a problem. Your competitors are also looking at
your site, doing similar things.

This might make you feel a little bit better, instead of focusing on the other
products. Focus on your own, what features do YOU need? Build for that and let
your customers guide you product. At your lower price point, you might be
attracting customers with different pain points than your other higher priced
competitors. This way you are solving your problem but your journey might take
you on a completely different path. Use their features as inspiration but not
necessarily your own road map.

