

Rats, My Startup Just Got Googled!! - drm237
http://bashford.wordpress.com/2007/08/11/rats-my-startup-just-got-googled/
The consumer in me says: "I love Google!". I really can't think of any company which has given me so much cool stuff without me taking out my wallet!<p>The entrepreneur in me (a sometimes small, sometimes loud voice) looks at Google with a mixture of fear and envy. Why? Well, imagine you have poured your heart and soul into a startup project over months or years, to find out Google has launched a similar service for free just as your project is gaining traction! This is the stuff that makes people jump of bridges or tall buildings.
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thingsilearned
The worst is <http://www.google.com/transit>.

They released a beta that works for a small list of cities. Years later there
is still no released progress and in my opinion its killed a lot of
competitors.

Its a great, though obvious idea. Local bus systems have the worst and least
helpful web sites ever. A simpler global app would be invaluable. Except no
one makes it because who would go out and start a mobile "When will my bus
come to this stop" application with the probability of google transit
launching at any moment? No one, and so a lot of innovation has been held
back.

I get angry about that every time I sit at a bus stop. :)

~~~
brianmckenzie
Oddly enough, Google transit hasn't stopped the government. I use nextmuni.com
nearly every day, and it's a life-saver. How did I ever use public transit
without it? If even the government can compete in this area, a small startup
could wipe the floor with both of them.

~~~
ks
I agree. The "threat" from Google is highly overrated. Gmail didn't kill their
competitors. Nerds use it, but most users still uses Hotmail or Yahoo mail.

The same can be said for "Froogle". This is a search engine from the world's
most popular search engine company, but their competitors are still very much
alive (and provides a better product).

Youtube was far more popular Google's alternative video service, so they
forced Google to buy them

If you have an idea you shouldn't worry about Google. The real threat comes
when Google buys one of your better competitors, then you might begin to
worry.

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ivankirigin
Google _does_ have competitors with deep pockets. The post mentions being
nimble. You don't necessarily have to be more nimble than google -- just the
competitors in the market that would do better to buy you than build their
own.

But M&A frenzy shouldn't gloss over the need for a way to monetize a product.
If you're building a good user base, and have a way to make money, you're in
good shape no matter what Google does...

... maybe.

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abashford
Having some time to think about it.

A) Google will trend towards a short-sighted bureaucracy over time, as most
public companies do.

B) As a result, the opportunities for the small nimble players to succeed will
still be great.

C) Having Google, a big public company with a big bank account, is actually a
great thing for startups; it is a company that understands the market that it
is helping to create, and can used its deep pockets to acquire companies that
create a lot of value.

D) Strong adversaries (Google) lead to better products! Which is great for
users!

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german
My point is: Can you do it better than Google? I think that in many cases the
answer is... Yes! I got a lot of ideas from Katty Sierra's Creating Passionate
Users. (<http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/>) This is a
MUST read for me. Good luck.

~~~
palish
If you can do better than Google, could you market it better? It seems like
the best way to compete with the big guys is to stay out of their way until
you've built a solid base.

~~~
ks
Most of the "marketing" is done by tech people blogging about the new product,
and other tech people read it and thinks that everyone uses it.

I would think that Gmail is the perfect example of this. I read about it all
the time, but that's because I read slashdot, digg, reddit and other sites
that most people don't read.

Even people studying computer science don't know about Gmail and has to be
told that there is an alternative mail service. I bet that most of Facebook's
users don't use Gmail or don't see the point when they have Hotmail.

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Tichy
Not everybody wants to use Google. I am more than willing to look into
competing products and chose them over Google if they are better.

A lot of people will choose the competition simply because the competition to
Google is the underdog, and people often sympathize with the underdog.

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eusman
look at Zenter then

