
Ask HN: Idea already implemented by others. How to differentiate? - varlock
I&#x27;ve got an idea which I&#x27;ve been thinking to develop as a side project... until I discovered (here on HN, by the way) it&#x27;s already been implemented.<p>What would you do to differentiate the product? What steps would you follow? Or would you drop the ball altogether (hopefully not!)?<p>For instance, from what I can see:<p>- though the target audience is the same, it&#x27;s live in a continent different than mine - so maybe I can play that card instead?<p>- the pricing plans are all subscription-based, so I was thinking maybe I can introduce a &quot;Pay as you go&quot; tier, instead?<p>I guess, my bottom-line question is: what dimensions would you (or did you) consider to differentiate your product?
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rs23296008n1
Execution, delivery and all the subtleties therein. Sounds deceptively simple
and it is but the details are what matters. People can have the same idea but
execute and follow through with very different results.

For example: plumbers all basically do the same job. Except they don't. They
vary in how well they do it, how well they turn up on time, so in general
their technical skill and quality of execution has a big impact.

Another example: Movie makers have the same or similar idea as others. Except
the idea is executed differently. Technical skill still matters but the idea
itself needs to be fleshed out differently to avoid "being too similar".
Synthesise not replicate.

In business, you provide value. Figure out to what degree you can simply
replicate (plumber example), to what degree you need to synthesise (movie
maker) and for how far you can innovate towards differentiation (be better
than the other plumber). Sometimes you just replicate with a few twists just
enough to not make it too identical (Better movie maker example).

Get others _in your market_ to provide opinions of the other company's
offerings. Is it price? Is it the breadth/depth of the offering? Can you
leverage something about your environment differently? Some aspect of your
teams skillset? Speed of delivery?

Another way of looking at it: if you were to set up as a franchisee of that
other company how would you do it? What would you need? What costs? Where
would you operate from? Make lots of assumptions and sanity check them. If
franchising is unfamiliar, if you were to set up a business from scratch how
do you plan on proceeding?

~~~
varlock
> People can have the same idea but execute and follow through with very
> different results. Or not execute at all as is my case ;)

But I see what you're saying. Most of these, I suspect will become clear after
people start using the product (e.g. breadth of offer, delivery, differences
in the environment).

Others should probably be clarified from the start (e.g. price,
quality/expectation).

Thanks!

~~~
rs23296008n1
Sometimes _not executing_ is the best plan. Taking the wrong action is best
avoided altogether. But also, just doing it small can help. Don't buy all the
trappings of success unless they matter.

I wrote all that having done wooden furniture as a sideline for a few years.
There are many competitors doing this. Skills are a factor but there are
plenty of people better than me, especially when I started. But I realised I
wasn't actually competing with them. I was only competing against the
inefficient / less experienced version of _me_.

Its kind of like reading other people's experience of running a coffee shop
and they all had nightmare situations but you start small anyway and
subsequently discover it wasn't that hard and you succeed anyway. Your
execution of the idea is different. You bring different angles on everything
so your results are different.

See how you go. Business is one of the strange things in life. It succeeds or
fails in all sorts of ways. People are always wondering how or why but the
full story isn’t usually linear or clear.

------
matijash
I can't give specific advice without knowing more about the idea, so I'll keep
it general.

I think pretty much whatever you do, if you do it long enough, at some point
you are going to discover there is a competition. It is a validation that your
idea makes sense.

In your case you discovered it early, even before you started. But does that
really matter? What would your decision be if you have been working on the
project for 1, 3 or 6 months and then discovered it? I would ask myself that
question in your situation.

If somebody had the same product idea, it is not like they "own" it now and
you are not an original anymore. If your intrinsic motivation for doing it is
strong enough and you want to do it long-term, it shouldn't really matter. Of
course, I am assuming here your competitor is also in the early stage and has
not overtaken 90% of the market.

You don't even have to differentiate in the beginning - why would you? You can
both offer the same service - there are Pepsi and Coke, Intercom and Drift and
they basically offer the same service.

As the time progresses, it is likely both of you will differentiate more and
more, and orient toward a specific niche of the customers.

You even have an advantage coming in the second - you can learn from the
existing solution and make it better.

So alltogether, I would say that the main question is whether this is
something you personally want to do long-term or not, whether you have the
internal motivation for it. If it was just a "quick" idea you had and the main
motivation was to make a quick buck, then probably not. But if this is
something you are interested in and want to keep doing it, then why not.

~~~
varlock
You're right, had I discovered this earlier or in a few months' time, it
wouldn't probably have made much difference.

I admit I've never thought about _not_ being different from the start. Thanks
for the encouragement!

------
r_singh
Hey there varlock! It's a good thing you're asking this question here.

Now the answer to your question[s] will really depend on what it is you're
trying to build (and more importantly, sell).

Take for instance a website like Stackoverflow, it will be quite hard for
anyone to develop and get people to use an alternative for the same because
the entire value the website delivers is derived from its user base.

However, if your idea is something like Mailchimp, it will be a lot easier for
you to build and sell the same because the value delivered by the product
depends mostly on whether it works for prospective users and your ability to
convince them about the same.

> What would you do to differentiate the product? What steps would you follow?

I would pick a niche (subset) from the market the incumbent player is catering
to and build something superior catered only towards them and then grow
horizontal from there.

> Or would you drop the ball altogether (hopefully not!)?

Hello no!

Depends of whether networks effects are an important aspect of the incumbent's
success and the resources that are at my disposal. So if I don't already have
a bunch of money or risk appetite (even in terms of time), I wouldn't really
invest myself in doing a marketplace sort of thing (where network effects
matter i.e. product value is derived from user base).[1]

If network effects don't matter and I can build and sell this thing on my own
or if I at least have access to the sort of people that can help me, I would
go ahead. This might be a good read: [https://invertedpassion.com/copying-
ideas-is-highly-underrat...](https://invertedpassion.com/copying-ideas-is-
highly-underrated/)

> What dimensions would you (or did you) consider to differentiate your
> product?

Pick a niche from your competitor's market. Get into the skin of your user /
customer from this niche. You'll start finding aspects which you can improve
and build upon to make a prospective user possibly switch. Don't dismiss
things like being a small bootstrapped company with an accessible team can be
a differentiator too.

[1] - However, this will differ a lot from person to person because everyone's
risk assessment in life is quite different based on their goals and current
situation.

~~~
varlock
Regarding the example of Stackoverflow vs Mailchimp, it'll be definitely more
on the Mailchimp side.

As for the niche to pick, it's not yet clear to me what I can focus on - it
looks like we're targeting the same people - but maybe it'll be clear after a
while. Maybe, as @matijash was saying, I can start without differentiating and
then do it down the line.

In terms of resources, it shouldn't cost much in terms of money, but it'll
probably be in terms of time, as it'll be hard to fit the day job, family and
this side hustle together.

Also, thanks for the link - definitely an enlightening read!

