
Approached by competitor - mattjung
http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.775338
======
jacquesm
"There are tons of competitors, and one of the larger ones just sent me an
email saying they'd like to talk and see if there is a way to work together. I
think what that means is I'm stealing sales and ranked #1 for the keyword they
probably want. A VC firm that invested heavily in them also called a few
months back and wants to talk (I said no thanks)."

Paranoid much ?

Really if every approach is rebuffed like that how will you respond to the one
that would have lead to either some great deal or an exit ?

The success of your business depends in a large degree on your communication
skills, if you behave like a hermit towards the groups that are the most
likely sources of 'big deals' then you have to really consider the value of
what you've just lost. Especially if you describe yourself as the smallest
fish in the pond. They're approaching you, that means you hold the cards,
theirs are on the table. Go there and _listen_.

Nobody ever died communicating with a competitor or one of their VCs, if your
main worry is some silly keyword ranking (as if that's the only way to build a
business) then simply don't give away anything related to that.

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swombat
Jesus, what's the big deal? Just go and talk to them. Don't give away any
sensitive information, of course, but you can learn as much, if not more, in
an informal chat, as they can. People really shouldn't be so afraid of talking
to competitors.

Competitors are just other entrepreneurs who are trying to solve the same
problem as you. You should be on good terms, not paranoid.

~~~
trapper
I'm very trusting, as are lot's of entrepreneurs. I've met quite a few sharks
though.

I remember one young entrepreneur demoing his wares to a group of us, and this
a-hole said "Wow, that's a great idea. We are going to do that! I'm going to
ring X-famous-person who would love this now!". This was a successful,
internationally known entrepreneur with huge resources behind him. Everyone in
the room was just shocked. And he was serious, and didn't even offer the
entrepreneur anything, not even a job.

~~~
swombat
Presumably, this was something that was visible on the demoer's website
anyway, so the thief could have taken it from there anyway, no?

If he went and demoed his private, unreleased product to a bunch of potential
competitors, then I'd say that's taking trust a bit too far.

~~~
trapper
He actually had no website - just really cool technology - augmented reality
better than what I have seen but a few years ago!

The meeting was actually organised by the city to set up a cluster for our
industry, obviously nothing came of it after that debacle!

------
troels
Most businesses are not zero-games. You're missing out, if you think it is.

~~~
nico
Do you mean zero-sum games? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-sum>

Although, the zero-game also exists (I had no idea):
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_game>

~~~
troels
I thought it was the same, but reading the Wikipedia article, it appears that
zero-game is something slightly different.

I did mean zero-sum game.

------
edw519
You can never be too thin, too rich, or too knowledgeable about your market.
An excellent data collection opportunity you don't normally have has fallen
into your lap. Why wouldn't you take advantage of it?

