

Is your startup idea already taken?  - kjbinu
http://whittleidea.com/blog/is-your-start-up-idea-already-taken

======
staunch
The difference between something merely _existing_ and something _remarkable_
existing. If you find that someone has already done your idea, and they've
executed well, consider abandoning your idea. If they haven't solved the
problem well enough then it doesn't matter that they _exist_.

One of the greatest sources of motivation in solving a problem is the
anticipation to use the solution. If a good solution already exists then
you're not going to have that.

Think of the Zune team. Those guys were trying to solve a problem that the
iPod had already solved so well. Where's the excitement? They had to make up
artificial problems for the Zune to solve (WiFi song sharing) just to get
excited about it. The problem is that the market doesn't care about artificial
problems.

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sheff
I like the point the author makes that "If prospective users are still
available, the idea is still available."

Take online time tracking applications for example. I was looking through
Mixergy earlier and there was an interview with an entrepreneur who runs a
time tracking app ( <http://mixergy.com/tom-rossi-molehill-interview/> ) which
reminded me of an interview I'd read a while ago with another entrepreneur who
also runs a time tracking app ( Clockspot ,
[http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/12/11/engineering-...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/12/11/engineering-
a-muse-volume-2-case-studies-of-successful-cash-flow-businesses/) )

And of course HN user, Amy Hoy, also blogs about her profitable time tracking
SAAS app Freckle ( letsfreckle.com ).

I bet they weren't the first to come up with the idea of online time tracking
applications, and more people will come up with similar businesses in the
future but as long as they have some differentiation and find users (or
rather, customers) its irrelevant how shiny and new the "idea" is.

~~~
hello_moto
Collaboration, Project Management, Dashboard, Time Tracking, Invoicing,
Accounting, CRM, ERP (simple ones), Inventory Management Systems, Contact
List, Todo List, Customer Support/Ticketing Management Systems, Knowledge
Based, Forum.

Re-do everything above and add the word "social" next to them (e.g.: Social
CRM)

It can be done.

~~~
ahoyhere
Unnecessary. Our apps aren't "social." :)

~~~
hello_moto
That is not my intention.

What I'm trying to say is that there are traditional tools, the baseline, the
fundamentals, such as the list I mentioned above.

Then there's another genre which add the 'social aspect' to the traditional
tools.

Did I mention freckle to be a social time tracking? Nope :)

~~~
ahoyhere
No, but your comment implied that "it" is hard to do but if you slap on some
social, "it can be done." You don't need to do anything so serious as "add
social" to do "it."

------
DannyPage
I just had this very epiphany today. After being rejected by two potential
investors because of that reason ("Have you heard of X?"). It's frustrating to
say "Yes, I have, and here is why we are different", but still get written
off. The investor seems to stop listening after the "Yes", which stinks
especially since the main problem I see with Company X is that no one is using
it! (They are very loud and in the press, so it gives them an appearance of
dominance). So, I will definitely try using that answer next time, if only to
force the investor to realize that while the idea is out there, it hasn't won
yet.

~~~
scott_s
Perhaps you should start off your pitch with "Why no one actually uses _X_."

We have a similar problem in research, where we have to always demonstrate
that what we do is novel. A technique that I have taken a liking to is to talk
about all of the related work as soon as possible, so we can distinguish
ourselves immediately. The difficulty with only distinguishing yourself at the
end is that your audience has been bearing a "someone has already done this"
grudge the whole time. It's difficult for them to let that go, no matter how
good your answer is.

edit: I just looked at the page for your startup, and it wasn't immediately
obvious to me that your site is a place to find classes out in the real world.

~~~
untog
_Perhaps you should start off your pitch with "Why no one actually uses X."_

Yes and no. I'd maybe try to rephrase that to something along the lines of
"I've looked through their site and I haven't seen any evidence of them
attracting users". Dismissing a rival with "meh, no-one uses it!" makes it
sound like you haven't really considered the competition.

~~~
DannyPage
True, what I wrote initially would seem arrogant in a vacuum. In a fuller
discussion, I would cite their main actionable metrics that I've kept track of
and show that there is no organic growth occurring. Then I would show what we
are doing to make that actionable metric grow.

BTW, I don't waste too much time concerning their success (just a once a month
check) especially since my company's success is most important. No one asks
"Isn't your company just like X" when you are winning :)

~~~
wtvanhest
I went to your site Knackeo. I have a tough time seeing what you are doing by
going to the site and clicking all workable buttons. I'm sure investors did
that too before meeting with you.

A really simple graphical explanation about who pays what might work? I really
don't know, but what does peak my interest is that it seems like it will be a
variety of crazy stuff rather than another lesson in math.

I liked the comment that you should start your pitch with what others are
doing and how you will address a different market or beat them in their own
market.

This stuff is obviously really tricky, but I feel like you have something you
just are not showing.

------
chris123
Amazing how many people believe the fallacy (that VCs and others perpetuate)
that you have to, or even should be, "first." Second movers (and later) rule.
Apple, Google, Facebook, Dropbox, many more. Heck, all Facobook and Google do
is copy other ideas or via buy companies and copy them that way.

~~~
leeskye
My startup is tackling what my former employer attempted to do, but I'm going
to do it much better and sell a far superior product. I interfaced with
customers and users at my last company. They failed to address the pain points
that were brought up. Additionally they failed to pay attention to how the
needs of users were evolving. I took it upon myself to address these customers
and build something better.

~~~
kappaknight
Make sure you don't infringe on any IP's or violate any non-competes. =)

------
ISeemToBeAVerb
A good nugget of wisdom. I would also add that investors are, by no means, the
only people who suffer from this false idea of scarcity.

It's very difficult to encourage first-time entrepreneurs who fall into the
belief that their idea is the most valuable asset to their success. You hear
it all the time, "I had this great idea, but then I got online and saw that it
was taken." This is no way to think when it comes to business.

In my mind it is absolutely critical to understand that markets are always
changing and consumer taste is always changing. To be sure, there ARE some
formidable challenges in more established and saturated markets, but nothing
is guaranteed. There is always room for innovation and elegant solutions.

You can rest assured that if there is no competition, there will be. You can
also rest assured that if competition exists, someone is making money. Why not
you too?

------
uptown
Before Google there was AltaVista. Carry on.

------
mmahemoff
StackOverflow vs the legacy of Expertsexchange is a great example of this.

Those guys understood the user well and built a great user experience around
what had previously been lacklustre at best.

~~~
esrauch
Even though I should know better by now, I still read it as "Expert sex
change"

------
pud
Every entrepreneur has heard "that already exists" a million times. Next time
someone says that to me I'll try the smart-ass-ish retort described in this
post.

------
RuggeroAltair
Good article.

But I think that there is also another point to make. It's true that there is
often space to be the one idea that delivers in a way that is easy enough to
use for the general user to the point of having the chance to be the winning
product. But I believe that that kind of answers from investors shows in
general a pretty clouded judgement.

I think that when they respond like that, it means that they don't actually
like the idea in the first place.

Otherwise, exactly "because" there is some other similar product around, that
in general means that there is some level of market validation. And if it's
possible to show that those companies are profitable, then it's likely, if
they trust your team, that also your company will be profitable.

This should be enough, you don't necessarily need to convince them that you
will kill them all, you just need to convince them that you will make money.

Then, after you convinced them, you can keep going with your goal of being the
unique winner of that market.

------
Pound6F
Great points BUT I think saying "checking if the prospective users are already
taken" is missing a large part of it. Before Google, I used Altavista. Before
Facebook, I used MySpace.

I thought those first services were great but then someone else came and
executed so much better that I switch. Accept that fact that you will (almost)
never have a truly unique idea and just focus on executing astronomically
better than anyone else ever has.

------
kschua
"Drew Houston turned to an investor who dismissed the idea & asked 'Do you use
any file sharing service?. The answer was 'No'"

This is GOLD. Drew probably found the competitive edge by figuring out why the
investor didn't use those other file sharing service and fixed that investor's
pain

~~~
Ecio78
It's a nice reply but IMHO it works only if your investors are (a subset of)
your typical customer base. Do you think you can use the same approach if
you're pitching a new service for, let's say wedding spouses, or even pregnant
women, and you're in front of 5 alpha males?

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akoumjian
Even if someone has already executed the idea well, the question is whether or
not the market is big enough for you to share it. You can always find a niche
or a value add that separates you from established competitors.

------
saiju
There are so many ideas that I always knew deep within but then somebody has
to spell it out for me to believe. This article is another such reinforcement.

------
Priyaj
The author just nailed it. I really liked his 24 popular startup that misleads
entrepreneurs" - he makes awesome points.

