
Entrepreneurs' New Nightmare: The Invasion Of The Startup Snatchers - dwynings
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/startup-clones_n_1478704.html
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ChuckMcM
Have you heard the question "Is this a feature or a product?"

When you see something that is put together by less than 6 people in a 24hr to
3 months how much there is really there? Less than a single person year's
worth of work. Look at more durable companies, they are more like 100 person
years of work. So you build something with two decimal orders of magnitude
more challenge, it is harder to clone.

I completely agree that copying the Javascript off a site and hosting your own
version on AWS or some other service is really sleezy. Just like painting the
same mural as the guy across the street, making the same dishes as the
restaurant down the street, Etc. But it is the nature of things that if you
can easily copy it, well there will be copies made. Go for the concept that
requires a bit more setup.

As an entrepreneur, expect to be cloned. People will see what you've done,
they will copy it, fight that by being on the 'next' thing as the current one
releases. Following a fast moving company that executes well is really really
really hard.

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moocow01
I'm not going to comment too much on the ethical dilemmas of this behavior but
I think it is a symptom of the changing dynamic of the productization of the
web.

The consumer products on the web (in the larger sense.. apps etc) seem to be
moving more towards bite-size, disposable bits that attract attention by being
somehow notable or sensational. Additionally, it seems like the half life of
successful products are shortening over time as well. In other words, app
development is moving more towards the movie and music industry model and less
towards the types of business models seen in most hard science-based
industries. A lot of this is enabled at least somewhat by tools that make it
quicker and easier to build 'stuff' although I'd still say web application
development is somewhat of a mess (but getting better).

I see the long term trajectory being that eventually putting certain types of
apps together will be very accessible to semi-technical people and will become
relatively low effort. In essence, think Excel for apps that covers 90% of
typical use cases (CRUD, etc.) (Note: this is not an argument that technical
people will become obsolete - we will move onto the next challenge) As this
comes more and more to fruition I think many will see applications as being
ephemeral and relatively disposable, and consequently (as much as it pains me
to say it), the acceptance and occurrence of copying features and design will
continue to go up.

Lastly, while the complaints about copying are valid and I personally find it
pretty despicable, investors and entrepreneurs should know that this is a risk
in competing in this space. Its getting easier to copy. There will continue to
be more and more jackasses that take advantage of it due to better tools. If
you want to mitigate the risk, focus on tough technical challenges.

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kawera
I live and work in two non-english speaking countries.

In both countries, trying to sell non-native language UI and non-local payment
processing is a no-go.

I see downright copying as wrong but are there alternatives other then
building something with similar features/workflows? I am genuinely interested.

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softbuilder
Some guy is selling oranges on the corner one day. He congratulates himself on
his entrepreneurship. A few days pass and suddenly a lady across the street is
selling oranges. The guy cries foul. How seriously would you take this?

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jack-r-abbit
sorry.. but you are comparing apps to oranges (damn I thought that was funny).
The difference is that neither the guy or the lady have
developed/invented/created/whatever the oranges. If the guy is selling some
hybrid or genetically modified version and the lady come in with some of the
stolen tech, then I would take that seriously.

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softbuilder
Sorry, but you're not getting my point. Most of the whining about "stolen
tech" is by people who delude themselves into believing that they have created
unique value when they haven't. It's easy to test: Can people easily copy what
you've done? Do your barriers to entry consist of more than some theoretical
IP that would be murky at best to defend in court? Would the cost of defending
your IP put you out of business?

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jack-r-abbit
Well... many people delude themselves into believing that they are free to
take what they want. But both of us have made broad sweeping statements in
opposite directions. Neither of us is right. And I assume neither of us is a
lawyer either. :)

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softbuilder
:)

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rollypolly
Maybe the solution is to use IP law the same way that brand name companies use
IP law to fight Chinese knockoffs.

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goggles99
"New"? Thanks for wasting 5 minutes of my life...

