"There's nothing else like this in the market."
"We are building a revolutionary software that..."
"Nobody else is doing what we're doing."

Stop me if you've heard this before.

Or, better yet, stop me if you've said one of these yourself!

New founders (myself included) LOVE to think they don't have competition because there's no one doing exactly what they're doing.

I hate to break it to you, but they (and potentially you) are wrong. Let’s talk about competition and how to consider it if you build your company.

There's Always Competition

Every startup has competition. It might not look the way you think it does.

First, there's the established way of doing things. When we launched Chezie, our competition wasn't necessarily another ERG management software—there wasn't a dominant player in the space. But I quickly realized we were competing with Slack, Teams, spreadsheets, and distribution lists companies already used to run their ERGs.

No matter what you're building, you're always competing against how your customers are currently solving their problems.

Second is the more traditional sense of competition—direct competitors with solutions similar to yours. Take a company like resend.com—they compete against Sendgrid, the dominant player in the email service provider space. From what I can tell, Resend has done very well because they've built a platform that's developer-friendly and more lightweight than Sendgrid, carving out their space in a large market.

Something to note: Every founder has to deal with the first type of competition (existing methods), but not every founder will have the second type (direct competitors). There may be no company that solves the core problem you're addressing—at least not one that your potential customers are already using.

How To Think About Competition

Be Aware of What They’re Doing

We have a competitive analysis that we created when we first started Chezie. We categorized competitors as direct versus indirect, positioned them in a one-line sentence, and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses.

That said, our monitoring is now much more informal. I basically check competitors' websites monthly and follow their social accounts to see what new features they've launched and how they're approaching content (one of our core go-to-market strategies).

You can't spend too much time obsessing over what your competition is doing—if you do, you lose sight of what your company was uniquely built on and what your company does better.

Use Comparisons to Show Why Your Product is Better

I suggest every founder build a comparison page on their website so customers can easily see how your tool stacks up against others in your space. This does a couple of things:

1. It boosts customer confidence because they see you're being transparent about what your solution offers versus what others don't.

2. It weeds out customers who might not be a good fit because they're looking for features you don't have.

When building your comparison page, focus on what your product does well. Then, either group your competition by indirect versus direct, or pick the one or two most prominent players in the market if there's a dominant force you're trying to take customers from.

What If a Big Tech Giant Enters Your Market?

This is one of the most common fears I hear from first-time founders: "What happens if Google/Microsoft/Amazon decides to build exactly what I'm building?"

It’s a valid fear. I remember investors asking us, “What if Workday or another large HR Tech company launches this?” At the time, I didn’t have a good response. If this is something that might happen to you, consider three points:

1. Big companies move slowly

   Product decisions at big companies go through reviews from multiple teams, board meetings, focus groups, etc., before they’re made.

   As a founder, you can have an idea, sketch it out, and make a move on it in two hours. Even if a big company does decide to encroach on your space, they won’t be able to move like you. Use that to your advantage.

2. They validate your market

   If a big company enters your market, they're bringing attention and legitimacy to the problem you're solving. They're essentially telling the world, "Yo, this problem is real and worth solving; we’re going to pour millions of dollars into exploring it.” In a way, the company entering your space is expanding your market.

3. You have focus; they don't

   This is your entire business. For a large tech company, it's one of hundreds of initiatives competing for resources and attention. They’ll never be able to address your core user’s problems as you can.

All of this to say: don't let this hypothetical scenario scare you. There’s always a chance that a big company could enter your market. Still, the time you spend worrying about what Google might do is time you could delight your customers so deeply that even when alternatives emerge, they wouldn't dream of switching.

Don't Make Decisions Based Solely on Competitors' Moves

Shortly after we launched Chezie, we noticed a company called Everyspace that also launched as an ERG management software. They got into Y Combinator and positioned themselves as an all-in-one solution that could work with ERGs, learning and development teams, internal comms teams, and employee onboarding.

That Y Combinator badge was a sign that Everyspace was doing things the right way, and we seriously considered repositioning our product similarly.

Ultimately, we stuck to our guns and focused on employee resource groups because what we were doing to get in front of customers was working. We later learned that we had a larger customer base than Everyspace, even though our product wasn't as comprehensive.

We launched Chezie because we saw an opportunity with ERGs and went all-in with that wedge. Everyspace made the mistake of trying to be everything to everyone and, therefore, didn't have a good way to get customers in the first place.

If we had followed what Everyspace was doing, we would've lost our position and probably not reached profitability in such a tough market.

The Bottom Line

The easiest way to fall behind is by following other people's actions. You're a startup founder because you had an innovative idea and a unique perspective on a problem worth solving. Following others might seem like the safe bet, but you'll never break ahead if you're always chasing.

I think founders resist acknowledging competition because doing so would mean there's a reason for their startup not to exist. Would you start a business if you knew someone was already doing exactly what you wanted to do?

To some extent, all founders need some irrational confidence. If you follow basketball, you're familiar with the JR Smith or Dion Waiters type of player - the guy who always thinks he’s the best player for a shot (even if he’s not).

As a founder, you should be irrationally confident; make sure your confidence doesn't blind you to the competition in every market.