There will always be competitors.
That’s just a testament to your chosen niche, that other people see value in what you already do.
That doesn’t mean you need to get too worked up. It will be a cycle, competitors will come and go. The important thing is you focus on what you do and serving your customers.
There’s something to say for the early birds that are already in the trenches and already built a following for their brand, this is especially relevant for SaaS / software companies.
Like us, we get competitors popping up regularly, but competitors quickly see how hard the industry is and they give or sell their companies in order to get funding and just loses steam from there.
Also, there are no “friends” in most cases. Do not be surprised if the competitor turns out to be a friend or somebody you met because you told a story to them about what you do.
A lot of people will also compare your product to competitors as well, don’t be too swayed by their opinion.
Most of the time, people that say that to you are NOT even your users. They are just using that line to perhaps get a discount or be favorable to get their feature request prioritized.
These people do not understand what happens behind the scenes nor will they want to know.
So the bottom line, focus on your company, focus on what you do and prepare for the future.
Do not stop innovating, it took you a long time already to get to this point, to develop the base, the technology, the processes. Imagine what competitors will need to go through to get to where you are at.
Competitors will come and go but the important thing is that you survive. Just dominate and BEAT them until they give up.
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