Startup Diary 01: On Competitor Analysis
Today, I spent time exploring competing products—many with truly impressive design and thoughtful execution.
Early in my entrepreneurial journey, like many founders, I saw competitors as threats. The appearance of a new player in the space would trigger anxiety and self-doubt. Was my idea still unique? Was I already behind?
But experience has taught me the opposite: having competitors is often a blessing. Competitors can help validate Product Market Fit (PMF), and sometimes they even educate the market for you. In some industries, being a later entrant is an advantage—others have already paved the way, reducing your risk. If you see no competitors at all, it’s more likely you’re missing something, or the idea doesn’t truly make sense, rather than you having a “genius” insight no one else has had.
A good idea is rarely unique. If it’s valuable, others will have thought of it too. The real differentiator is always execution: how you build, iterate, and deliver value.
There’s a natural resistance to using competitors’ products. But this process is vital. Deeply understanding your competitors is the first step to deeply understanding your market. What iteration logic underpins their design? What’s their pricing strategy? How do they onboard users, and where do users get stuck?
The most important question for any founder is: What have we seen that they haven’t? The logic for doing something should always be that it’s worth doing. The core logic for why a startup can succeed is actually similar to investing: we spot something undervalued. On that basis, we invest our time and energy to fix that mispricing—to deliver value others have overlooked.
Perspective shapes approach. For example, in productivity tools, I’ve noticed Superhuman is too boutique and niche, Gmail Copilot is too closed, Fryer is easy to onboard but has a low ceiling, and Motion, while popular, has a steep onboarding and learning curve. What I want to build is a product as easy and widely accessible as Cursor or GPT: onboarding should be seamless, interactions clear, and the pricing strategy should emphasize freemium and accessibility.
Competitor analysis isn’t about copying or fearing others—it’s about learning, differentiating, and finding your unique angle. It’s a process of humility and insight, and it’s just the beginning. More reflections and lessons to come in this Startup Diary series.