Ask HN: How do you compete with other startups which have more money available ?

1 points by hashpipe 13 years ago | 3 comments

Most of the discussions over competition center around startup v/s big corporates, and the competitive edge people cite is the ability of startups to move quickly. That's all fine. But what is the competitive advantage in a startup v/s startup battle, considering that one of the startups has a decent money in the bag. How does the other one go about it then ? What advice would you give ?

There is a Quora question about the same concern: http://www.quora.com/Startup-Advice-and-Strategy/How-do-you-compete-with-other-startups-not-large-businesses

duiker101 13 years ago |

I would say that money can buy them maybe time (multiple workers = more hours on a project) and maybe some advertisement. But I think they cannot really buy a product. Not literally, but I mean that because they have more money doesn't mean that their product will be for sure better than one created with less money. If you create a product that people will like more than your competitor you might relay on the word of mouth to spread, which is the most powerful marketing tool. Find their weakness, what their product is missing that their audience wants and possible wanted for a long time, and give it to them.

hashpipe 13 years ago | |

duiker101 yes..that's the general idea. But the mobile app world is so chaotic these days, that it takes a long time to be found. WOM is a good strategy, but focussing on finding the competitors weakness might take away your focus away from the product itself ??

duiker101 13 years ago | | |

You should not try to focus away from the product, if that is what you really want, but each time someone says "I use x but I really wished it had y feature" it can be great opportunity to show yourself off and acquire a new client if your product is good enough. You are right anyway, the App scene is a mess and it's hard to reach and stay on top, but not impossible. A great example can be the reddit applications, there are many but as they add new features people change opinion and change when they see more and more people switch.