1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,030 - Regardless of what fantasies you have, 2 00:00:04,030 --> 00:00:07,000 you will almost inevitably have competitors 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,040 for your product. 4 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:11,080 In the same way that, when you look at a competitor, 5 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:14,050 you think to yourself, I'm going to beat that competitor, 6 00:00:14,050 --> 00:00:17,070 I'm going to win, I'm going to crush the competition, 7 00:00:17,070 --> 00:00:20,090 they're thinking the same about you. 8 00:00:20,090 --> 00:00:24,000 The most important thing you can do, especially early, 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,080 when you're a young company and you've got big competitors, 10 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,010 is to be obsessed about your competitor's product, 11 00:00:31,010 --> 00:00:33,000 understand it as well as you can, 12 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,010 understand everything about it, 13 00:00:35,010 --> 00:00:37,000 and then completely ignore them. 14 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,040 Focus all your energy on your business 15 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:43,000 and what you're doing, once you've been obsessed 16 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:44,080 and learned about their product. 17 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,090 The same is true when you start having competitors 18 00:00:46,090 --> 00:00:48,020 come after you. 19 00:00:48,020 --> 00:00:50,040 Make sure you know what their product is. 20 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,000 Make sure you know what they're trying to do 21 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,090 and how they're trying to do it. 22 00:00:53,090 --> 00:00:56,050 Don't make up stories about what you think 23 00:00:56,050 --> 00:00:58,020 they might be trying to do. 24 00:00:58,020 --> 00:01:00,010 Don't create sort of paranoid fantasies 25 00:01:00,010 --> 00:01:03,070 about what might get you into trouble. 26 00:01:03,070 --> 00:01:05,080 Understand what they've got and what they're doing, 27 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,000 and then focus all of your energy on your product, 28 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,000 and your customers. 29 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,070 I see over and over again, 30 00:01:12,070 --> 00:01:16,040 companies that get into this endless cycle 31 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:21,070 of chasing real or fantasy competitors, 32 00:01:21,070 --> 00:01:25,060 and it distracts the entrepreneurs from their business. 33 00:01:25,060 --> 00:01:27,080 You end up in the same way that you can end up with bright, 34 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,070 shiny object syndrome where you're going after 35 00:01:29,070 --> 00:01:31,050 this thing, or that thing, or this thing, or that thing. 36 00:01:31,050 --> 00:01:33,020 Instead of focusing on what you need to do 37 00:01:33,020 --> 00:01:36,060 for your customers, you're worried about some obscure thing 38 00:01:36,060 --> 00:01:39,010 that a competitor is doing over there 39 00:01:39,010 --> 00:01:41,080 that may or may not impact your customers. 40 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,040 If you think it does, what they're building 41 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:46,090 into their product, understand it, 42 00:01:46,090 --> 00:01:49,010 and really do something with it. 43 00:01:49,010 --> 00:01:51,070 But other than that, try not to get distracted 44 00:01:51,070 --> 00:01:53,050 in all the noise. 45 00:01:53,050 --> 00:01:55,010 It's likely, whether they're a big company 46 00:01:55,010 --> 00:01:57,030 or a small company, they've got all kinds of issues, 47 00:01:57,030 --> 00:02:00,040 just like you got all kinds of issues, as a startup. 48 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,040 And the best way that you can make forward progress is to, 49 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,070 again, obsess about their product, understand what it is 50 00:02:06,070 --> 00:02:08,050 and how it compares to your product, 51 00:02:08,050 --> 00:02:11,050 and where you need to create your own barriers of entry, 52 00:02:11,050 --> 00:02:14,030 what you need to be able to do to deflect against it, 53 00:02:14,030 --> 00:02:17,060 but then try not to spend much or any time thinking 54 00:02:17,060 --> 00:02:20,000 about them as a company other than that.