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Why the Competition Doesn’t Matter for Early Stage Startups | LinkedIn

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When I first started investing in startups I thought that competition was the most important factor for success. At pitch events, I was the annoying guy in the audience who would always ask a founder “so what about the competition, what is your durable competitive advantage?” Over time, as I have gained experience in the realities of what makes a startup succeed, I have come to realise that not only is competition not the most important factor for startups, it may not matter at all. In my experience, a lack of competition may actually be a sign that a startup is on the wrong path. For a startup there are generally two kinds of competition. First, the existing incumbent companies that own the market. We regularly find ourselves telling founders not to worry about incumbents. After all, they already own the market, so the only way is up for the new entrant. Sometimes our startups worry about an incumbent copying them; we encourage them that their advantage as a startup is that they can m

When I first started investing in startups I thought that competition was the most important factor for success. At pitch events, I was the annoying guy in the audience who would always ask a founder “so what about the competition, what is your durable competitive advantage?” Over time, as I have gained experience in the realities of what makes a startup succeed, I have come to realise that not only is competition not the most important factor for startups, it may not matter at all. In my experience, a lack of competition may actually be a sign that a startup is on the wrong path. For a startu

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