There will always be another company doing what you do.

Always. No matter how unique you think your idea is. No matter how perfect your timing feels. Someone, somewhere, is building something remarkably similar.

And yet. I watch founders obsess over their competitors. Checking their websites daily. Analyzing their features. Copying their pricing. Panicking every time they raise funding or launch something new.

Wrong focus entirely.

Your competitors aren't your customers. They're not the ones who'll pay your bills or determine your success. They're just noise in the background while you're trying to build something meaningful.

Ask the founders who've actually won their markets. They'll tell you they barely thought about competition. They were too busy thinking about their customers.

How to make the product so good that users never consider alternatives. How to solve problems so completely that switching costs become irrelevant. How to create experiences so delightful that customers become evangelists.

Think about your customers. How to give them the best product possible. How to serve them so well they never think about the other guys.

Competition validates that you're in a real market. But customer obsession is what wins that market.

Here's to those who compete by not competing. Smart enough to know that the best defense against competitors is customers who can't imagine using anything else.

Serve better!

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