How founders can reduce competition stress

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HOW TO HANDLE COMPETITION STRESS Every founder in a good market will at some point stress about competition. Usually competition comes up when investors, customers, or team members share competitor news. Here's how you can reduce competition stress 👇

COMPETING IS A LIMITED ROI ACTIVITY Competition-focused activities have a limited ROI. You want to spend time on high ROI ceiling activities like team building, positioning, market network, and customer work.

TRANSMUTE COMPETITION TO COMPETENCE Shifting my mindset from "shit competitors are annoying" to "to beat them, I need to be the most competent version of myself" was really helpful. Competition is evolutionary pressure. Without pressure, we don't get better.

COMPETITION IS SIGNAL People fear competition, but it’s generally a good signal. If there were no one else in my market, I’d think “oh shit maybe it’s a bad industry to be in.” Every good market has multiple players.

WIN CONDITIONS (1/2) Moats or "win conditions" for your market are more important than anything else. Most of your competitors likely have not identified the win condition for your market. Figure out what it is and do nothing else but that.

WIN CONDITIONS (2/2) Examples of win conditions: - Facebook: win all campuses - PayPal: reach escape velocity - Opensea: win PFPs - Uber: fill supply in key cities before regulation kicks in - Carta: win lawyers in SF & NYC - Mercury: win the YC batch

ERROR CORRECTION COMPOUNDS People likely aren’t 10x smarter than you and your team. They go through the same challenges/questions/problems. What you need to do is just make sure you learn/error-correct 1% faster MoM than others for long enough and you'll win.

FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS Aside from huge network effects businesses like FB, Uber, or Google, you’ll likely do just fine if you deliver something your customers love (which helps you error correct faster). Cx-focused companies win: Stripe, Figma, Apple, Notion, etc.

POSITIONING & DIFFERENTIATION Sometimes a customer will ask about competitors. Don't try to be better; just be different on something that matters to the buyer.

HAVE FUN Don't forget to work on things you enjoy. You'll learn that much faster, and your mind will shift from a fear mindset to a more creative one.

For CEOs: managing competition is as much about managing your psychology as it is strategy. Be aware of competitors without getting distracted. Use competition to make you a more competent founder. Work on things that bring you joy.