I’ve been working on this project since April this year and to be sincere, it was supposed to be the first of its kind in Nigeria when it launched. For some reasons and validations, the work on the project did not complete until early this month of December and I set 1st January 2017 to be the launch date.
I worked so hard and remained so excited towards the product launch, however last week I was going through Nairaland, I saw a thread where a guy was introducing exactly a replica of the project I’ve been working on since April this year. To be honest, the guy even added some 2 or 3 cool features lacking in my product, but every other thing remains same. I quickly run a WHOIS on his domain and found out that he registered the domain name in July and info from the site show that it went live in August this same year.
Because this is the first time I’ve co-worked or would be launching a startup, I’m confused on what to do next since the exact project I’ve been working on for 8 months has already been launched by someone else. If mine launches as well, it may sound as if I’m pirating someone’s original intellectual property. What exactly startup founders do when things like this happen?
I’m glad you didn’t say the guy copied or stole your idea (it’s too common a cop out). And I am glad you have the humility to see that he had other cool features and he was first to market. You have a good, learning attitude. So use it positively! Facebook was part of a slew of social media platforms and they certainly wasn’t the first by any stretch, Google was part of a large number of search engines. Go ahead and launch and keep generating new ideas to differentiate your product! Comparable products can also teach you how to do yours better. Keep innovating and don’t be stuck on your initial idea.
Always start with an MVP - it doesn’t mean the smallest version of your product but rather the simplest experiment you can do to get validation on whether you’re solving a real problem.
But you’re in luck! This other guy started with a bloated product, you have the opportunity to go in lean and to also gather data from his own product which you can use to your advantage.
Go in lean by reducing all your features to one key feature you know is very essential to the problem you want to solve.
This way, you can launch faster; learn rapidly, fail quickly, rinse and repeat with velocity.
You’re in the period of experimentation: you need to learn as much as possible to validate your idea, solution, customer, market & business model.
Chat me up if you need more advice - I’m looking to mentor
there is another angle to this that also needs exploring and that is to what extent can you limit copycats with IP protection? Granted in Nigeria no one really takes IP seriously but its there for a reason…
I think there is something in IP ownership that talks about publishing.
I.e. The first step in declaring ownership is to publish. Not a 100% sure of how that works but I think going by that, the first to get to the market may have first claim of ownership in de context of software services.
That should not stop you from launching your own too. As someone already highlighted, look for a way to beat this person by improving yours. It is a very large market bro, enter the competition, it is part of what makes you a good business man.
Simon Sinek addresses this in his TEDx speech “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”
The is WHY, what are you creating what you are creating. If you have a strong reason, a replica, duplicate or competition will not stop you. facebooks did Hi5 better than Hi5. Plus more features is not always an advantage.
Hey, sorry just seeing this @Chrismarcel
Follow me on Twitter @TeleDaveDeko and I will DM you my contact details. Currently mentoring two startups at the moment - only have space for 3 more this year.
That’s how you lauch an MVP.
