How to overcome "it has already been done" problem when starting a project/business?

Question

So, you come up with an idea that seems to be a good solution for an existing problem, or a different approach for solving a problem which makes the existing solutions obsolete or not needed anymore.

Then you devote yourself to googling for relevant documentation, making plans about setting up the project, finding fundings and people to work with and other stuff for days and nights.

Finally when you are about to start -while lazyly surfing on the net- you find out that the idea you built your multi-billion-dollar-dreams on, has already been implemented in zillions of ways on the very same topic. you just missed the relevant links/documentations by not using the correct keywords in searches.

what would you do in this situation? give up everything you've planned? start your business/project anyway? if you chose not giving up, what would be your motive to continue?

Answer 1

Analyze differences between your solution and the one already on the net. See if you're safe from copyright infringement and possible lawsuits from your competitors.

If you think you can beat the competition, go for it. If not, back to the drawing table.

Edit: Only start a business if you truly believe in it.

Answer 2

To be honest, I don't think I would have gotten myself into that situation to begin with. If the idea has truly been implemented "in zillions of ways on the very same topic," and so easily found that it turns up when lazily surfing, then it shouldn't have been that difficult to find before making plans and finding funding.

So, I'd say chalk it up to lack of planning, and move on. There's little to be gained by introducing the zillionth+1 entry in an already crowded race. Make sure to learn your lesson though, and do your research properly next time.

[Edit] Incidentally, I know my answer sounds harsh, and I apologize for that. It's just my way of thinking - I prefer to acknowledge my mistakes, learn from them, and move on.

Answer 3

Can you provide a feature or a "twist" the others can't? Is there some way you can spin it in your favor? Do you have millions of dollars for your multi-billion-dollar-dream? Seriously, it depends on your dedication and perseverance at that point. Find out who the market leader(s) are and ask yourself if you can compete with that. How much of the market-share do you think you can grab? Being as there are "zillions" of competitors, don't quit your day job immediately. But if you're persistent, dedicated and can spend all of your personal time on it, then go for it.

Or you could just give up and find another "brass ring." :)

Answer 4

That's a tough call, I guess that would depend on what problem it is that you're trying to solve and how easily you think you'll be able to claw some market share away from your competitors. Are you doing something better than they can, can you do it cheaper? Why would someone pick your product over the myriad of others available? Take a look at some relevant case studies: you'd think that bug tracking software was a "solved problem" right? Well two graduates set up Atlassian in 2002 with nothing but a $1000 credit card loan and the goal of "making enough money not to have to get a proper job". They entered a seriously crowded marketplace with their flagship product JIRA and 6 years on they've got revenues of over $USD12M. My opinion? If you think you've got a hot idea, then regardless of what's out there already, grab life by the balls and go for it. What have you got to lose?

Answer 5

I'd do the same thing I should have done to begin with: Look at the market. What are the competitors doing, how competitive are they, and what can you do better/cheaper/faster?

And then I'd decide based on that, whether my business idea is viable.

Answer 6

Well you are the only person who can best answer this. I think so you should take it as lesson learned and just move from there. Keep your eyes open and you may find another idea, but next time you may want to spend more time on search about what is available and what is not. Wish you best luck.

Answer 7

To the people who get depressed with the idea of "it's already been done". Let me point you to this post by David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails.

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/981-the-secret-to-making-money-online

his main point... "Zappos sell fucking shoes!".

It's not about being first, it's about doing it better than everyone else.

Answer 8

Just ask yourself: As a user, would I switch from whatever I'm using currently to accomplish X to a better alternative ?

I find that the response is yes for almost everything. I would switch to a better browser if I saw one. I would switch to a better mail application. I would switch to a better note taking app.

Obviously I would only switch if the new option is evidently better.

Do not be afraid of doing something that has been done.

The trick is to do it better. The secret is great execution. So, don't try to do something where you aren't sure you can execute better than the competition.

Answer 9

Putting my exaggerations aside, problem is much similar to the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome. With NIH, nothing stops the developer/producer from re-inventing the damn wheel. With "Already been done" syndrome, a tiny piece of similarity ruins the motive to continue. I'm pretty sure that most of the developers/entrepreneurs can be grouped in these two. What i wonder is, what keeps the rest of the people -besides those in two groups- going on despite the existance of similar projects/solutions?

Differentiating features will make the project/business feasible, yes. but mostly, finding out that an open source project that has been started in 2003 or so and spawned a business based on the same project, providing the same features you've thought, comes pretty much frustrating.

Answer 10

Should there never be another word processor, and we all use MS Word? Should there never be another spreadsheet, and we all use MS Excel? Ask the Open Office people, ask Google Docs. They didn't think so. Ask Microsoft and you will get a different response...

These guys did have a twist on the same idea, but it doesn't mean you can't be identical. Look at the generic brands in the supermarket. They are meant to be exactly alike, and they even model the packaging to be similar so they end up competing on one thing only - price. Can you at least compete on price? If so, then go for it!

Can you compete on service? If so, then go for it! Can you compete on documentation, training, usability, or any other feature? If so, then go for it! Can you provide something unique, aka a small twist on the idea? If so, then go for it!

There's at least one big difference between people that work for themselves and people that work for someone else... and that is risk adversion. Most people cannot handle it and work for someone their entire life. If you want to be that person, then don't take the risk and take the easy way out.

Otherwise, go for it! Find some specific item that you can concentrate on and take the risk. Heck, if it's a large enough market, you can be identical in all ways and just spend enough money on advertising to make a profit.

Answer 11

If the other implementations didn't turn up when you did your initial research, it would suggest that they are - at the very least - suboptimally marketed. If that's their only weakness, then think about whether or not you can outmarket them. If you have some other edge over them, then think about whether it's enough.

At Resolver Systems, we started with the aim of producing a spreadsheet that compiled the formulae in your grid down into a computer program. We'd not found any similar products when we did our initial research, so we got funding and went ahead. A little later, once we had the product ready, we were lucky enough to get slashdotted, and of course a bunch of the people who saw us then did know about other people who'd made similar products. We were disheartened for a bit, then realised that none of the other solutions had achieved critical mass. People were still using spreadsheets with limited programmability - like Excel - instead of these other products. Which meant that either the core idea wasn't compelling enough, or that these other implementations lacked the "spark" required to pull people from an almost-good-enough solution to something new.

I think - or at least hope - that the details of how we implemented our original idea - that is, the execution - are enough to make an interesting idea a breakthrough product. (Our uptake has been great but is not yet good enough for me to be sure. And anyway I don't want to tempt fate :-)

I hope the same is true for your execution of your idea.

Answer 12

• Search had already been done when Google came along.
• Operating systems had already been done when Microsoft came along.
• Portable music had already been done when Apple came along with the iPod.
• MMORPGs had already been done when World of Warcraft came along.

I got these examples by looking no further than my desk. What can your company improve upon?

Answer 13

Simple. Just do it better than they do it. And do a really good mock up so you can support your idea.

Answer 14

What's important to focus on is what people will talk about that is different about you.

Google. Youtube. Facebook. Ebay. Amazon.

Say the word. We have something to say about it.

Something was different about them compared to their competitors.

There's lots of search, lots of video, lots of social networking. But they found a way to have the "they do it right" conversation. Such conversations make you stand out.

Hope that helps!

Answer 15

I read a great book last year about what specifically it takes to get someone to change.

The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn

The premise of the book is that change is expensive, so you must not be just a little better, you have to be a lot better (IE, worth the effort of change). Don't fall into the trap of totally discounting the cost of change (your customers won't).

Answer 16

One way to look at it is, if others are doing it then it's marketable, and that saves you the pain of discovering it isn't first. So find an idea that others have already proven and beat them at it. Just don't chase an overly saturated concept or one that the juggernauts have decided to pursue.

Answer 17

If no one else is doing your idea then it probably isn't a good one.

Answer 18

The fact that it's already been done may actually be a good thing, since the existence of competition means that customers exist as well: http://www.ericsink.com/Choose_Your_Competition.html

You don't have to be better than everyone else who's already done it. In fact, if your goal is "just" to be better, you can end up getting into a feature war against the incumbent, which can easily be a losing proposition. Instead, make it your goal to be different:

• http://www.ericsink.com/laws/Law_02.html
• http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Have_an_Enemy.php

Answer 19

In my opinion is not so important to have an original idea to start a new project. You should look for services that already exist but in your opinion suck for some reason. You should look for ideas already implemented in a lot of different ways, but none of these ways appears great to you.

This site can be a good example of it. In the web there are a lot of websites dedicated to software development, with forums, users ranking, question and answers votes and so on.

But here everything appears to be more funny and clear. Why? Try to think about it.