HACKER Q&A
📣 Throwey12

What do you do if it turns out that your product idea already exists?


There are some improvements I see, but it is very close to what I'd build, and it happened too many times already. I can't execute faster and I don't have enough resources. I got anxiety and depression because of this, but YC says that competitors don't kill startups and there are many startups basically doing the same thing, but they co-exist somehow. So what do I do?


  👤 shanecleveland Accepted Answer ✓
They have validated the idea for you. Congratulations! And I can't imagine they are the be-all-end-all solution with no room for alternatives, are they?

👤 plondon514
Depends on your goal. Do you want to build a company or do you want to learn? Even if you have a completely unique idea, there's no guarantee that you'll find product market fit. Or maybe you have an idea that already has a market, but the current products aren't satisfying certain needs, or you think you can improve one aspect of the product.

I say build it, go at your own pace, and execute. The worst thing that can happen is you learn something.


👤 latentwhisper
Identify what type of market player the competition is and decide how you'll enter the market. If your competitor is a value play, for instance, you could focus on higher end market. What is your competitive advantage?

👤 muzani
You should normally do it to solve your own problem. Does the idea solve it well enough or is there something missing?