Is the tech startup space oversaturated?
It is more than likely that we are about to enter (and arguably we already are) in a overdue recession.
For someone that has an idea, built a working product and wants to scale it, the odds are greatly stacked against them with FAANG companies not helping in copying startups as if they are features, in addition to inflation and investors hesitant to invest as the “Good Times” are over.
Is there any point to building a startup in this climate? Has the ideas now run out?
There is a universe outside of the FAANG companies and the space they inhabit. In fact, with the exception of Amazon, the FAANG represents giant monopolies in very specific niches. If your company is outside of them, why would you be worried about FAANG?
Going forward, I feel like the best ideas will come from small niches in specific verticals. Think specific problems in insurance, or real estate that require lots of domain expertise that your average developer has no inkling about.
Actually a startup should copy a FAANG.
I.e. A FAANG has the budget to do very elaborate customer research, and filter out a lot of bad ideas. Hence competing with the FAANG at some markets should be a good idea.
There can never be enough ideas. We need to stop thinking that. Ideas need execution and hyper focus to succeed (Obvious, but overlooked)
There are lots of ideas that FAANG companies can't copy, so if you do one that they can then that's a personal choice.