A Smart Bear: On Competition

A startup can beat a large, successful incumbent, if it does things the incumbent can not or will not do. Here are those things. —February 2024 | 4,800 words.

The typical dynamics between startups and incumbents do not apply in AI as they did in previous technology revolutions like mobile and the Internet. Ignore this at your peril. —March 2024 | 1,900 words.

Leveraging strengths – not “fixing weaknesses” – is how to win. Better when differentiated. Best when durable. Here’s how to create leverage. —June 2023 | 3,300 words.

Industries commoditize over time, delivering similar products at similar prices resulting in low profit. Moats are the antidote; your strategy must create some. —May 2022 | 1,800 words.

An objectively “worse” strategy can win, if it leverages something unique or unexpected. Startups can use this concept to beat incumbents. —August 2023 | 1,000 words.

Being “undefeated” or “number 1” might be more luck than you know. —April 2011 | 800 words.

Competing against big firms? Their revenue streams are their Achilles heel. Learn how smaller startups have a shot. —August 2015 | 800 words.

This is the reason that startups succeed despite their many weaknesses. And it’s a reason to build a startup in the first place. —November 2019 | 1,200 words.

It’s not a question of if someone copies your business idea, it’s when. —July 2010 | 2,800 words.

You worry about competition from the big, brand-name, deep-pocketed company. But there are better things to worry about and ways to avoid running into gorillas in the first place. —May 2010 | 1,300 words.

I remember “disruptive” when it was called a “paradigm shift.” You should be worrying more about making something people want to buy, and less about disrupting everything. —April 2010 | 1,600 words.

The winning strategy in Othello is to minimize your opponent’s options, rather than maximizing your own. The same principle applies to competitive strategy. —April 2008 | 800 words.