[slackoverflower]

The reality of business is you don't have to be innovative. A lot of successful businesses are not even new ideas. Of course there is the whole concept of the first-mover advantage but in the world of SaaS there is plenty place for competition. Making a 30% improvement on one specific feature of a popular product or service can very well be a business on its own. I think a lot of people get held up on the idea that it's unethical to just steal an idea so they try and start something brand new. Innovative businesses are the riskiest.

[lazyjones]

Exactly. Look at the largest, most successful IT companies. They have some innovative products or product features, but none of them invented anything completely new (even Apple and certainly not Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft...).

The CSE I founded (and sold, allowing me to retire comfortably) was neither original, nor particularly innovative in 1997 when I started (pricewatch.com existed etc.), and it's extremely profitable to this day.

There are plenty of good ideas out there and much more existing, profitable businesses in need of a slightly better competitor.

[bmpafa]

"good entrepreneurs copy ideas, _great_ entrepreneurs steal ideas"

[Bekwnn]

> "good entrepreneurs copy ideas, _great_ entrepreneurs steal ideas"

Worth mentioning that the original quote was "artists". There is a lot of valuable inspiration to be derived from other creative professions in this industry. "Measure twice, cut once" is one I've quoted a lot, originating from carpenters.