[rs23296008n1]

Execution, delivery and all the subtleties therein. Sounds deceptively simple and it is but the details are what matters. People can have the same idea but execute and follow through with very different results.

For example: plumbers all basically do the same job. Except they don't. They vary in how well they do it, how well they turn up on time, so in general their technical skill and quality of execution has a big impact.

Another example: Movie makers have the same or similar idea as others. Except the idea is executed differently. Technical skill still matters but the idea itself needs to be fleshed out differently to avoid "being too similar". Synthesise not replicate.

In business, you provide value. Figure out to what degree you can simply replicate (plumber example), to what degree you need to synthesise (movie maker) and for how far you can innovate towards differentiation (be better than the other plumber). Sometimes you just replicate with a few twists just enough to not make it too identical (Better movie maker example).

Get others in your market to provide opinions of the other company's offerings. Is it price? Is it the breadth/depth of the offering? Can you leverage something about your environment differently? Some aspect of your teams skillset? Speed of delivery?

Another way of looking at it: if you were to set up as a franchisee of that other company how would you do it? What would you need? What costs? Where would you operate from? Make lots of assumptions and sanity check them. If franchising is unfamiliar, if you were to set up a business from scratch how do you plan on proceeding?

[varlock]

> People can have the same idea but execute and follow through with very different results. Or not execute at all as is my case ;)

But I see what you're saying. Most of these, I suspect will become clear after people start using the product (e.g. breadth of offer, delivery, differences in the environment).

Others should probably be clarified from the start (e.g. price, quality/expectation).

Thanks!

[rs23296008n1]

Sometimes not executing is the best plan. Taking the wrong action is best avoided altogether. But also, just doing it small can help. Don't buy all the trappings of success unless they matter.

I wrote all that having done wooden furniture as a sideline for a few years. There are many competitors doing this. Skills are a factor but there are plenty of people better than me, especially when I started. But I realised I wasn't actually competing with them. I was only competing against the inefficient / less experienced version of me.

Its kind of like reading other people's experience of running a coffee shop and they all had nightmare situations but you start small anyway and subsequently discover it wasn't that hard and you succeed anyway. Your execution of the idea is different. You bring different angles on everything so your results are different.

See how you go. Business is one of the strange things in life. It succeeds or fails in all sorts of ways. People are always wondering how or why but the full story isn’t usually linear or clear.