[jmstfv]

> and not solved already by dozens of other startups or even free software

That used to deter me as well. My line of thinking was: if the problem X is already solved by N companies, why should I launch yet another competitor? Now that I'm wiser, my answer is "because people are familiar with the problem, are already paying for the solution, which means there's a market for that". I can't stress the last point enough. The market that you choose to serve will determine most of your growth (some markets are harder to get into than others, though).

In essence, you swap an idea validation challenge with a sales and marketing challenge. If all you're looking for is building a small, independent, and sustainable business, I believe this is the most optimal approach to take.

For the context: I run a B2B SaaS in a competitive market.

[rabbitsfoot8]

I completely agree with this. Just because an idea already exist doesn't mean you shouldn't build a product for it. But you should try and build it in some better way. A lot of products exist but aren't very good or have not been "modernised". It's then A LOT easier to get that product off the ground because of the hardest things is idea validation.

[JoeAltmaier]

My Entrepreneurial Engineer class I took said that. Investors regard 1) new IP, 2) new product, 3) new marketing channel as risks not advantages. Selling a better mousetrap is the ideal startup from that point of view.