[fossley]

i'm sure there is room for two, but with the competitive disadvantage we have ... surely it is wiser to differentiate to increase our chance of success? Also, they aren't quite nobodies ... they do their PR well and are reaping the benefits.

[benologist]

You're letting your imagination run wild. The reality is nobody is going to give a crap they exist and nobody is going to give a crap you exist. If you both manage to overcome that then you might be competitors.

Their PR ... unless it's just noise maybe you can learn from it. If it's stories on TC/HN/etc then it's probably just noise, they'll get traffic and not much else from it unless you're particularly aligned with those audiences.

[tstegart]

I would second both the above posts. Don't do anything now but launch. There may be room for two companies and you'll do just fine. Go after the larger market first, you can always pivot later. Just getting your company launched takes a lot of energy; don't waste energy changing things now.

[ef4]

It's way too early to know whether you're really at a disadvantage. That's just your lizard brain freaking out.

Your biggest risk is failing to execute. Both you and your competitor have a thousand ways to screw up long before you have to worry about the impact of competition with each other.

It's like obsessing over the danger of shark attacks while failing to wear your seatbelt. Deal with the risks that are orders of magnitude more important.

You don't even know if they're going to pivot in response to some other real or imagined competitive threat or opportunity.

[fossley]

"That's just your lizard brain freaking out." True. All sounds like sane advice to me! This thread has been a much needed re-balancing of my freaking out on the whole!