[rossdavidh]

So, just a random HN reader here, but:

1) the big competitor might validate the need for the thing in customers' minds, without providing a good implementation, which could conceivably actually accelerate your success.

2) if they're that big, then if only 10% of their customers want or need the 20% of your product which the big company doesn't provide, that could still be a big amount of money for your product.

3) if their product does poorly, their CEO might decide to buy a small competitor in order to fix things; you could be that competitor, if you are the best one available, so it might be worth sticking around for that check.

Of course, it might be that none of this happens, your big competitor's new features squashes you, and that is that. You would want to ponder how to handle that scenario, both as a company and personally. But maybe it would not be good to assume so quickly that they will do things well; plenty of big companies with successful past track records flounder at rolling out a new feature.

[curiousunflower]

Thanks, that's reassuring. We're still in the validation stages with our product; we haven't invested too much into it yet.

Would you think that in general, we stumbled across a good or a bad sign? Should we pack up and put our efforts elsewhere, since we didn't pour too much effort into implementation yet?

[rossdavidh]

Good or bad sign? Both.