Posts Tagged ‘Competitors’
Grow By Creating Markets, Versus Killing Competitors
For your business to continue to grow, there are really only two ways to get customers. One way is to take customers away from an existing player, and the other is to create a new market with a new product or service that didn’t exist before. Examples of recent “new market” big wins include Apple…
Read MoreAvoid Competitor Bashing in Your Pitch to Investors
Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. There is no perfect answer to the…
Read MoreWhat if You Come Across Juicy Competitor Information?
Many of us belong to industry associations and find ourselves at conferences and trade shows with time to spend with competitors. Some of these are old friends; some even former associates. It is natural to want to associate with these people for many reasons, certainly socially. Most CEOs want to obtain information about their competitors…
Read MoreHow Companies Can Start Planting Roots in a Community
Consumers don’t favor Whole Foods over Walmart for reasons relating to the chains’ respective sizes or ubiquity — it’s because only the former serves as a catalyst to community. The competitive difference between the homogenous corporate paradigm embodied by Walmart and the community-centered model cultivated by Whole Foods grows increasingly stark. At Walmart, sterile interchangeability and…
Read MoreReinvent Your Category: Be Different
This past year my daughter and I were in New York City and saw the play that took Broadway by storm – Hamilton. It was spectacular in every way imaginable, but it was also the antithesis of a Broadway musical in every way imaginable. It was different. According to Broadway League research, the average theatergoer…
Read MoreWhat Does Your Pricing Say About You?
Last week, we explored some of the key considerations that a business should take into account as they set their prices. But this week, I want to take a look at what your pricing strategy says about your offerings. I believe that pricing is a part of positioning and branding that is often overlooked. How…
Read More10 Ways to Prepare for Competitors You Don’t See Yet
When you are starting a business with an exciting new idea, it’s easy to dismiss potential competitors as not being in the same space, or too fat, dumb, and happy to be concerned that you even exist. I hear it all the time as an angel investor, but I also see that same naïve or…
Read More3 Ways to Beat Your Competition (with No Cash, Customers or Connections)
As a new startup, how do you beat your competition and dominate your industry? When Steve Jobs threatened to kill Dropbox with iCloud, the founder and CEO of the digital storage service Drew Houston resisted the belligerent leader with his passion and strong vision for his idea. Just imagine how disappointed you’d be to get…
Read MoreBoy! If I Had Only Learned This Before Spending a Million!
Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. I love absolutes—statements with no wiggle room for gray-area responses. Well, here is one of those, and it deals with market research first and foremost. Let me tell you a short story at my own expense. In 1994, (I know a long…
Read More3 Important Ways to Build a Strong Financial Foundation for Your New Business
So many Americans dream of starting their own business. Being your own boss, pursuing your passion and the freedom and independence that it brings is priceless. We’ve all had that moment where we’ve considered how we can make money doing what we love… and then reality sets in. You can’t just be passionate about your…
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