Everything there is to know about startup competition.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about competitors while working for or starting four different startups (Odeo, Wesabe, CrowdVine, Coach.me).

• Competitors don’t matter.
• If you’re going to get technical about it, worrying or planning for competitors doesn’t matter.
• Competitors will find a way to put themselves out of business no matter what you do.
• You’re at risk of putting yourself out of business also, so mind your own ship.
• Competitors aren’t very good. Think about it, most startups are run by complete amateurs (remember the first company you started?), tackling a space they don’t understand, with extreme pressure, and limited resources. This is not a recipe for awesomness.
• Take your eye off competitors for a moment and you’ll notice that your own company doesn’t have any customers. #morepressingproblems
• Go back to examining your competitors and realize that if you were to knock them over the head and steal every single one of their customers that your startup would still be screwed.
• When competitors kick you in the teeth it comes with such strength and suddenness that there was nothing for you to do anyway. Some examples to follow.
• Beat down #1. Odeo’s podcasting directory didn’t matter after Apple added podcasting to iTunes. There was nothing to do beforehand other than not start the company. There was nothing to do afterward except to try something new. We tried audio comments, an online recording studio, audio messaging, short video messaging, audio status updates, an online radio player, and 140 character status updates.
• Beat down #2. Mint sprinted by Wesabe with a cleaner design, better name, and aggressive marketing. This was obvious from the second they launched. Kudos. The only thing to do beforehand was to be better (which, duh, we tried). There was not much to do after except hope they take themselves off the board (Which they pretty much did when they got acquired and most of the team quit.)
• Beat down #3. I just finished my beta version of CrowdVine as a “create your own social network service” when Ning refocused on just social networks and raised $100M. One day…