Don’t be jealous of your competitors.
Turn your wasted energy into fuel for your idea.
When we launched The Starter League (then called Code Academy) we were the first of our kind. There was no DevBootcamp, there was no Flatiron, General Assembly existed but hadn’t taken the “immersive” approach yet.
We thought we were special because we were first. But now there’s more than a hundred software schools that have started in the past three years. Some of our alumni (we’ve reached nearly 1000!) have even started their own schools all over the globe.
We’re proud to have played a meaningful part in the movement as subject zero. But that doesn’t mean it was easy for us to deal with such a hyper competitive landscape.
At The Starter League, we strive to be the purple cow. We offer a completely different experience for our students than any other software school.
Our goal isn’t to place you into a job, it’s to help you solve a meaningful problem with software that you care about.
We don’t only teach you how to design, or how to code. We weave the two together with product management and entrepreneurship. It’s the alchemy of those pieces that lead to innovative solutions for people through software. We don’t get commissions for placement. But our students are happily employed and applying their newfound skills in meaningful ways.
It was both a gift and a curse to find little to no examples of a software school like ours. On one hand, we had no competition so our novelty would allow us to garner a lot of attention. On the other hand, there was no evidence of demand which put us at risk with no proof that our model would work.
Thankfully it worked out for us. Though we’ve been navigating the bloody, competitive waters in search for our new blue ocean ever since. I’m happy to report that we’ve built our castle and moat with Starter School.
With these experiences, I’ve learned a lot about dealing with competitors. I’ve also learned how to deal with my own feelings and fears because of them.
When you come up with an idea for a business, it’s important to research the other companies who are solving a similar problem. If you find comparable companies, you’ll discover what works and what doesn’t with their solutions.
But, this process has a dark side.
When you’re analyzing the alternatives, it’s easy to get intimidated about your ability to compete. Most ideas won’t last a day before something like it shows up in your search results.
A natural reaction is to feel a sense of urgency. You’re not moving fast enough. You’re not working hard enough. You don’t want these other guys to build your idea first.
Instead of freaking out, turn the energy you’re wasting on envy into fuel to push forward with your idea.
Competition forces improvement. You owe it to the other companies to challenge them with a competitive product. You should be happy there are potential solutions out there. They are proof of demand for the problem you’re trying to solve.
You’ve got too much work to do and too much to learn to feel salty about their success. All those emotions point to is your own insecurity with your capability to execute.
Embrace the first-movers. Don’t let your hope balloons pop just because you found an example of someone else doing it already. Who cares? They need you. They need someone who’s willing to give them a run for their money and force them to become better. Just like we need the other software schools to push us to become better every day.
“No idea’s original, there’s nothing new under the sun.
It’s never what you do, but how it’s done.
What you base your happiness around? Material women and large paper?
That means you inferior, not major.”- Nas
Don’t be jealous of your competitors. When you come up with an idea, do some quick research. Find out what’s out there, what’s missing, what’s unnecessary, how it could be better etc. Then build it, regardless of whether something comparable is out there or not.
