6. Competitive Research

Who is the competition?

a. “No one! No one is doing anything that even comes close to what we are doing!”

b. “The top five companies by market share in our vertical.”

c. “The first page of search results for ‘[relevant term]’ on Google. All of those guys.”

The correct answer is b plus c plus everything else anyone has considered or started using that solves the problem you want to solve or helps them avoid it. (If you aren’t working on something that solves a real problem or fills a real need, then your competition is d, “Anything else that anyone does with their time and money.”)

Your competition is Facebook, Apple, Twitter, the Haus of Gaga, Hulu, Wikipedia, a freaky Japanese YouTube channel, all of Google, everyone ...

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