You don't want to be first, right? You want to be second or third. You don't want to be - Facebook is not the first in social media. They're the third, right? Similarly, you know, if you look at Steve Jobs' history, he's never been first.
If you're entering anything where there's an existing marketplace, against large, entrenched competitors, then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs. It can't be a little bit better, because then you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer... you're always going to buy the trusted brand unless there's a big difference.
I can remember the first time I tried to drive into the garage of the world headquarters of Ford in a Camry. It was almost like they wouldn't let me in. They said, 'Why do you want to do that?' I said, 'Because we are going to make the best cars in the world, and we need to know everything about the competitor's car.'
In fact I've probably never seen such a wide moat.
If you truly don't have competition, then zoom out until you can define some. Competition can be as simple as the reliance on the status quo, Microsoft (since at some point Microsoft will compete with everyone for everything), or researchers in universities. Pick something, because saying you have no competition at all is a nonstarter.
Use your development time to brief analysts and industry press. Use these influencers as your eyes and ears to let you know what else is being developed by competitors so that you can be the first to market, and don't make the mistake of launching an also-ran product.
Of course I want to score more goals in the Champions League. But I never want to compare myself or be compared to Lionel Messi.
It's not easy being number two. As a marketer, you have limited choices - you can pretend you're not defined by the market leader, or, you can embrace your position and go directly after your nemesis.
'Tis best to weigh the enemy more mighty than he seems.
If I'm number one in the world, it's for a reason. People can talk about the cardio all they want, but the results show it. So people behind me, they have to have really, really bad cardio also.
You can't compare my background to the Gracies', not only in technique, but in terms of business and marketing.
It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor.
By any measure, CapitalSource outperformed both our direct competitors and the financial services industry in general, particularly in the context of the near collapse of the financial services industry where 19 of the 20 largest financial institutions in the country either failed or were bailed out by the government.
We had a couple of minor coups that made a big difference. We snared away from a competitor a correspondent already on the ground in Afghanistan. That was an enormous help to us, because there we were.
Business is a string of seemingly impossible problems looking for solutions. Each problem you solve creates a new barrier to entry for your next competitor.
When [competitors are] in the shower in the morning, they're thinking about how they're going to get ahead of one of their top competitors. Here in the shower, we're thinking about how we are going to invent something on behalf of a customer.
You intentionally start small, because you will not be able to compete with an incumbent... because the incumbent is always going to go for the full solution.
There are multiple ways to be externally focused that are very successful. You can be customer-focused or competitor-focused. Some people are internally focused, and if they reach critical mass, they can tip the whole company.
In the future, it will become increasingly obvious that your competitors are just as clueless as you are.
I enjoy looking at other people's products and learning from them. We take all of our competitors very seriously, as you know. You have to respect Intel. But we have our own tricks up our sleeves.
I feel comfortable around every driver out there and each driver is in charge of their own car, but you feel very secure racing the competition out there.
I study my competition for at least an hour a day. I get on the internet, look at what they doing, then I look at ways to defeat them.
I'm the only one who was predicting the Nintendo Wii would beat Sony's PlayStation 3.
I've got to know my strength and weaknesses and the same for my competitors.
You want to grow. To compete effectively - - even if you weren't going to grow, just to maintain your position - - you look at who you're competing with. And everyone you're competing with is changing to get better, sometimes dramatically.
