Every successful product ever built had competition in the form of an existing alternative.

There is always an old solution or old way.

When we think of competition, we often think in terms of categories or products already in “our space”. We spend countless hours doing a SWOT analysis and building positioning statements that anchor our products against these competitors.

While this kind of differentiation might give us comfort, it is predicated on the fact that your customers actually use these products. If your customers don’t use your “competition”, those aren’t your competitors. If you are building cutting-edge collaboration software, for instance, your immediate competitor might not be the shiny startup down the street, but email.

Email and spreadsheets have killed more startups than other startups.

Your true competition is not what you think it is, but rather what your customers are currently using (or considering using).