{"id":5525,"date":"2021-05-31T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T07:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1355111"},"modified":"2021-05-31T07:00:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T07:00:04","slug":"how-i-learned-to-love-my-competitors-as-a-startup-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=5525","title":{"rendered":"How I learned to love my competitors as a startup founder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Love your competitors? You might think I\u2019ve got a screw loose, as this doesn\u2019t sound like the mantra ambitious startups need to become market leaders. <\/span><\/p>\n

But hear me out, it\u2019s not as absurd as it sounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of spending your time obsessing over<\/span> competing businesses doing better than your company, take the time to analyze <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> exactly they\u2019re doing right. Once you\u2019ve identified that, you\u2019ll find the space and the methods for your own business to grow and prosper. <\/span><\/p>\n

And how do I know? Because that\u2019s exactly what happened to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flashback to the early days<\/b><\/h2>\n

First, let\u2019s take a walk down memory lane. Truth be told, I haven\u2019t always believed in \u2018loving\u2019 my competitors. Putting my business on the map was a grueling learning process, a tale of high ambitions, long working hours, good faith, broken trust, and even envy of other successful businesses \u2014 well, yeah, I\u2019m only human. <\/span><\/p>\n

When Tara Kaboli and I co-founded <\/span>Wesual in 2018, we\u2019d been working several years as freelance architecture photographers for local real estate agencies, and companies such as Airbnb. <\/span><\/p>\n

At one point, I found I had more work coming in than I could execute myself, and that\u2019s when I decided to launch a platform that could connect businesses with the right professionals who could provide photography and videography services in their region. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this business model, Wesual would be the middleman, connecting the parties and guaranteeing quality output through an in-house team of post-production experts.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Spoiler alert: we\u2019re doing great now, with plans to expand to several European countries, a solid investor base, and growing numbers that reflect the hard work we put in.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

S<\/i><\/b>elf-made founders<\/b><\/h2>\n

In the early days though, all we had was an idea and the drive to make things happen. We had no prior business experience or know-how around what it took to launch a startup. <\/span><\/p>\n

There were no external investors, which led to continuous cash flow challenges. We were photographing during the day, and doing post-production \u2014 on other photographers\u2019 work for <\/span>Wesual<\/span> clients \u2014 at night. It was downright crazy!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, there was a romantic feel to it, but was it sustainable? No, not in the slightest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning things around<\/b><\/h2>\n

After a while, we decided it was time to leave that way of working behind and professionalize by entering an acceleration program. Through that acceleration process, we learned what we needed to turn <\/span>Wesual<\/span> into a prospering startup company. <\/span><\/p>\n

We learned to delegate and keep an overview of the business. We learned to form a multi-expertise team around us, and to validate ideas and strategies in-house. We learned to develop a strategy for the future and stick to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dive into your \u2018blue ocean\u2019<\/b><\/h2>\n

One of the biggest challenges for us was realizing that the market needs competitors. They helped us find our <\/span>blue ocean<\/span><\/a> \u2014 the market segment <\/span>Wesual<\/span> could focus on to grow. <\/span><\/p>\n

By identifying and analyzing the strategies implemented by other businesses, we were able to assess market interests in segments already tested by our competitors. It helped us to develop a successful go-to-market strategy for our own company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Embrace the competition (and 2 other key takeaways)<\/b><\/h2>\n

I guess the bottom line is: don\u2019t see successful challengers in your industry as obstacles on your way to success. Learn from them and tailor your strategy accordingly. Analyze their lessons learned and take an agile approach to incorporate them into your business plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, and make sure to gather a team of specialists to bridge gaps in your own skillset. It will help you to grow faster and develop a better product. Don\u2019t do everything by yourself, but learn to delegate. And if you can\u2019t find the right expertise in-house, make sure to seek it <\/span>out there<\/span><\/i> \u2014 through an acceleration program, for example.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only way you and your co-founders will learn to stop doing everything yourselves and create a team that can grow a successful business. And don\u2019t forget to love your competitors! If you look closely, they\u2019ve done quite a lot of groundwork for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love your competitors? You might think I\u2019ve got a screw loose, as this doesn\u2019t sound like the mantra ambitious startups need to become market leaders.  But hear me out, it\u2019s not as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}