New Web 2.0 Startup Offers Fast Track to Mediocrity

04

October

I’m generally a huge fan of new Web 2.0 offerings for several reasons, the largest of which is probably that I enjoy all the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit surrounding this mini gold-rush we call “Web 2.0.”

Ironically, it’s for this very reason that I am advising against new startup “Competitio.us.” The site’s sole mission is to help you keep an eye on your competition, and offers the following tools to get the job done:

Clippings - Organize news clippings of your competition.
Blog - Subscribe to your competition’s blog.
Traffic Graph - Compare your website traffic to that of your competitors’.
Feature Matrix - Keep track of and compare competitors’ features to your own.

As a general rule, I don’t like to keep track of what my competitors are doing. The way I see it, how can my organization possibly gain from becoming much more LIKE our competition?

I frankly don’t want to spend a moment of time working towards similarity. I have always seen pure creativity and innovation as much better long-term investments.

To the creators of competitio.us: Was the iPod born out of obsessively tracking the Rio player features? Was Dean Kamen forever looking over his shoulder to see if Schwinn was catching up while he developed the Segway HTS?

I hate to say it, but in my opinion your application not only stifles innovation, but through its “Feature Matrix,” actually increases the chances that I will become just like my competition.

Having put in my two cents worth, I’ll be the first to admit that this is just one person’s opinion. I really do wish the creators the best of luck and I officially invite you to publicly lambaste me if and when you prove me wrong.

Tony Valle
Promethius Consulting, LLC

5 Responses to “New Web 2.0 Startup Offers Fast Track to Mediocrity”

Hey Tony, not sure I agree with you. In all the companies I’ve worked for, tracking competition is an essential part of product management. You don’t focus solely on it, but you use the information you gather to make sure you aren’t falling behind, and even in light if innovations still have the basic features, or what have you. I guarantee Apple spends a lot of time looking at the competition. They most likely looked at what was out there, and knew they could do better - a player that plays music well, not a new gadget for geeks.

Interesting post, but I think you’re way off base. Even if you’re an inventor at the core, you still need to look at what’s out there and use it as a stepping stone.

-jeff

Jeff,

Thanks much for the comment. I don’t disagree with much of your viewpoint. I just feel like this application isn’t so much designed to help business folks “look at what’s out there and use it as a stepping stone,” but rather to track competition in what feels like a more “compulsive” fashion than is healthy.

Keep in touch and let me know if you end up using this product for a spell. I’d love to hear about your experiences with it.

Thanks again.

Tony

I have to at least somewhat agree with Jeff. I don’t think the devil is in the tool here but I do think that people (most of which are probably already too preoccupied with the competition anyway) could certainly use it in their quest for mediocrity.

I appreaciate your article as it gave me pause for consideration, so thanks for that. I wouldn’t center on the application though as much as I would warn against the preoccupation that I believe you think the application embodies.

Cheers,

Mike.

Thanks for the post Mike. I agree that the ultimate responsibility lies with the user of this or any other product rather than the product itself.

Tony

Hi Tony,

I’ll definitely let you know after using it a bit longer. I’ve had some interesting ideas I wanted to work on, and already using this has given me a good idea of the competitive landscape (which otherwise would have taken me a lot more time to keep organized).

But, I do agree with your main point - the site doesn’t really have many features to help me USE the info I get, which if course the whole purpose of tracking competition. Not sure what exactly they could do, maybe thats bordering on product management, but that part is left up to us. Might be in the works though, would be interesting to see where they plan to go (and how they plan to make money ).

-Jeff

1. Jeff | October 4th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Hey Tony, not sure I agree with you. In all the companies I’ve worked for, tracking competition is an essential part of product management. You don’t focus solely on it, but you use the information you gather to make sure you aren’t falling behind, and even in light if innovations still have the basic features, or what have you. I guarantee Apple spends a lot of time looking at the competition. They most likely looked at what was out there, and knew they could do better - a player that plays music well, not a new gadget for geeks.

Interesting post, but I think you’re way off base. Even if you’re an inventor at the core, you still need to look at what’s out there and use it as a stepping stone.

-jeff
2. Tony Valle | October 5th, 2006 at 4:43 am
Jeff,

Thanks much for the comment. I don’t disagree with much of your viewpoint. I just feel like this application isn’t so much designed to help business folks “look at what’s out there and use it as a stepping stone,” but rather to track competition in what feels like a more “compulsive” fashion than is healthy.

Keep in touch and let me know if you end up using this product for a spell. I’d love to hear about your experiences with it.

Thanks again.

Tony
3. Mike Mullen | October 5th, 2006 at 8:29 am
I have to at least somewhat agree with Jeff. I don’t think the devil is in the tool here but I do think that people (most of which are probably already too preoccupied with the competition anyway) could certainly use it in their quest for mediocrity.

I appreaciate your article as it gave me pause for consideration, so thanks for that. I wouldn’t center on the application though as much as I would warn against the preoccupation that I believe you think the application embodies.

Cheers,

Mike.
4. Tony Valle | October 5th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Thanks for the post Mike. I agree that the ultimate responsibility lies with the user of this or any other product rather than the product itself.

Tony
5. Jeff | October 5th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Hi Tony,

I’ll definitely let you know after using it a bit longer. I’ve had some interesting ideas I wanted to work on, and already using this has given me a good idea of the competitive landscape (which otherwise would have taken me a lot more time to keep organized).

But, I do agree with your main point - the site doesn’t really have many features to help me USE the info I get, which if course the whole purpose of tracking competition. Not sure what exactly they could do, maybe thats bordering on product management, but that part is left up to us. Might be in the works though, would be interesting to see where they plan to go (and how they plan to make money ).

-Jeff

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