By Yael Tamar

So you have an idea for a great product. You’ve been obsessing over it for some time now; and not only that, you’ve been working on it full time. You’re an entrepreneur…

And then one day a friend sends you an article that [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] has just launched something very similar to what you thought was going to make you rich. 

Do you close up shop and go back to your full-time job?

The answer is, not so quickly. Remember, competition is a good thing. I am sure [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] is not the only one who has a similar idea to yours. 

The way it works is when you create an initial offering, you initially guess what people will need or like. However, users will dictate to you eventually what they really need and want. 

That’s why companies do what they call a Beta with their new product. They monitor users’ behavior for a few months to see whether the product has answered the need those users have. 

You run several pilots to cover all kinds of users to see which kind of products or services that you offer are in the highest demand. 

After 6 to 12 months of such testing, you evaluate and streamline our activities using a 80/20 principle - which 20% of activities you provided brought 80% of the revenues and then you focus on those activities. 

Let’s assume that [Insert company name here, e.g. Google, Facebook or smaller players] is really top-notch in a specific area of operation and covers the whole nation geographically. Then if you fail to offer added value to users in that area and your potential users chose not to use your service or rate it badly, you will not offer that service and focus on more profitable activities.

However, this is not the most likely outcome at all! OK, maybe statistically, it is, but if you take different measures and steps to be a successful startup (Example: Lean Startup methodology created by Eric Preis), then statistics are on your side. 

The more you try, the higher is the probability you will succeed. That’s why the most successful entrepreneurs are the most persistent ones. 

Good luck!