In my startup journey, I learned more from one particular 5-minute video than from dozens of books and podcasts — this video is that of Dropbox’s founder Drew Houston.
When Drew was fundraising for Dropbox, he met a VC, who asked, “There are already 50 startups doing data backup and storage. Why do we need a 51st?”
Drew replied, “Are you using any of those 50 products?”
The VC said, “No.”
Drew replied, “That’s why, this 51st product.”
We get so fixated on competition that we forget the most basic question — “Why is the problem still unsolved?”
When a problem remains unsolved despite lots of attempts, the obstacles go deep. And if you want to solve it — you have to go even deeper.
Don’t be obsessed with competition — focus on why the problem is unsolved.
In startups, just as in life, there is no weapon more powerful than focus.
I suspect that is one reason why a Coursera is successful while a ‘buy the whole universe’ startup like Byju’s is struggling.
– Rajan