I have a startup in Brazil [ www.tanlup.com ]. We are a (yet) small social e-commerce website. Basically, we enable people (mainly artists) to create their own webstores easily.<p>Till some days ago we didn't have a direct competidor, but we learned that there is a company doing pretty much the exactly thing we do, with some extras (things that we plan to add in the future). It looks like they copied some of our visuals and features (check it out: ours [http://www.lacosdefilo.com/], theirs [http://pokkuru.iluria.com/index.html?locale=pt-br]), but I don't really bother myself 'cause this is almost a standard (or not).<p>What I would like to know is this: They are ahead of us at some aspects (features). We don't know how mature is their plataform (we are running for 3 years now). How should we approach this competition? Should we run and try to overcome their features? Should we stay calm with our plans and don't bother ourselves? Should I be terribly worried or be glad that now we have some competition?
1. Whatever marketing they do will also (somewhat) benefit you. That's good.<p>2. Decide how to position yourself. Will you be the cheapest? Will you provide the best support? Will you have better marketing? Will you have more features?<p>3. Don't worry too much about it. If you're in a growing market, they won't steal many customers, instead they'll help you grow your market.<p>4. Time to really talk to your users and find out what really matters to them. Probably, it's <i>not</i> more features, but something else. Or perhaps 1 feature that's hard to do. Then focus on that, ignore all the rest.<p>5. Most likely, you don't want to get into a feature war.<p>6. Brand yourselves as "the first". Put that on your homepage, on all your branding and marketing. "The first". They can never compete with that, except by saying "we're the second". When you talk to the press, make sure to mention you're "the first". The first always sounds better than the second.
first, i'd congratualte you on acknowledging competition, as this means you aren't locked in your comfort zone.<p>i probably don't have the best advice, but i'd think that try not 'run' after their features, instead, identify the things that have made you successful previously and think up ways you can push them to new heights - master your niche, before rushing to spread out.<p>by doing this, i believe your service will standout, and who knows, you might kick 'em out! most important? don't relax, though avoid panic too. think and then implement.