This is an interesting distinction because in Silicon Valley (and startup world generally) people are dissuaded from creating a company around a feature. It's better to be a product and even better to be a platform, according to the popular wisdom.<p>As someone who runs a feature company, I've given this distinction bit of thought, and I think the reasons that feature-based startups are disfavored are that:<p>(1) features typically do not impact a sufficiently-important life activity<p>(2) features are often not protectable from competitors<p>One example is momentum-based scrolling. Does this functionality add enough value to an important life activity that you could build a company around it? It is nice, and we do scroll all the time, but it's hard to imagine starting a company around the feature of scrolling with momentum. This is especially true because it would probably be difficult to get a patent that covered such an idea.<p>A more borderline case is the blindspot-less side view mirror. Side view mirrors are important, and this technology could literally save lives. And apparently someone did get a patent on a minimally-distortive, blindspot-less side view mirror [1]. But I don't know if it was ever productized (patent is dated 2012), and the window of opportunity on this is closing as camera-based solutions are growing more popular.<p>If you could come up with a feature that does impact a major life activity, and you could get an IP moat around it, then it could be worthwhile to create a feature company. I've tried doing this, and after several years of slogging, my reading-enhancement feature is being adopted by major education platforms like Blackboard and universities like Stanford. [2]
I'd be interested to talk with folks from other feature companies to hear about their experiences/thoughts. Contact info is in my profile!<p>1: <a href="https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2012/June/Drivers-Side-Mirror-With-No-Blind-Spot-Receives-US-Patent/#:~:text=A%20side%20mirror%20that%20eliminates,of%20view%20with%20minimal%20distortion" rel="nofollow">https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2012/June/Drivers-Side-Mirror...</a>.<p>2: <a href="https://www.beelinereader.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.beelinereader.com</a>