Hi,<p>Usually after you came out with an idea, how do you find out if there're already companies executing the same idea? Is there a better way than just Googling for it?
If Google doesn't know about them, they are not a threat to you yet. Launch fast, get customers, and move fast. You'll then be the one to beat. I'm not saying you don't want to know about early stage competitors...but I've been amused to note over the years that 90% of my "new competitors" have disappeared within a year or two.<p>My first company actually had a company that <i>hired</i> me to do some of their development work (it was on Open Source software, so I would get the benefits, as well...they were just paying me to do something I was going to do anyway). They had several million in VC money. They also hired my current co-founder to do UI work and some other stuff (he did contract work for me on a regular basis back then). Clearly they'd read all about what I was doing, since I was never too shy about how I was building my products and my company, and decided to spend their way into the market in direct competition with me. I let them (though I didn't let them use my name, or my company name, in any way to imply endorsement or involvement in their products). They were out of my market in less than a year, and completely dead within 24 months.<p>What I'm saying is that competition is rarely as scary as they seem, so don't obsess over it too much. It can make you give up on a good idea and something you're enthusiastic about before you really even know anything.
Though for different purposes (usually just research or shopping tools), I use these Google phrases almost every day:<p>"better than $thing"<p>"like $thing"<p>"same as $thing"
Well - I'd recommend that you use all the channels that you'd expect a prospective customer to use.<p>If you'd expect Google to be a main channel - then any serious (established) competitor should be represented there.
You can list 3-5 general terms (keywords) that best describe your concept, and search for those keywords in Google to find anything close to your idea.