I want to create a startup that does the exact same thing as an existing company. The area where we would be competing is very large and there appears to be only one legitimate company operating in this space. I was thinking about cleverly trying to differentiate my company from the existing competition but came to the realization why bother. If the market is large and there are no proprietary issues, there is no reason why two companies can't succeed in this space. It got me thinking, are too many web companies dissuaded by the existence of competition? How does YC and other funds feel about putting money into companies that are not really innovative?
Can you do it better? Can you make money at it? Yes? Ok, go ahead. Dissing a project because it's not novel is the "originality sin".<p>Anyway, people who do original things usually don't realize it until afterward. It's that weird thing they did because they had to. You might just surprise yourself.
For this community, I'd assume innovation is fairly key.<p>On the other hand, it shouldn't necessarily be constrained to pure technology innovation. You might be disrupting a market, or fostering innovation in another fashion (perhaps downstream).
all VCs want to see return on their money. if you can convince them that your idea will make that happen, i'm sure you'll find someone to invest.<p>however, some VCs like to see new ideas, paradigm shifts and bleeding-edge technology. you won't be getting anything from those groups.