I gotta say this is such a well written post and especially timely for me. I'm currently employed at a startup in a highly competitive market and I constantly think about "time to market", and "the competition". The amount of stress caused by those thoughts can become a distraction at times.<p>But the main thing that keeps me sane and motivated is the fact that we have users that love our projects. I'm in a fortunate position where I get to meet many of the people in our community, and get a constant reminder why we do what we do.<p>The other hidden gem in this post is the fact that each new "competitor" who enters your space can have a positive effect on everyone and actually grow the market. While this means you won't obtain a monopoly, you'll have a bigger arena to compete in.<p>Maybe more conversations like this one can help foster more healthy competition between startups competing in the same space.