JC's Newsletter - Competition
Dear friends,Every week, I’m sharing an essay that relates to what we are building and learning at Alan. Those essays are fed by the article I’m lucky enough to read and capitalise on. I’m going to try to be provocative in those essays to trigger a discussion with the community. Please answer, comment, and ping me! If you are not subscribed yet, it's right here! If you like it, please share it on social networks! We operate in an extremely competitive world. We cannot ignore it, but we have some points to guide us on how to approach this matter. Observe competition through the customer lensFirst of all, we must not be obsessed with the competition, though we need to understand it. I will elaborate on how to do that. The right way to evaluate competitors is through a customer lens. We should be obsessed with our members and customers, understanding how we can provide them with what they want most. Specifically, being obsessed with our members & customers’ problems will help us see early if a competitor is solving their problems better than we are. The biggest thing that matters about competition is if our customers are choosing or switching to a competitor over us. It’s important to have a holistic view of customer problems. It’s also important to understand how customers make buying decisions. No excuses!Jack Welch (ex-GE CEO) shared this:
If we start losing deals, let’s find the root cause with extreme urgency, figure out why our solution is falling short of our customer needs, and fix it. Let’s not blame others, let’s own it, let’s understand it, and let’s differentiate even more! So, what do we need to focus on?
As long as we do this, we will succeed. The competition metagameAt the same time, understanding the competition is necessary to see how we position ourselves against them, to better pitch our differences, our unique features, and our value. Sometimes, understanding the competition can also inspire some ideas. We must always question ourselves. Let’s check everyone who is our competition. And don’t look for the bad. Look for the good. But we should not rush to do exactly what the competition does, because often they are acting in ways that suit their context, which may differ from ours. It's crucial to understand what they can and cannot do. What are our competitive advantages? What game can we play that they cannot, thanks to our unique strengths? How do we bring everything onto our own ground? Adding Sun Tzu's principle from the Art of War: “You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.” Another competitive advantage is mastering our cost structure better than the competition does with theirs.
Moving faster than the competition in providing customers what they want, when they want it, and where they want it, is the best way to win, as George Stalk Jr. said. How they’ll reactFinally, we must not be naive. The competition will react. I love this quote from Tony Fadell, which I have often shared with the team:
I’ve seen the same thing many times at Expliseat, my first airline seat company. In the months we announced our first model, the competition promised a model of the same weight, between 4 and 5 kilos, claiming it would be released within the year, to deter customers from signing with us. They made this promise every year for over 10 years, and they still haven't released it. But it slowed our initial growth until the market understood the “lie”. ConcludingOur job is to constantly widen the gap of innovation so it is impossible for them to even try to play catch up, and members and customers will benefit. Some good articles I have read this weekBuilding companies & culture👉Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company | Dharmesh Shah (co-founder/CTO) (Lenny's Podcast) Some similarities with our cultures and some amazing learnings! A MUST:
👉The secret to Duolingoʼs exponential growth (Lenny's Newsletter) Excellent playbook from Duolingo on how to build product for growth.
👉Contrary Research Rundown #78 (Contrary Research)
Healthcare👉Golden years, digital frontiers (Rock Health) ❓Why am I sharing this article?
It’s already over! Please share JC’s Newsletter with your friends, and subscribe 👇 Thanks for reading 💡JC's Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Let’s talk about this together on LinkedIn or on Twitter. Have a good week! |
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The present vs. the future
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
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Strategy in Chapters
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
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Global first
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
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Pragmatism in delivery
Monday, June 3, 2024
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Hard to execute strategies
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
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