This advice makes sense to me, and I would personally never want to open something that's a feature for someone else. However, there are startups in this space that get angel/vc funded all the time (Rapportive).
I guess I see the following scenarios could make this work:
1. Build a 'feature' that is complex enough that the other company will see value in just acquiring you rather than eliminating you.
2. Work for early mega-adoption so that you can pivot to larger scope/better product based on feedback
I absolutely agree with (1). In fact - now that I think of it - it's probably why products like SuperDuper still sell well after Apple introduced Time Machine.
And that perhaps suggests a corollary: 3. Build something that the other company will never build (even if they could).
E.g: Apple will never make blogging software/a powerful, dedicated feed reader. It's not in their DNA to do such things.
Comments
This advice makes sense to me, and I would personally never want to open something that's a feature for someone else. However, there are startups in this space that get angel/vc funded all the time (Rapportive).
I guess I see the following scenarios could make this work:
1. Build a 'feature' that is complex enough that the other company will see value in just acquiring you rather than eliminating you.
2. Work for early mega-adoption so that you can pivot to larger scope/better product based on feedback
I absolutely agree with (1). In fact - now that I think of it - it's probably why products like SuperDuper still sell well after Apple introduced Time Machine.
And that perhaps suggests a corollary: 3. Build something that the other company will never build (even if they could).
E.g: Apple will never make blogging software/a powerful, dedicated feed reader. It's not in their DNA to do such things.