gtoCompeting is Inevitable

You can’t escape competing — eventually. The goal is to compete on terms you set and have others chase you.

Defining and creating a space you can own doesn’t make you immune to competition but does change the dynamics.

While you are defining and creating your own space, the objective is to separate yourself from would-be competitors. Play a different game under the rules that you have established. If you succeed in creating a space, others will follow, copy, steal, and do whatever else they can to attempt to compete with the category creator. Competition is a fact of business and life. It’s a matter of when and how to compete, not if.

Defining and creating an Uncommon category helps you compete on your terms. Category creation means you don’t need the dreaded and worn-out competitive matrix in which you get a lot of green check marks, and competitors get red Xs.

It isn’t easy to defend a category you create, but it’s easier than slogging it out with a feature contest and struggling to find slivers of differentiation. Create the category, be bold, and let them come to you.