> Getting an early momentum advantage such that you get some good entrenchment before the clones attack, can make all the difference...
But in this case, I think that FastChat (the new app) is the clone and Skype, Zoom, Webex, etc. are the entrenched players in the videoconferencing market. FastChat is essentially a clone of Skype, Zoom, etc. because it does the same thing that they already do - it just has one improvement that may or may not make a significant difference to potential customers. Thus, FastChat would be trying to enter an already crowded market whose players are large, public companies (and whose most profitable customers are large corporations).
Re:Ask HN: Can “Show HN” be dangerous?
by threeeyedcrow on Monday April 27, 2020 @04:54AM
(#22994119)
Thanks! This is something to think about.
The short and obvious answer is: sure, it can be.
You might get cloned by someone with an advantage you don't have at the moment, before your product can get the traction it needs to become sustaining. It's far easier (in all respects) to clone something in the earliest stages than to go through the painstaking, time consuming process of working through all the twists and turns it takes to figure out how X fits with Y. It's a weird, complex problem - when and who to show a thing to - that you're unlikely to find an easy answer to, it really can't be modeled perfectly. You don't know who is out there reading HN that might kick your ass. That's a coin flip. This site is filled full of technical talent that can rapidly clone anything you've produced, so if they have any other advantages that you lack, you could certainly be helping someone take you out.
Some people here will retort that that just means you were doomed anyway. That doesn't inherently follow. Getting an early momentum advantage such that you get some good entrenchment before the clones attack, can make all the difference, even if someone comes at your product with more capital to spend than you have for example. To the extent you get any entrenchment, you become that much harder to displace easily.
The ideal is to deliver your product to the audience that wants it. If the technical audience on HN are not the best audience for your product, do not present it to them.