A lot of small teams have this worry, what do you do when business finally picks up and someone in a big company suddenly looks in that direction and tries to copy it? Is there really no way out when the technology reputation is not as good as the big factory?
The overall train of thought
I think the answer is no. Small companies have the flexibility to compete with big companies, which can give them a foothold in the competition, and even beat the big companies.
Differentiated competition
First of all, before competition, we should consider how big the market is, how much it is worth investing in competition, and whether there are other differentiated markets. Sometimes the market is very large, and differentiated competition can make both companies happy in the early stage. For the big company, it is just a profit point, while for the small company, it is an important process of growth and confidence building. So differentiated competition gives small companies an undisturbed foothold in the beginning.
Technology? Operation? Channel?
Second, it’s best to drag your opponent into battle where you’re good at, or there are places where you can wipe out the advantages of the big players and allow the small players to compete “on a level playing field.” I think in this case, c-side products are often operations, and B-side products are probably channels. It is because of the excellent engineers and technical precipitation in large factories that the work efficiency produced by engineers of the same level is often quite different. But that’s not necessarily the case with operations. First of all, I think the operation students of big factories are not so easy to dispatch compared with engineers. Also, Java and Python can both write an API, but it can take a long time to figure out how to operate in two different areas. Therefore, small teams with prior mover advantage and experience can have an advantage in operations. Therefore, as long as you don’t lose your talent directly, it is better to compete directly on the operational level than on the technical level (in knowledge and human resources). For example, I can quickly copy a Zhihu or B station, but UGC naturally produces a moat that cannot be copied in a short time, which makes it difficult for other subsequent products to stand side by side with it. On the other hand, channel should be one of the fundamental aspects of B-end startups. Although large companies have good brand effect, if small teams can have stable channels, they should not have too much investment in technology, resulting in a sharp rise in their r&d costs, and finally die of lack of money. In the case of maintaining similar product characteristics, stable channels, supporting services and lower prices may be the decisive advantages.
Drag the word tactic
Dachang’s resources are never infinite, just like Baidu doesn’t devote all of its energy to e-commerce and Alibaba doesn’t devote all of its energy to social networking. The competition with you is probably just a group of one department in dachang. Therefore, it is most effective to read the strategic reports of big factories, analyze the possible allocation of resources, and then conduct rational competition. There is no need to panic at the sound of big factories. In some areas, large companies are likely to make only tentative advances, and the resources available to the group will be limited and may be less than those available to smaller companies. Under such circumstances, if a targeted attack on the profitability and market imagination of a large company’s product can be achieved, its business line may be disbanded after a year because it cannot prove value and is no longer a threat.
Refined development
Small companies can choose high profit points for growth, give up the large and complete layout, specializing in core functions, to cut the market again. Fully occupy a certain part of the market, but also can obtain sufficient profits relative to the size of the company.
Data driven
One of the advantages of being first is a better understanding of the market. When users are not segmented by competing products, the data system should be deployed as soon as possible to obtain users’ real demands through data. These are data that cold start products don’t have. Therefore, early data advantages can also be used as a baton for rapid iteration to complete direction selection and product iteration more effectively.