Yesterday we talked about how you shouldn’t go with the crowd and instead think for yourself. Today, while leisurely browsing Product Hunt, I came across two companies which describe themselves as “Uber for X” (one is Uber for Massages, the other Uber for Lawyers). Both in today’s list of companies which was less than ten entries total.
Which made me stop and do a quick search. There are twenty “Uber for …” and nineteen “AirBnB for …” on Product Hunt!
I get the attraction: It’s easy to explain what you’re doing when you hitch yourself to an understood concept. And yet — it’s stupid. You immediately put yourself into the “also run”-category. You signal that there is nothing original about your product, as all you do is take an established model and apply it to another category.
When was the last time you saw an “X for Y” company become really successful? It pretty much never happens — as these companies are not built on original thought and always are one step behind, as they copy someone else’s business model.
Instead of spending time and energy thinking about which existing concept you can transfer to another market — think about new markets you can create.
Don’t be “X for Y”. Be the original X!