- We have no competition: Because… if there is no one else doing what you are doing, how are the consumers currently solving the problem? E.g. in a online food ordering business, if there is no other brand does not mean that there is no competition. ‘Calling up the restaurants using menu cards available at home’ is your competition.
- “We are cheaper than competition”: Well, in many instances what the entrepreneurs meant was that they will sell cheaper.. which is different than being a lower cost producer. And, at least in my observation, most often the assumption of ‘we are cheaper’ was based purely on being a smaller and hence leaner company and not based on any fundamental competence or process that allowed them to retain the cost advantage, if any at all.
- “According to Gartner, the market is USD 80 billion by 2015”: Now, this has no relevance to a startup. Startups should build their model ground up and not top down. I.e. they should think in terms of how much it costs and what does it take to acquire and service one customer in a B2B model and perhaps the first 10,000 or 100,000 consumers in a B2C. You have to be super clear on how you expect to make money, and at what scale does this startup become a good business case. So, while the large size of a market may be a good thing, it is useless information unless you know how you are going to create your business within that large opportunity.
