on competition
Escape Competition Through Authenticity
open.substack.comnever badmouth your competition. it makes you look insecure.
You only compete with one thing
I love this re-framing of competition by Jason Fried: “When it comes to business, I've always preferred the term "alternative" to "competitor" when addressing other options in the market.”
Naval Ravikant • The Internet Has Massively Broadened Career Possibilities
Mike Krieger (founder of Instagram) when Lenny asks him how he thinks about Claude vs. ChatGPT:
“Look yourself in the mirror and embrace who you are and what you could be rather than like who others are is maybe the, the way I've been looking you at it”
Mike when Lenny asks him what is still helpful for product teams to do now that we have AI:
“One
Befriending the Goon Squad · Applied Cartography
I think the first point of treating competitors with an ordinary mind is to see competition as the norm. Don't try to escape the competition, it's a good thing. I don't even think that competition should be ended by doing M&A. We see a lot of companies that eliminate their rivals through M&A becoming complacent and end up slacking off.
Zhang Yiming • Zhang Yiming’s Last Speech: Part II
