Transcript excerpt of a discussion (Jason M. Lemkin and another speaker) about how founders should analyze competition and avoid commoditization. Lemkin emphasizes founders must clearly know their current market position and where the white space will be in 3–4 years; another speaker warns against products that devolve into race-to-the-bottom commoditization (e.g., payment processing examples).
You want founders that profoundly respect the competition, and they know exactly today where they sit in the market, and they know in three or four years where that white space is going. And that's what you want out of a competition slide? Who cares? Everyone has between 2 and 2000 competitors. I want to know why you're breaking out and where it's going to go. And then your jaw drops because 95% of founders fail that, fail that exercise.
For me, the thing that I always run away from is kind of commoditization products. And what I mean by that is products where it's just a race to the bottom. Now, you could see payment processing as part of that. I know many invest lost on Stripe and Adyen because they viewed the market as that.
Yeah.
But how do you feel about commoditization products where it simply is a race to the bottom.
