Product idea - already too late?

smileawhile55

Hi all,

I had an original product idea about 2 years ago, and I took part in an entrepreneurship program to further progress with it but unfortunately was unsuccessful on this attempt when it came to securing funding for the project. As I had a full time job already I decided at the time to park the idea and move on.

This week however I learned that a team in the USA has developed and produced the product I was researching, as well as more than doubling their ask for funding on Kickstarter.

I must admit that I am a bit disappointed in myself for not pursuing it further, I wasn't sure if the product was possible to implement or if it be a success but on Kickstarter the reception to the item appears to be quite positive.

I just wanted to ask if anyone here ever experienced a similar feeling and what they did after? I get that I let it go for 2 years, and it was always probably just a matter of time before this happened, but seeing the working final product this week made me realise how achievable my original goal actually was. I had identified a different target audience to the one which the current product is geared towards, which got me thinking about it again, but is it too late for that?

Thanks,
Smileawhile

antoinolachtnai

I think you should be happy for them!

Just because they managed to get a few people to pledge money to make a first run of the damned thing doesn't mean that they'll ever make a dollar on it.

Your idea for the target market might well still be a better one. Maybe it is still worth doing? Or maybe it was never worth doing? Who knows.

StupidLikeAFox

Obviously its hard to comment specifically with the few details you have given, but "second mover advantage" is a fairly established concept. Basically the other company will have gained some advantage from being the first to bring the product to market but there are also certain advantages for subsequent entrants to the market (learning from the other guys mistakes, finding new target audiences as you mentioned, slight differentiation etc). Given that you aren't even starting from scratch and have some previous experience you might be in a good position - the original is not always the best:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage#Second-mover_advantage

meforever

smileawhile55 wrote: »

Hi all,

I had an original product idea about 2 years ago, and I took part in an entrepreneurship program to further progress with it but unfortunately was unsuccessful on this attempt when it came to securing funding for the project. As I had a full time job already I decided at the time to park the idea and move on.

This week however I learned that a team in the USA has developed and produced the product I was researching, as well as more than doubling their ask for funding on Kickstarter.

I must admit that I am a bit disappointed in myself for not pursuing it further, I wasn't sure if the product was possible to implement or if it be a success but on Kickstarter the reception to the item appears to be quite positive.

I just wanted to ask if anyone here ever experienced a similar feeling and what they did after? I get that I let it go for 2 years, and it was always probably just a matter of time before this happened, but seeing the working final product this week made me realise how achievable my original goal actually was. I had identified a different target audience to the one which the current product is geared towards, which got me thinking about it again, but is it too late for that?

Thanks,
Smileawhile

As you did not bring it to fruition you must consider it as one that got away,. The future is all we own... The past is gone and the present will be gone tomorrow.

Lessons are learned and you may come up with some odd idea, possibly way better than this one. Creative people have a need to exercise this mad muscle constantly. Like an itch !.. It needs your immediate attention. It's a reminder to do something...anything. Excitement will get you started on the road with a brand new idea. Momentum will push ypu ahead ... but consistent good habit is the only thing that will bring it to market

An average idea executed well will trump a great idea executed badly....any day !

jimmii

I had a similar experience! I thought I had something pretty unique and had seen something similar by a company in USA but felt the offering I had was improved then was watching someone on dragons den and what they were offering was almost identical I couldn't believe it! To make matters worse the dragons all thought it was a good idea and they got an investment. With 7nb people in the world it's hard to have a completely unique idea and it's likely someone else somewhere is thinking along similar lines just about who dares to jump first!

28064212

jimmii wrote: »

I had a similar experience! I thought I had something pretty unique and had seen something similar by a company in USA but felt the offering I had was improved then was watching someone on dragons den and what they were offering was almost identical I couldn't believe it! To make matters worse the dragons all thought it was a good idea and they got an investment. With 7nb people in the world it's hard to have a completely unique idea and it's likely someone else somewhere is thinking along similar lines just about who dares to jump first!

It's rarely about who dares to jump first. If it was, we'd all have Friendster pages and be chatting on ICQ using Xerox PCs and Nokia smartphones. Ideas don't get funded: business plans do. Ideas don't make money: execution does

vintagecosmos

When thinking to start something a lot of people aim for a monopoly. Monopolies are very difficult to maintain and rare enough.

Your monopoly should be your customer service, story, way of doing things differently.

joshkg

I have a very similar experience, I was very disappointed in myself for not pursuing my idea. I think in the right times people should have the courage to quit everything and just focus on what they believe.

AndrewJRenko

I had the idea for Just Eat / Deliveroo style deliveries when I first started working on eCommerce stuff in the early 2000s. My main plan was for a generic menu /ordering platform, with the deliveries as a bit of an afterthought.

I could have been someone...

onedmc

We all have idea's loads of them, its not the idea its the implementation thats important.

At any match there are plenty of people on the sidelines, some have valid points, but they wouldnt be able to manage the team.

Trojan

WebCrawler, Go.com, Infoseek, AltaVista, Metacrawler, Magellan, Excite, Northern Light, Ask Jeeves, Yandex, AOL

were all founded before Google. Some with serious money behind them.

Implementation is everything.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

I think people over estimate the value of an Idea and underestimate the value and hard work required to get it off the ground and bring a company to break even.

Even now you are afraid to mention what the idea was and I see this all the time with aspiring Entrepreneurs. I once had an aspiring entrepreneur looking for mentorship and due to come over to my home, send me an NDA before he met me to ask advice. Needless to say I never met him.

Take this as a learning curve and see what they did right. Next time tell everyone what you hope to achieve so they can offer feedback.

badboyblast

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan wrote: »

I think people over estimate the value of an Idea and underestimate the value and hard work required to get it off the ground and bring a company to break even.

Even now you are afraid to mention what the idea was and I see this all the time with aspiring Entrepreneurs. I once had an aspiring entrepreneur looking for mentorship and due to come over to my home, send me an NDA before he met me to ask advice. Needless to say I never met him.

Take this as a learning curve and see what they did right. Next time tell everyone what you hope to achieve so they can offer feedback.

You are dead right, no such thing as perfection straight off the bat, Toyota openly facilitate tours around their manufacturing plants knowing how hard it was for them to get to a sweet spot.