How Entrepreneurs Can Compete With Big Companies And Win
Best strategies for startups and small businesses to beat big companies.
Big tech companies are similar to large ships: they can carry tons of freight but lack the agility to maneuver. The small startups are the opposite: they adjust their direction much rapidly and move with full power.
It can be a good thing for a competitor to existing already.
That means you don’t compete with goliaths. It’s about carving out your niche and building a loyal customer base. You find a market where they are inefficient due to their size or lack of knowledge.
Even if another outfit is doing well in your chosen market, that is a good sign. There are always ways to differentiate your offering and perform better job execution.
Startups are in the business of innovation.
The best example is Apple Inc. It was a garage company that beaten IBM and HP in the 1980s.
In fact, your competitors do have great professionals. Sometimes, they even have better professionals than you do, but:
The market choice is everything!
Competing with the giants becomes much easier when you are not competing with them directly — differentiate your product from them! Otherwise, you have to launch a product 10x better, which is more challenging but still possible to deliver.
As a small company, you have a laser-focused on one goal. The big company will inevitably be focused on many goals.
Having a vision for the product is a significant advantage of small startups. For that, you need a clear plan and execution strategy for the long-term.
If you have ever worked at corporates, you know that most of them deliver with the high level of inefficiency caused by company politics, bureaucracy, and decision-making inflexibility. Most of their strategic questions could stay “open,” not planned and not figured out yet.
That’s why small businesses have the potential to move and develop super-quickly because they are not bogged down with politics. At giants, many senior and mid-level managers are primarily concerned with protecting their turf and moving at a much slower pace.
Every large company has more weaknesses than a small one.
Why did David beat Goliath?
Why do big companies like Google and Microsoft continually buy small companies we never hear about?
Because smaller companies are more agile, and fewer resources cause smaller organizations to be more focused.
Therefore, the 80/20 rule doesn’t work for most large companies. It’s the main reason why they usually fail against their smaller competitors.
That happens because goliaths decide to switch 80% of focus to sales to meet their goals. Comparing to you, you’re 100%, or maybe even 200% focused on your product or service, and they are not.
Even if your product is nothing new, you can always focus on providing the best user experience, so that your users start actively talking about you.
Nowadays, experience is everything!
A big company can always build more features, and they have had a lot more time to develop them, but they can seldom remove them. As an entrepreneur, you are in a great position to offer a more straightforward and simple solution than your “big” competitor that does less, better. You’re able to launch without bloat and noise.
Before the product or service launch, the Goliath will probably spend a lot of time working with journalists, PRs, and seeking out the press.
And here is your chance to benefit from that!
Find everyone who wrote about them and reach out to them in a while, whether it’s a media group, influencers, or bloggers. Your competitor has already surfaced with the writers interested in your topic. Email them and explain how you’re different and why you are better for your niche.
When you do research for your product or service, you’ll also notice that your “big” competitor probably reviewed on various review sites. It’s an excellent opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to get their site on those same review sites and utilize the existing SEO. For example, by leveraging the competitor’s name using Adwords to advertise on their keywords. There’s a considerable amount of people who don’t go directly to a site but rather search it and click through.
Just do it better, and feed off their own marketing to shed light on your better solution to the same problem.
Despite that, every giant has its detractors. You can often find them on Twitter or Reddit by searching for the competitor’s name and keywords.
Review any comments; review to find the negatives.
Then explain to the “haters” why they’ll be happier with your product or service. It’s not going to beat a giant, but this works and helps build an early foundation and acquire new customers.
Another powerful tool for acquiring and holding on to your best users is to give them specific rewards or discounts, for example, through affiliate and referral programs. Users get incredibly attached to the kind-of frequent programs they have enrolled in. People just enjoy receiving special treatment — provide off-pricing offers!
Working on partnerships with big tech corporates is one of the best ways to turn a big tech company into a customer if your product/service is B2B. For the B2C model, it could be a great opportunity to shout out to and grow awareness around your venture.
What is most important for entrepreneurs is being passionate about the product. Building a product that you need and use first because you will be the #1 critic and the most demanding user! That’s a good indicator that other users will be willing to pay for it too. You are not the only one who has the same problem.
Last but not least, entrepreneurs must work on improving their confidence — that’s crucial to succeed as an entrepreneur. It means working hard to convince everybody that your product is better. But the first person you need to convince is yourself, as that will give you the energy, motivation, and strength to pull it off.
Don’t start with beating the giants first. Either begin at building your own niche and whittle away at them slowly. If you ever raise significant funding, you can go nuts with marketing, but that’s a whole different area.
Don’t be afraid of competing against the biggest companies in the world. They won’t kill. Instead, they may help you. Or even make you rich by acquiring in the future.
Do not “worry” about your competition, as that is just an excuse for fear of failure. Still, be aware of what they are doing, and you will ultimately determine your own success.
Just execute better than established companies, and you can compete with anyone.
