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By "taken" do they maybe mean "validated"?

Ideas are executed not "owned". The proof is in the doing.

this. While it's an interesting article and thought experiment, I don't think anyone should be discouraged from trying to build the next ride-hailing, dating, or couch-surfing platform simply because others have already found success in it. Competition makes the world spin, and in the grand scheme of things, we're only just beginning.

I think when you make the world's first couch-surfing app you can plausibly tell your self that you are changing the world. The world goes from not having couch-surfing apps to having one.

Creating a second couch-surfing app with the idea of out-marketing the first doesn't inspire the same sense of purpose.

Innovation usually happens in small increments. Uber/Lyft/x/y/z ride hailing app, airbnb/vrbo/booking, tinder/bumble/match/pof/bagel/hinge/x/y/z dating app, friendster/myspace/facebook/twitter/pinterest/imgur/giphy/justin.tv/twitch/reddit/hackernews/discord/beam/dlive/slack/x/y/z social app, they're all just incremental. I agree it'd be foolish to try and out-compete or out-spend a goliath, but I'm saying that you can still be competitive in other ways. Build something people enjoy, start there.

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