In greenfield markets, your competitors are your friends

It's funny how we once thought of it as worrisome to see other startups pursuing our idea. It's so clearly the opposite of worrisome! The more the merrier! All these startups are helping each other get the public exposed to commitment devices.

It's like my brother who has a sushi restaurant in Peoria, IL with one primary competitor in town. Since most people in town haven't even tried sushi, most of the marketing that my brother's competitor does is just creating new sushi eaters, some of whom will then presumably eat at my brother's restaurant. Anecdotally, that effect dwarfs any actual customer stealing that the competitor may do.

With Beeminder and StickK and now Aherk and others, it's like that but even more so: 99% of the population hasn't heard of a single one of us!

From the website: "UPDATE: I originally referred to it as a “gay photo” which I thought was kosher since I clarified that I was not using “gay” pejoratively nor do I equate “gay” with “compromising”. Sense was quickly knocked into me (thanks everyone!): steer a wide berth around the kinds of things bigots say and don’t rely on wordy explanations to counter a first impression!"

Seriously?