Build in Public: Ensembl #3 - Competitors
Hello hello!
Before starting this series, I said I was going to be super honest, and that includes telling people about my competitors.
Information that feels like it should be under lock and key when trying to start a company.
“Competitors? What’s a competitor? We are the only ones who do this in the world.”
Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash
However, having no competition, I found in a previous venture, Cashew (removing the paper receipt from the world), isn’t actually a good thing.
You want competitors because it shows there is opportunity. The aim is to become the household name for that space.
Gym: Gymshark
Electric Cars: Tesla
Fast Food: McDonald’s
Social Media: Meta
Finding Competitors
Research, research, research has become my new slogan in every part of my life. Decisions made with no data to back them up are like throwing a dart in the dark and hoping to hit the bullseye.
Other than obvious competitors that put the fear of God in you like Meta, X, and Pinterest, I wasn’t sure who my competitors were and where to find them.
The answer is painfully obvious: where do people get mobile apps? Answer: The app stores. I started scouring the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, searching keywords and phrases like “content manager,” “bookmark manager,” and “digital organiser.”
There are some other websites that let you see reviews, how much revenue the app is making, and slightly more details about the company that manages it, but I found looking in the app stores the best method. This gave me everything I needed because the app is being sold to me! I had the pricing, feature list, screenshots, and videos of how the app works.
Ranking Competitors
Not all competitors are the same. It’s easier to defeat Wigan Athletic FC (hometown) than it is Liverpool, PSG, or Real Madrid.
From one of the videos linked below, I stole a Notion database they had built to capture and rank competitors and simply started to fill it out.
I captured their feature list, how much the app costs, and what I thought of their UI/UX because, let’s be honest, we have all downloaded one app over another based on how it looks.
Most importantly, I captured reviews from customers. Here are first-hand experiences of what the app is good at and what it’s bad at. This is gold: simply add the things that customers like and improve on the things customers complain about.
With all things considered, I gave them all a ranking between 1–5 on how much of a competitor I felt they were. Some have lots of cool features but don’t solve the problem; others want to solve the same problem but lack features, UI/UX, etc. I’m confident Ensembl has a Unique Selling Point (USP) and solves the problem.
Competitor List
One of those complete honesty moments.
Here is my list of competitors. BUT! Before you download one of these apps that won’t meet your needs like an ex-partner, join the Ensembl waiting list here.
Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Kt3t2wWxs&list=PLgcoZ3GVri08mIPT1mpX8GdueLK7Sdzgz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4l8e7pJCsA&list=PLgcoZ3GVri08mIPT1mpX8GdueLK7Sdzgz&index=4
Thanks for reading!
Jordan.
