Ask HN: Demo to our Competitor?
Short version : Should we allow our Competitor, who has more resources than we do but an inferior product (of course!!;) to try our app in closed beta or is it too risky since they lost customers to us recently?
2 comments
What is the benefit in doing so? (Or, asked from another angle, why are you contemplating this move?)
Because they have built a great business in traditional media monitoring for brands and they are adding social media to their mix on an old platform. In a sense, our product would be the perfect addition to their lineup but I don'y think we're ready to be seen as potential sellers, we don,t have enough traction for this yet.
If your not ready to sell, don't do it. A smart sharp person can learn a LOT from someone else doing a demo, you're only edge is what you know and thinking when you have less resources
Go read the Harvard Business School working paper: When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge. The main point of the paper is that entrepreneurs have an information advantage, giving a demo could waste that one critical advantage.
Go read the Harvard Business School working paper: When Open Architecture Beats Closed: The Entrepreneurial Use of Architectural Knowledge. The main point of the paper is that entrepreneurs have an information advantage, giving a demo could waste that one critical advantage.
I'll read it. Thanks!
Not enough information to go on here. Without having some idea of what the upside is to you, this seems to be far more risky than worthwhile.
Now, if they have an inferior product, but a hugely us period bank account and you think this is a due diligence precursor it might be worthwhile. But more then likely even in that case you would be better off doing a garden path demo TO them, have one of your employees walk them through the highlights, not give them a full app to play with.
Now, if they have an inferior product, but a hugely us period bank account and you think this is a due diligence precursor it might be worthwhile. But more then likely even in that case you would be better off doing a garden path demo TO them, have one of your employees walk them through the highlights, not give them a full app to play with.
The upside is that they would be natural potential buyers of our company, but we're far from being ready for that.