Building a competitor implies it is functionally the same. You should build an alternative. That implies it’s net new and offers something different / additive

Don’t ask what some “thinks” about it, ask how they “feel” about it

A lot of people use war-like words when talking about business. That has implications that generally aren’t good

Stay small as you can as long as you can. The only thing you can control is your cost

Understand deeply what the worst case scenario is

Having too much money makes you sloppy. You lose the necessity to spend carefully. Companies generally spend money on people and marketing

Bootstrapping forces you to figure out how to make money. That is the fundamental skill you need to run a business. To make money

To run a good business you need constraints. Having too much money gets rid of most constraints

“Keep making great shit, keep your costs in check, charge appropriate prices for your work, share as much as you can, and let the chips fall where they may.”

No one ever went broke making a profit

There is value in not knowing how something is traditionally done. You’re more intuitive when you have to just figure it out