They will copy you and steal your ideas.
Posted on: 29 July 2024
ut it is okay and here is how it helps you!
If you are a startup or a growing company worried about competitors stealing or copying your business then this post is for you.
In 2017, I heard about Bitcoin from a friend and together we started the first ever large scale blockchain event in the history of the Middle East.
It was at the Atlantis the Palm Resort Dubai and Bitcoin was $4000 when we start putting everything together. And by the time we launched the event, towards the end of 2017, Bitcoin had hit $18,000!
We had more than 10,000 professionals sign up and over 70 sponsors from around the world. This led to a massive traffic jam that blocked the Palm Dubai entrance bridge. The police had to be involved to navigate people to the event. ?
We had all kinds of government officials show up from the Dubai Health Authority all the way to the Smart Dubai Government. It was a mind blowing success and at the time we were a small company with only a few people.
Fast forward to today and there are dozens of major blockchain events run by all kind of competitors in Dubai. Some of them still use the same sponsorship & exhibition style that we created.
Now, why does this help and not hurt the business?
Mena you are saying that these people copied you and took business from your company. How is helpful?! ?
Well, here is the thing. At the time I had a small company. The reality of me alone attracting all the top blockchain/web3 talented companies in the world was very small. I would need 50 years of work to be able to do that.
When those competitors came in, they fast tracked that process and grew the market 100x. That way, Dubai became better known to the international market as a Web3 hub and there are now thousands of companies willing to pay for sponsorships and come to Dubai events.
That is how we kept growing our revenue 2-3x every year even though competitors where coming into the market. We had a bigger pie to sell to due to the market growth.
By learning from this story and using this mindset, you will be able to see the advantages of people copying you so that you can use it as fuel to grow rather than dwell on it. ?
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