Why startups should feel good about being called a clone
Aria Rajasa is a co-founder of Indonesian startup Gantibaju, which crowdsources T-shirt designs. Of course, that’s also what Threadless does. In this guest post, Aria explains how he deals with Gantibaju being given the uncomplimentary label of ‘clone’.
“Isn’t Gantibaju.com just an Indonesian copy of Threadless?”
Yes, we heard people say those words a lot of times. So many times that people started asking me whether I felt offended being compared like that. Well the simple answer – and what I usually tell people – is no.
Why not?
It’s very common for people to compare two services that are similar to one another, especially if one of them is more famous. Take location-based service Koprol, for example. It’s considered Indonesia’s Foursquare. Then there’s Sendokgarpu.com which is supposedly Indonesia’s Yelp. The list goes on.
So I don’t see why it would be a problem to be compared. In fact I can go so far as to say that it’s quite beneficial for us to be compared to another brand. Here’s at least three reasons why:
1. It’s easier for people to relate
Usually, we don’t have that much time to explain our business to consumers, and sometimes people just don’t get what we do — especially when communicating on Twitter with only 140 characters.
So it’s easier for me to start by giving an example of a similar brand. Saves us time and the idea is delivered. Here’s pretty much what I would say:
“Yeah we’re like Threadless, but all of our designs must be about Indonesia”
Simple, easy to understand and to pass around.
2. It keeps us on our toes
Being constantly compared means that we have to always improve. Many of our designers are also regulars at Threadless and they often ask for features on Threadless that aren’t available on Gantibaju.com.
When we do something or have a feature that is subpar compared to Threadless, people complain about it, and all that feedback is priceless! We need that kind of regular feedback to keep us motivated and being compared to a service like Threadless helps people give that kind of focused feedback to us.
3. It provides a great benchmark
Sometimes it’s a bit hard for us to see where our company is going or are we growing fast enough on a given time. Having a conparison can provide a good benchmark on how we’re currently doing. If it takes them one year to have 10,000 users then we’re doing pretty awesome ourselves if we reach the same number in less than a year.
So there you have it, three reasons that changes a negative comment into a motivational one and to use it as a tool for your own good.
Feel free to comment as this is very debatable. I would love to hear your opinion if you think that being called a copycat would damage a brand
This is part of a series of guest posts featuring first-hand insights, experiences and advice from personalities in Asia’s startup scene.
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