welter on Warpcast

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welter pfp

i'd like a business coach someone who's gone through the ringer a few times and is interested in guiding me i'm approaching mid 5-figure mrr, saas business, just me, no employees, bootstrapped here's a situation i'm in and don't know what to do: larger $1-5m arr competitor sees what i'm doing and steals my videos and product to a T, i call him out in DMs and he tries to spin it around saying he had it for a year and i stole it from him (not true) he continues to use my videos and product to promote his own business i don't know what i don't know and would love someone to talk to someone who knows what to do not sure if it's part of the game, if there's anything legal i can do, etc either way, with this situation or others, would love to talk to someone who has more experience than i do

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Nico Cap pfp

Business is business. Elon gives his patents for free. You gotta keep innovating and out beat them.

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1dolinski pfp

congrats on your success this is such a tough feeling, but it's somewhat inevitable as you have a nugget to protect and grow think about this happening with midjourney and gpt-4o image generation coming out right now -- similar feeling on a massive scale My crazy two cents - know it happens - differentiation is a goal, you want to be a monopoly in a niche and you can niche down to carve out your space - your service isn't the full picture, marketing and content become the most important - be faster and more visible to customers 3 mental models market share - take your piece, many players can exist memetic desire - we naturally learn by copying each other, it's our greatest strength and source of eventual competition Helsinki bus theory - everyone starts in their own bus at the station, the longer you stay on the bus the destinations will naturally differentiate and appear https://jamesclear.com/stay-on-the-bus

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Warpmaster General pfp

Warpmaster General

Curious, do you know for sure that your competitor is doing $1-5M ARR? That move to me reeks of desperation and is something someone would do if they didn't have two pennies to scrape together

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It’s a shitty answer but: it depends. Is anything you do defensible? (Ie copyright or patent). You can have a lawyer draft up a cease & desist, which may/may not get them to stop, but it’s the first shot in a legal battle. If this goes further it will cost you. Do you have access to their customers on social? If they are using YOUR product as a sales pitch, the could be misrepresenting their own product and so their customers become your top-of-funnel. Do you have communication chops? You could also poke the bear. Punching above your weight class is a valid communication strategy, but it requires skill and time - both things you likely have less of than your competitor. Long view says to work to make your own customers satisfied and retained. There’s enough space for both of your businesses to work, and if people are buying what your competitor is selling (your work) then they are validating the market for you. If they fall off then their customers naturally fall back to you.

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Zach pfp

you should meet @coachcoale

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SIGABRT pfp

That’s tough - you should find somebody who can guide/advise you as you grow and keep facing new challenges. But also, yea just keep creating. People will always steal and copy what works, and those people will be forever chasing. Don’t let it distract you from your mission/vision.

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CarCulture.eth🎩 🔵 pfp

CarCulture.eth🎩 🔵

@carculture.eth

Copyright your content and issue take down

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BBB pfp

happy to chat, was in a somewhat similar situation some years ago no easy answers though unfortunately, just a spectrum of what you’re comfortable with vs what’s right/wrong vs what’s legal and you can protect against aka messy

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Reeeny pfp

That sounds horrible. Seems like something a lawyer would/should be able to help you with.

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Jonny Mack pfp

recommend talking to a lawyer, not a business coach

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MOΞ pfp

definitely call him out publicly. maybe also get chatgpt to write a cease and desist letter.

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Lucas Neves pfp

I can recommend my coach, she sure knows business. Just be prepared to eat a lot of frogs. There are more boring things than fun things to business. DM me if interested. In your example, you need to work on your entrepreneur mentality and plan for the competition. Success will be copied, that's a given.

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Warpmaster General

what I would do, in order of $$ and motivation: - $time ask ChatGPT for the info it needs to draft a scary-sounding c&d; draft and send - $ engage a lawyer and have them send it (not draft it bc the point is for it to be from a lawyer, not the words themselves) - $$ have lawyers draft and send - $$$$$$$$$$$$$ pursue in court

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911 pfp

could shift your marketing vids to something he couldn't steal because they mock his product

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Jennifer Tran pfp

I am not sure if a business coach will be able to help. Competitors do this all of the time. I think maybe you need help with building a mental fortitude to move forward and keep on finding features that differentiate yourself.

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Leeward Bound pfp

yo im not sure what to do about this particular situation (hate to say it but seems like any recourse is not worth your time, build bigger and move on) but im a indy small biz owner of a similar magnitude too, consulting and building saas for the last 20y, and id be glad to chat and shoot the shit any time, maybe not "coach material" but ive been around the block!

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CarCulture.eth🎩 🔵 pfp

CarCulture.eth🎩 🔵

@carculture.eth

There is one new alternative that I haven’t tried. That is the story protocol where you could register your IP and then get paid for it if someone wants to license it and if they don’t pay for it and use it then Story steps in. Copyright registration is essential.

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