Why I Stopped Listening to the Competition

When I launched WISK in 2014, I didn’t have time to care about what the competition was doing.

The idea was simple: inventory in bars and restaurants was a mess — too manual, too error-prone, and too time-consuming.

So we built software to fix that. That’s it. That was the entire focus.

But as the company grew, so did the noise around us.

More companies entered the space. Some raised huge funding rounds. Others started posting flashy product updates and "how we grew 300% last quarter" case studies.

At some point, I found myself spending more time watching competitors than talking to our own customers.

And that’s when things started to feel… off.

Competitive Awareness Turned Into Competitive Obsession

Initially, it felt like market research.

• “Let’s see how they’re positioning their new feature.”

• “We should update our landing page, theirs looks cleaner.”

• “They integrated with XYZ platform — maybe we should too.”

But what I thought was strategic benchmarking became a pattern of reactive decision-making.

We’d delay roadmap items to re-prioritize based on a competitor’s release.
We’d water down messaging because “Company X is also saying that now.”
And in doing so, we’d slowly drift away from the reason we started WISK in the first place.

The Hidden Cost of Comparison

It wasn’t just about time lost. It was about clarity lost.

Our team is smart. Our customers are vocal. Our product solves real problems.
But when you're too focused on the competition, you start second-guessing your own instincts — and that creates internal friction.

Here’s a pattern I’ve noticed (and experienced):
The more you look sideways, the more it feels like you're behind — even if you’re not.
And when that feeling creeps in, you’re tempted to make moves that feel urgent but aren’t actually strategic.

We once fast-tracked a feature just because a competing app launched something similar — even though only one customer had ever asked us for it.

We built it. We shipped it. Barely anyone used it.

Meanwhile, the feature requests we’d been hearing for months stayed on the backlog.

That was the moment I realized: this needs to stop.

The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything

I had a conversation with another SaaS founder — someone who’d been through multiple exits — and I was venting about how we “needed to catch up” to a newer company in the space.

He asked me:
“Catch up to what? Revenue? Product? Perception? Or just noise?”

That stuck with me.

From that day forward, I made a conscious decision:
No more competitor rabbit holes.
No more internal meetings about someone else’s press release.
No more letting FOMO dictate what we build.

Instead, we built a customer council.

We started running more regular feedback loops with operators who used WISK daily.
And we brought the focus back to three things:

• What’s the most painful part of inventory for our customers right now?

• How can we make it faster or more accurate?

• What workflows can we eliminate through automation?

What Changed When We Tuned Out the Noise

This wasn’t just a mindset shift. It changed how we build and operate:

• Product velocity increased. No more back-and-forth debating competitor moves — just execution on what our users need.

• Retention improved. Because we were solving the right problems — not just releasing features to “keep up.”

• Team alignment got tighter. The roadmap became a reflection of customer priorities, not the market’s hype cycle.

We started leading — not reacting.

And ironically, we’ve seen newer players in the space start imitating our approach.
Which would’ve bothered me years ago… but now? It’s just confirmation we’re on the right path.

The Takeaway for Founders

If you're building a SaaS company, here's my honest advice:

• Yes, understand your category.

• Yes, know the players.

• But once you do — zoom in. Build for your customer, not someone else’s investor deck.

It’s tempting to believe everyone else knows something you don’t.
They don’t.

The companies that win long-term don’t chase — they listen.
They keep their ear to the ground and build for the real world, not the Twitter feed.

Final Thought

There will always be a “hot” startup in your space.
There will always be a new feature or rebrand or funding round that makes you question yourself.

But staying true to your lane — and staying close to your customers — will always beat trying to catch up to someone else’s version of success.

You don’t have to be louder than the competition.
You just have to be more useful.

And the most useful products aren’t built in response to others.
They’re built in response to the real needs of the people who use them.

Stay focused,
Angelo

💬 P.S. Been caught in the same comparison spiral? I’d love to hear how you broke free — reply to this email or drop me a message on LinkedIn.