Look out the window: What competition can teach you

While my rivals faked $10M ARR milestones, I discovered the truth and built what customers actually wanted

I remember the feeling well. That knot in my stomach each time I opened LinkedIn.

There we were at Godmode, fighting to reach $10k in annual recurring revenue with a product that still had bugs to fix. Meanwhile, our London-based competitors seemed to be announcing million-dollar milestones every few weeks.

First it was 11x. Then Artisan followed, copying their model. Both had launched before us in the sales automation space.

Their updates came like clockwork:

"We just hit $2 million ARR."

A month later: "We just hit $6 million ARR and raised a $20-something Series A from famous VCs."

The questions haunted me daily. Why was I struggling while they thrived? What was I missing? Was I simply not cut out for this?

Depression set in. I reached out to founder friends and investors, seeking wisdom. Their advice was unanimous: "Ignore your competition."

I tried. I genuinely did. I even banned LinkedIn from my browser.

But the rumors persisted. Now they were supposedly making $10 million ARR in just six months. I went back to my advisors, confused and desperate.

"How is this possible?" I asked.

"Ignore your competition," they repeated.

Nothing was working. So I made a decision that went against all the startup wisdom I'd been given.

I decided to focus on my competition instead.

Because here's the thing about advice. If someone tells you it's raining and another says it's not, you don't believe either one. You look out the fucking window.

I began digging. I called people who knew the industry. I explored their websites' sitemaps and subdomains. I studied their social media profiles. Not to obsess, but to find the truth.

My mindset shifted. Someone had already done what I was trying to do. I should learn from them.

What I discovered changed everything:

• Both companies had raised huge rounds.

• Neither had case studies on their websites (and still don't).

• Neither had ever published a video demo of their products.

• Both were selling simple email automation at an astonishing $5,000 per month.

• Both focused heavily on bulk emails and domain warmups.

Most revealing was their product strategy. They launched products with human names like Alice and Ava. Then they'd announce more products for marketing or customer support, again with human names like Michael.

That's when it hit me. They weren't building second products. They weren't expanding.

They were pivoting.

This insight showed me we needed a different approach. I examined the bulk email aspect closely.

Instead of configuring our product for domain warmups and thousands of daily emails, we took the opposite stance:

"You can send a maximum of 50 emails and 25 LinkedIn messages per day." "No, we cannot increase it." "No, you don't need more." "Yes, we focus on research and personalisation."

Things turned around quickly. Instead of struggling to reach $4k in annual revenue, we hit $4k in monthly recurring revenue within two weeks. And it kept growing.

The conventional wisdom about ignoring competition isn't wrong. But it's incomplete.

Think about Michael Jordan. He'd invent stories about competitors mocking him to fuel his competitive fire. He needed that edge to perform at his peak.

You might argue startups aren't a one-on-one match. But what good does that perspective do you?

Treat it like a match. A fight to the death. Someone needs to win. Someone needs to go down. Burning.

Your competitors can be your greatest teachers. Learn from them, then chart your own path.

Sometimes, the best way forward isn't to ignore the competition—it's to understand them better than they understand themselves.