It applies to software / application ideas – If I had a quid each time I’ve started doing something, seen a similar site launch half-way through my development and then canned the idea i’d be a bazillionaire!

I’m stupid though – there’s room for more than one provider of a service, the trick is to use the competitor as a benchmark – what can you do better? If you can’t do it better, you can still succeed if you manage to get users. There are plenty of people out there who might actually prefer your product over the seemingly slicker alternative, regardless of what you might think

I guess the point is – “they” may be better in theory, but you’ll never know unless you put your version into practice.