Choosing Competitors Wisely

You know the line: Competition is for losers!

But what if the opposite is actually true? Today Hammad and Grant explore the topic of choosing your enemies (in reality:competitors), and how that sets your company up for success (or the lack thereof). We dive into Blockbuster, Netflix, Shopify, Amazon, counter-positioning, and much more. This is a topic relevant across the entire startup ecosystem, whether it’s AI and LLMs or the American Dynamism Cinematic Universe.

Hammad and Grant close us out with their perspective of how this extends beyond the business world, and Hammad even gets Grant to blush a bit before wrapping up.

Necessity, it is said, is the “mother of invention”. So perhaps competition could be called the father. —How to Innovate, Aristotle & Armand D’Angour

🔗 Show Resource Links

• Competition is for losers (Peter Thiel YC talk)

• Zero to One

• Bessemer Memos – Shopify and theiconic Outcome Analysis section

🎙️ Podcast Links

• ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠

• ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠

🌀 About Motion Blur

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures,⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts:

• Grant Gregory,⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠

• Hammad Aslam,⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠

If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes.

Intro music credit:⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠

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