#16 Rethink Existing Products

Sometimes the best ideas come from looking at existing products differently.

Ask yourself:

1. Can I make it simpler or better?
2. Can I adapt it for a smaller or niche audience?
3. Or scale it for a larger market?
4. Can I serve a different type of user altogether?
5. Can I build something that helps people use or learn it more easily?
6. Can I create an add-on that expands its functionality?
7. Or integrate it with other tools in its ecosystem?

You don’t need to be first — just better in some way.

It’s easy to think “that market is already taken.” But so often it is not. Even crowded markets evolve — and new players still win by bringing a fresh twist.

Take email marketing — a space that’s been around for decades. Constant Contact launched in 1995. Then Mailchimp entered six years later and became massive by making email marketing easier and more approachable for small businesses. Years after that, EmailOctopus appeared with a different angle — simpler and more privacy-focused — and still grew to over $2M ARR.

All three offered similar core functionality, but each spoke to a different kind of user.