Note: all the names have been omitted in this post to protect the not-so-innocent.

This past week I have been stood up twice by people I need to talk to in regards to my startup. That is nothing new for an entrepreneur, but as others before me, I started doubting in whether my endeavor was something that would succeed, and if I was the only one really thinking this was a good ide.

Still feeling a bit down over this, despite a weekend that managed to push it a little in the background, I decided to write some emails to potential partners to see if I could get together with them on an upcoming conference.

However I didn’t get far. My inbox contained an email from a friend pointing me to an article describing how the biggest player in the industry was about to enter my niche market – and I haven’t even launched yet.

Now most people would probably see this as the end and head further down to hole of despair only to exit on the other side with a decision to call it quits. I will admit I initially did use some words I will leave out of this post. However after a little time to reflect I calmed down and started analyzing the situation:

-        I had prematurely gained a competitor I knew eventually would enter my space.

-        The market moves fast and total market domination was never the plan as it was unattainable. This “new” competitor doesn’t change that.

-        My approach to this niche market has been to create a user experience not found elsewhere; the new competitor doesn’t change that.

Finally I recalled a tweet from Naval "What if Google does this?" counter "What if Google enters the VC business?" and a blog post from M Suster ending with “.. if there are no BigCo in your market you are probably in the wrong market.”

I guess in the end it is what entrepreneurship is all about; no matter how far down you are there can be a positive side to it. Onward!