Posted this to Twitter / LinkedIn today. **Cheat code for entrepreneurial success** DO NOT invent a brand new business model. Instead, COPY existing businesses. Why? There’s proven demand. Just be sure to change this one thing ↓ You MUST find a way to differentiate. Two ways to accomplish this: - Price - Market I DON’T recommend competing on price. This results in a “race to the bottom” and will cut your profits razor thin. I DO recommend differentiating by market. AKA, sell your offer in an underserved market. I’ve launched 4 startups in my 26 years. My two successful startups differentiated by market: - Greenbox Storage: Summer storage service for college students - FounderBrands: Content agency Greenbox Storage succeeded because there was little competition at my alma mater. FounderBrands succeeds because I niched down and chose a hyper-specific Ideal Customer Profile ↓ Founders who want to drive leads from Twitter. (And by the way, I didn’t invent those business models. I copied them) My two startup failures: - Air mattress rentals for college students who had friends come visit - Business consulting for college students Both original ideas. Both failures. Here’s the lesson: 1. Competition exists where demand lies. 2. No competition is a red flag. 3. You can succeed by selling in an underserved market.