I have been working on an idea partially for about 2 years while I’ve been in school. Right now I am deciding if I should just drop it. From what I’ve been seeing in the market, there are a few companies that have been around for many years. So I doubt I could compete with them. The core thing about my product which I really truly believe in and see that the market needs (helping parents find things to sign their kids up for) and no other product really offers, is extremely dependent on getting lots of users at some point. There is one company that is pretty similar to the idea but they failed on the one feature I am doing. If my product is dependent on competing with these other companies in order to get users to power the main service, is it even worth it? Id be able to provide the service for free which no other company can do.
Have you tried talking to potential customers? You can ask them about their pain points. It might be that your service solves a much bigger pain point than the 50-person companies.
Either way, it’s good practice to get out there and get feedback. You might also discover a new pain point (+startup idea) in the process!