So, i nearly finished my Software-Prototype in the AEC-Management sector, found a Co-Founder and want to go online, to get feedback and talk to potential customers about my idea.
Unfourtunately i just found out that the government is planning to launch a similar software in 2025 and it got funded with 6 Mio. €. Also, since it is the government, they have lots of good connection to the right people and groups, that i don’t have.
Is it worth to pursui my business idea at that point, after spending a lot of time in building a prototype, website and even a business plan? Right now it feels to me as if i have no chance to win a race to market against the government.
Has anyone of you been in a similar situation and could give me some tips on how to handle this?
Have you ever seen the government do anything efficiently? Have you ever been to the RMV? You could probably build a better working product and sell it TO the government.
dude, you are safe! the way how incompetent governments are, I doubt that you will have any problems. Big corporations are slow and inefficient, governments are a magnitude higher in this regard. A small group of dedicated people can overcompete 10-100 people in big organizations.
The government will spend 1000 times more than you to develop a product. It will take years before it gets to market and when its in market it will be a terrible user experience that barely works and no one likes.
Sounds like good validation that there actually is a market.
That, and also that there is a strong competition on the market already with a lot of influence.
The government releases great software, on-time and on-budget.
Said no-one, ever.
It’s very likely that a small team could do it faster & better.
I also have a startup in the AEC sector and had a similar topic with government in my previous experiences. I am happy to connect, just pm me when interested.
Pm’ed you
Yes move forward. Idea has been validated and there’s an existing market!
The government doesn‘t develop it themselves. They often give that job to an established company that does not move as fast as a startup. You can outperform them and actually build a better solution faster.
All Government sites all over the world build crap sites and products with bad UX. So if u have a chance to beat them if ur UX is better. It’s good having a Govt as a competitor coz they are slow and useless. Lol
I’d be looking into whether the government stipulate the use of their solution on all government contracts?
Given that most large companies get a lot of revenue from government contracts, what is the chances of them wanting to use two different solutions depending on whether they are delivering in the public or private sector?
“The government” is far too broad a term to be of much use. It will make a big difference what agency and what type of agency is launching the software.
It is also very difficult to provide much guidance without knowing more than that it is AEC sector. I find it very hard to believe that you and a co-founded are launching a private sector solution and “the government” is actually doing something that “similar”. Did you just read a headline or do you have detailed insight that would indicate that it is meaningfully similar.
Based on what you have said I feel about 90% sure that this thing you are worried about is completely different and non-competitive.
Just try to sell it to govt and be a good percent share holder and make something new
If the government is planning on the launching a software it means that there is a good market share and demand.
I would absolutely go ahead and launch that product and make sure that I compete with the government by offering a better product with better customer service and useful updates where I take the user feedback into consideration and implemented in future updates.
I would also do some research and find out what exactly are the users looking for and launch a beta version for testing purposes where users can actually give you feedback on the product. keep that beta for a while even if you’re not making any money.
Use that feedback to improve your product of the paid version.
Have a free tier with some limitations but make it good enough so people would want to use it. Offer the good features for paid versions.
don’t worry about the government’s funding just think who the government is and how lazy and demotivated employees are of the government.
Picture yourself competing with the current president or local governor.
Develop it to point of potential licensing to others in other countries while keeping track for flaws and gaps in the government’s project.
The government is a wasteful collection of bureaucrats. This ain’t no competition. They might launch something in 2029 vs. 2025 at a cost of 54M vs. 6M.
Don’t worry, go for it!