Competition Aware, Not Focused

Know what competitors are doing but stay focused on serving your customers

Brian Tolkin
Lessons from scaling Uber and Opendoor

Competition Aware, Not Focused

"Being competition aware, but not necessarily competition focused. And the reality is vast, vast in our space. A vast majority of people still move the traditional way." - Brian Tolkin

What It Is

Competition Aware, Not Focused is a strategic mindset framework for navigating competitive markets. It distinguishes between being aware of what competitors do (necessary) versus being focused on competitors (often counterproductive).

The key insight is that in most markets, your true competition isn't another company—it's the default behavior. For Opendoor, the competition isn't Zillow; it's people selling homes the traditional way. For Uber, the competition wasn't Lyft; it was people driving themselves or taking taxis. The market is so large that obsessing over direct competitors distracts from the real opportunity.

When competitors enter your space (as Zillow did with Opendoor, or as Lyft did with Uber), the natural response is fear and defensive posturing. This framework provides an alternative: acknowledge the competitor, understand their moves, but stay relentlessly focused on serving customers better than anyone else.

How It Works

Competition Aware:

  • Know who competitors are
  • Understand their strategies
  • Monitor their moves
  • Learn from their successes and failures
  • Stay informed about market dynamics

Not Competition Focused:

  • Don't let competitor moves dictate your roadmap
  • Don't copy competitors reflexively
  • Don't make decisions primarily to "beat" competitors
  • Don't let fear of competitors drive strategy
  • Don't celebrate competitor failures

The Real Competition:

  • Default customer behavior
  • Inertia and habit
  • "Good enough" alternatives
  • The way things have always been done

How to Apply It

  1. Identify your true competition - Ask:

    • What does the customer do if we don't exist?
    • What is the default behavior we're replacing?
    • How big is the market of non-consumption?
    • Who are we really competing against?

  2. Set appropriate monitoring - Create systems to:

    • Track competitor product changes
    • Understand competitor positioning
    • Learn from competitor experiments
    • Stay informed without obsessing

  3. Filter competitor inputs - When hearing competitor news:

    • Is this information or is it panic?
    • Does this change what customers need?
    • Should this affect our roadmap?
    • What can we learn?

  4. Stay customer-focused - Keep returning to:

    • What do our customers need?
    • How can we serve them better?
    • What would delight them?
    • What problems remain unsolved?

  5. Find confidence in focus - Remind yourself:

    • The market is larger than all competitors combined
    • Excellence in serving customers creates defensibility
    • Companies that focus outperform companies that react
    • Your competitive moat is your customer relationships

When to Use It

  • A new competitor enters your market
  • Competitors make aggressive moves
  • Team morale wavers due to competitive pressure
  • Strategic planning discussions
  • Responding to board/investor competitor questions
  • Deciding whether to copy a competitor feature

Examples

Opendoor vs. Zillow:

  • Zillow entered iBuying (direct competition)
  • Stressful but Opendoor stayed focused
  • Continued building vertical integration and customer experience
  • Zillow eventually exited and became a partner
  • Focus on customers won over competitive reaction

Uber vs. Lyft:

  • Intense competitive pressure in early days
  • Both companies could have been distracted
  • Market was "almost infinitely large"
  • Most trips weren't Uber OR Lyft—they were cars, transit, walking
  • Focusing on new use cases created more value than stealing share

Signs You've Become Competition-Focused

  • Roadmap items framed as "because competitor did X"
  • Team celebrations when competitors struggle
  • Fear-based decision making
  • Copying features without understanding why
  • Neglecting customer research for competitor analysis
  • Defining success relative to competitors vs. customers

Source

  • Guest: Brian Tolkin
  • Episode: "Lessons from scaling Uber and Opendoor"
  • Key Discussion: (00:50:46) - Staying focused despite Zillow competition
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

Back to Leadership