Here’s something most founders don’t want to hear: that “winning strategy” you copied from your competitor? It might not work for you at all.
I know, I know. You’ve been watching what the big players do, following their playbooks, trying to replicate their success. But when we troubleshoot growth with SaaS companies, copying competitors ends up being one of the biggest traps they fall into – and it’s often one of the hardest patterns to break.
The thing is, most founders don’t realize copying is actually what’s holding them back. And that’s exactly why they stay stuck.
Why copying feels safe (and why that’s dangerous)
Copying doesn’t get questioned the same way that original strategy does. There’s way more pressure to “do what works” than there is to figure out what’s right for your unique context. And it makes sense – when you’re trying to survive and grow, looking at what successful companies are doing feels like the safest bet.
But here’s what happens: you see a competitor invest heavily in community, or watch Notion crush it with brand ambassadors, or notice Intercom’s gorgeous content marketing – and you think, “We should do that too.” You make the decision quickly, based on what you can see from the outside, and then… you basically never question whether it actually makes sense for you.
I’ve seen companies burn through their runway trying to replicate strategies that worked for competitors with completely different contexts. I’ve also seen founders follow the “just do what they’re doing” advice too literally for too long – and while they might not see immediate failure, six to eight months later they realize they’ve invested in the wrong things and quietly pivot away.
That wasted time and money? That’s what kills you. Because by the time you notice it’s not working, you’ve already been hemorrhaging resources for months.
What you’re copying (and when it matters)
Not all copying is created equal. Some of it is harmless, expected even. Some of it will destroy your business.
The stuff that’s mostly fine
You look at competitors’ website design, their campaign ideas, their channel strategies. You see someone send pineapples as a direct mail campaign and think, “That’s clever, we should try direct mail too.”
And you know what? That’s mostly fine. When it’s a tactical campaign, a channel experiment, or visual design inspiration, this is pretty standard operating procedure in marketing. You really don’t need to reinvent the wheel on every single tactic, and learning from what others do is how marketing evolves.
Just make sure you’re not assuming their exact execution will work for you. A campaign that works for one audience might completely flop with another. But testing similar ideas? Go for it.
Where things get tricky
Then there’s copying positioning, messaging, and go-to-market approach. You see how a competitor talks about themselves and think, “We should position ourselves similarly.”
The key here is understanding why their positioning works. If you’re a competitor with a similar product serving a similar audience at a similar stage – this might work. But most of the time, you’re not as similar as you think.
Most of the companies we work with think they should copy positioning when really they need to find their own unique angle. Your competitor’s messaging works because of their specific context – their market position, their brand equity, their customer base. Lifting it directly usually just makes you sound like a cheaper version of them.
The really dangerous stuff
This is where copying becomes existential. Your competitor goes all-in on community. Or they raise a huge round and scale a sales team. Or they pivot to become an AI-first product. And you think, “We need to do that too or we’ll get left behind.”
Here you’re not just copying tactics or messaging – you’re copying major strategic decisions that require significant resources, time, and organizational change. And if you make these decisions purely because someone else did? You’re probably making a mistake.
Companies like Intercom can invest heavily in content marketing because they have the funding, the team, the market position, and the audience that makes it work. You might have none of those things. That doesn’t mean you can’t invest in content – it means copying their exact strategy won’t work for you.
Why context is everything
So why doesn’t copying work more often?
Context is the answer.
Context means: your stage of growth, your team structure, your funding situation, your market position, your customer base, your product maturity, your founder strengths, your competitive landscape – literally everything that makes your situation unique.
Here’s the thing people forget: when you look at successful companies and what they’re doing now, you’re seeing the result of hundreds of strategic decisions made over years. You’re seeing them at their current scale with their current resources.
Five years ago when they were your size? They were making completely different choices.
I remember working with a founder who wanted to copy Notion’s community and brand ambassador program. Makes sense, right? Notion’s community is legendary. But here’s what they missed:
- Notion’s core users are product managers who love to commune online and share tools
- Product managers naturally evangelize products they use
- Notion had significant funding to support a community team
- Their product naturally lends itself to templates and user-generated content
This founder’s product? It was for non-digital-native professionals who barely wanted to be online at all. They didn’t share software tools. They didn’t hang out in online communities. The entire strategy was doomed from the start – not because community is bad, but because the context was completely different.
How to learn from competitors
Reading through all this, you might be thinking: “So should I never look at what competitors do?”
No – you absolutely should. But you need to do it strategically.
Be inspired, not a copycat
When you see something that works for a competitor, ask yourself:
- What is the principle behind this that I’m drawn to?
- What about their context makes this work for them?
- What would the version of this look like that’s true to my context?
For example: Instead of “Intercom invested in content marketing, so should we,” think “Intercom built brand awareness through thought leadership. How can we build brand awareness in a way that fits our resources and audience?”
Copy with constraints
If you’re going to copy something more directly (a campaign, a channel strategy), give yourself constraints:
- Test it small first before going all-in
- Set clear success metrics before you start
- Have a kill switch – decide in advance when you’ll stop if it’s not working
- Adapt it to your audience, don’t just copy-paste
Learn the process, not the output
Sometimes the best thing you can copy is how a company makes decisions, not what they decide. If a competitor is crushing it, study:
- How do they likely prioritize initiatives?
- What hypotheses are they probably testing?
- What does their decision-making process probably look like?
Then build your own version of that process. This is way more valuable than copying their latest product launch.
When copying works
Here’s the nuance: sometimes copying is the right move. It works when you have extremely similar context – same stage, same market, same customer type, same resources. This is rare, but it happens.
It also works when everyone is zigging and you need to zig too. Sometimes market forces are so strong that you have to follow the wave. When everyone started adding AI features in 2023, fighting that current would have been stupid for many companies.
And look, if you’re copying tactics rather than strategy, you’re usually fine. Running a similar email campaign? No problem. Copying someone’s entire go-to-market approach? That’s dangerous territory.
Early-stage founders get a bit more leeway here too. Pre-product-market-fit, sometimes “good enough” is better than perfect. Copy a competitor’s pricing structure or website layout so you can focus on building product. Just know you’ll need to revisit it later.
Translate, don’t copy
Here’s what I want you to remember: The most successful founders don’t copy their competitors. They translate what they see into their own context.
Translation means:
- I see competitor X is investing heavily in community → I should figure out the best way for my customers to connect with each other, which might not be an online community
- I see competitor Y has gorgeous brand design → I should invest in brand in a way that’s appropriate for my stage and budget
- I see competitor Z raised $50M and is scaling fast → I should figure out the right growth pace for my business model
You’re not avoiding learning from others. You’re being strategic about what you take and how you apply it.
What’s next
If you’re feeling inspired by competitors right now, here’s what to do:
Make a list of everything you’ve copied or want to copy in the last year. For each item, ask: Did we/would we do this if our competitor wasn’t doing it?
For anything that’s a “no”: What’s the version of this that fits our context?
For big strategic bets, before you commit, write down: What about our context makes this likely to work? What about our context might make this fail?
The commitment – mentally and energetically – to think strategically about what you copy versus what you originate is the hard part. But it’s also one of the most important things you can do for your business. Easier than wasting six months on a strategy that was never going to work for you.
You just have to do it.
Need help figuring out what strategies make sense for your unique context? That’s something we can help with. We help SaaS companies troubleshoot slow growth by looking at what’s happening in your business – not just what’s working for your competitors. If you’re tired of copying strategies that don’t pan out, let’s talk.