The Competition

When I was in the magazine biz, our main competitor, a Conde-Naste pub that had been the industry standard for 50 years prior to the emergence of our fledgling, radical and bleeding edge start-up, was the focal point of my every marketing and promotional strategy. I used them for comparatives, I used them for market tests and analysis, I used their weakness (the few they had) to promote our strengths. What they didn't do, we did, and what they did do, we did more of. They were, in a phrase, the competition. They were the big guys, the Goliaths, HQ'ed in New York, and we were the Davids, tucked away in mossy Seattle. We had to work harder, smarter, constantly in guerrilla mode and ready to fight. My boss at the time, a former Husky defensive back whose Dad was an All-American at the UW in the 50's, and the namesake of our two football publications, was fearless and instilled in the staff (me and my two assistants) that spirited competition was a crucial component towards our winning the market share war with the suits from the Big Apple. At the time it was empowering and I loved the battle as much as the outcome. We won a few big games and our work had meaning. It was fun.

Moving the time line ahead two decades to the present , my attitude on competition has considerably changed, evolved into a softer, more 'sustainable' approach. The main competition is no longer against others, but with myself. Now, a competitor is nothing but a mirror, showing myself back to me and my many weakness'. The better the competition the better I stand the chance of becoming stronger. The greater the challenge, the sweeter the rewards, the tougher the course the more fun to take on and see what I got. Or had. Or want to have. YOU make ME better. And hence the Japanese bow at the end of an Ironman to the course (a metaphor for life's challenge.)

I came across this test report today on one of our competitors products and was struck by my reaction to the reviewers rhetoric in the highlighted paragraph below. http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/elite-realpower-ct-reality-trainer--20308 Is that more a slam on the competition or a back door compliment for us? I think it's the latter, and that is the way I look at competition these days; You make us better. Thanks for the review on the competition.

More importantly, the RealPower CT’s slick feature array and eye-catching video environment shine a little less brightly when held up to similar – and less expensive – options like the Tacx Fortius VR or more refined systems like Computrainer, which now offers its own video-controlled environments (at additional cost) and GPS course builder and download functionality, useful training features like SpinScan and more advanced analytical software that isn’t available with RealPower, and a more ubiquitous user network to facilitate remote races.