Differentiation Is Easier for People than for Companies
Every professional and company should aspire to differentiate, to be unique compared to other options on the table. If you can’t, you’re a commodity, and people will go with whoever is the cheapest, because they’re all the same. Nobody can sell petrol for ₹200. In addition to price, you lose the power to impose any terms in the relationship. You have to work on the other side’s terms.
Differentiation is easier for individuals. For example, I working as a consulting CTO, and one CEO told me that before they hired me, they spoke to 8 other techies, and could not find any like me. It’s not there’s nobody in the world like me, but nobody among the people the CTO spoke to. So when we say that I’m differentiated, it doesn’t mean that I’m unique across the whole world, just unique among the people they’ve spoken to. After all, nobody can speak to all everyone in the world.
Unlike individuals, differentiation is harder for companies, because there are many alternatives a click away. For example, if you want a professional image editing app, you can choose between ON1 Photo RAW, Lightroom, Photoshop, Affinity, and more. This page lists 47 options! And I found them in seconds. Every one of your potential users who knows how to Google can find alternatives in seconds. Which means you’re back to competing on price. When I wanted to create a business email ID for consulting, I chose Microsoft 365 over Google Workspace simply because the former was cheaper.
I had the same experience on the other side of the fence with my startup Futurecam: it had tons of competitors, from Apple’s excellent Camera app, free and paid apps, photo- and video-focused ones, new entrants and old ones. I myself wasn’t convinced my product needed to exist.
So, if you’re a company, differentiation is harder, because competition is a click away 1.
Which is a reason not to start a startup: you’re giving away your differentiation, as compared to working as a consultant or employee, in which case you benefit from differentiation.
Differentiation in a business is built around the experience than product features alone. Companies after all are a reflection of the culture of its founders and continuing leadership afterwards which passes on the same across the organization, no matter it's size. That's why a Tata brand carries more value than Reliance. And unlike people, which generally don't change in fundamental thought process, a company can change its image significantly with change in leadership bringing new values.