Channing

This is one of the topics I rarely talk about, but I think it's worth sharing. During the early days, LogSnag was one of the most cloned indie products in this community. I'm sure some of you still remember. At some point, it had turned into a weekly thing. I would get tagged or receive DMs from people who found a new clone of pretty much everything, including the landing page, design, features, copy, and even the name. I used to find it frustrating, annoying, and sometimes demotivating to wake up and see a bunch of DMs about yet another clone. It really sucked for a while until I started to see that almost none of them were able to get any traction or stick around for longer than a few weeks or months at best. The problem was that people would see a product that was starting to get some traction and default to the "I can build that over the weekend" mentality without putting any thought into the problem, market, or audience. Whip up a surface-level clone, launch it (piss off the original creator), and then wonder why it's not working and move to the next shiny object. So here's some advice for both sides of this situation: If you're building something and you start seeing clones pop up, don't worry. It's a good sign that you're onto something. Just keep building, keep improving, and keep listening to your users. Very few can execute beyond the initial clone phase and the ones who can will not be cloning your product. They will be building something uniquely theirs. Don't let it demotivate you, and don't give them any attention. It may piss you off for a while, but it'll eventually pass, and you'll be glad you didn't waste your time on them. If you're the one building the clone, stop and think for a second. Why are you building this? What problem are you solving? Who are you building it for? What makes yours any different? Products are usually much deeper than the surface-level features that you see. If you don't understand the problem, the market, or the audience, you're not going to be able to build something that sticks. And if you're not building something that sticks, you're probably wasting your time. It's totally fine to be inspired by other products or enter a competitive market, but you have to bring something new to the table. You need a unique angle, a unique approach, and a unique value proposition. You also have to go in with the mindset that you're in it for the long haul. Building a product is not a weekend project. It'll take time, effort, and a lot of patience. Don't ruin your brand, reputation, or relationship with the community with some low-effort clone. It's not worth it.