When asked about his upstart’s possible competitors, I recently heard a CEO say: “We have no competition.”

Oh really? Statements like this just make me cringe. I actually find myself embarrassed for how stupid such a person involved in business sounds when saying something like this. What’s worse, the individual in questions actually runs a commoditized website. What does a commodity product tell us kids? A whole lotta competition, that’s what.

All facetiousness aside, you really owe it to yourself, your company, and your product to determine weaknesses and challenges, never underestimating your competition, both direct and indirect (they both exist).