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You Do Not Need Originality. Ordinary People Should Copy Successful People.

The Problem I Had With Blue Ocean Strategy

About 20 years ago, I studied Blue Ocean Strategy in an MBA program.

The idea is to avoid highly competitive markets and create a new market where there are no competitors yet. As a theory, it is very elegant. But even back then, something about it felt slightly wrong to me.

Can an ordinary person really find such a market so easily?

There are many smart people in the world. Large companies spend huge amounts of money on market research. Investors and entrepreneurs are constantly looking for new business opportunities.

In that environment, the chance that I would suddenly discover a market that nobody else had noticed seems quite low.

Of course, it is not zero. The chance of winning the lottery is not zero either.

Is “Nobody Is Doing This” Really an Opportunity?

In startups and indie development, I often hear people say, “Nobody is doing this service yet.”

They usually say it with confidence. But when I hear it, I often feel worried instead.

Why is nobody doing it?

Did everyone in the world really fail to notice it? Or did hundreds of people already think of the same idea, research it, and conclude that it was not worth doing?

There are plenty of people smarter than me. At least I am not confident enough to believe that I alone have made a once-in-a-century discovery.

Some people are happy when they search on Google and find no competitors. But that may not mean the market is open. It may mean the market does not exist.

You may find an ocean where nobody is swimming, call it a blue ocean, jump in, and then realize there are no fish.

I think this is common in indie development.

If Someone Is Already Making Money, That Is Reassuring

By contrast, a market where someone is already making money is much easier to understand.

There are customers who pay. You can see the price range. You can observe where customers are being acquired.

The people who came before you have already spent their own time and money doing market research.

So you should study them.

People often say, “There are too many competitors, so I cannot enter this market.” But an individual does not need to capture 30 percent market share.

If you want to make 100,000 yen a month, you only need 10 customers paying 10,000 yen a month. That is a rounding error in the overall market.

And yet, individuals often start talking like corporate strategy departments, saying, “This market is too competitive, so entry will be difficult.”

Are you planning to go public?

Ordinary people should not aim for market domination. It is enough to win a small portion of the customers that the early players are missing.

Japan And China Grew Through Catch-Up Strategies

The word “copying” has a bad image. But if you look at economic history, catch-up strategies have been used very widely.

After World War II, Japan studied Western technologies and products, then entered global markets by making them cheaper and higher quality. China also grew rapidly by adopting technologies and business models from advanced economies.

Of course, during that process, some companies developed their own technologies and strengths.

The important point is the order.

They did not begin by trying to create something nobody in the world had ever imagined. They first studied the leaders, caught up, improved what already existed, and then turned those improvements into their own strengths.

If this strategy has been used even at the national level, why does an individual who has just started a side business need to become an innovator on day one?

That may be overestimating yourself a little.

Searching For Originality Can Become An Excuse Not To Act

“My idea is not clear yet.”

“I am still thinking about a service that feels like me.”

“I have not found enough differentiation from others.”

People say these things, and then six months pass. A year passes.

Meanwhile, someone who studied successful people and quickly released a product has already failed many times. They have changed the price, changed the sales approach, and gradually learned how customers respond.

It is obvious which person is moving forward.

Originality is a very convenient word.

If you say you have not found your own style yet, you do not have to launch a product. You do not have to do sales. Naturally, you do not have to fail.

You can turn the reality of not making money into a creative problem.

To put it a bit harshly, I think searching for originality is a very convenient hobby for people who do not take action.

I Copy Other People Too

I write blog posts in English and publish on LinkedIn for an international audience.

This is not a method I invented. I started because I saw other people getting work through similar methods and thought it might work for me too.

AI-assisted development is the same. I look at how people use it well, then apply those methods to my own work. If something does not fit, I stop using it.

I do not need a unique personal philosophy of AI development.

First, I want results.

People who have produced results can talk about philosophy afterward.

If you are going to spend six months thinking, “What is something only I can do?”, it would be better to research 10 people who are already making money in the same field.

What are they selling? How much do they charge? Where do they find customers? Study that structure thoroughly.

Of course, I am not saying you should copy their product or writing word for word. What you should copy is the proven structure of a successful business.

Even if you use the same structure, your background, skills, and personality are different. As you keep doing the work, differences will naturally appear. You can call those differences originality later.

There is no need to search for your own style from the beginning.

At least I have no intention of searching for a blue ocean and drifting alone in a sea where nobody exists.

If someone nearby is catching fish, I will first look at what they are using.

Someone who has not caught a single fish but is busy thinking about “their own unique way of fishing” does not look as cool as they think.

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