Hi there, a YC company 'pivoted' into copying our product completely, even the API calls. I discovered that, noticing their employees in our Slack Community channel. As a female founder, having my app rejected by YC with this product, it just makes me angry. What can we do, apart from, of course continuing on our mission??
Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
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Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#2Unless they stole something proprietary, you don't really have many options beyond doing your product better than them.
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#3It sucks, but the only thing to do is kick ass in the field. The more successful you are, the more companies will copy you. We had companies with 30 or even 100 people hard pivot into an exact clone of our company when it was clear we had traction. We just have to keep out executing
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#4I guess this is why VCs don't sign NDAs.
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#5Just keep building. Ideas are cheap. Focus on execution.
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#6Stop talking about it and call a law firm. Your local Bar Association will be able to give you a list of firms/attorneys that practice in this area, or your existing lawyer may have a recommendation. Many law firms will give you a short consultation for free. Bring a succinct written summary of the facts with you that briefly describes the product, how you discovered the issue, and what you found when you investigated, with dates. Include a list of evidence items you have already collected. Litigation is difficult and expensive, but if you have a strong case (and it sounds like you do) then the law firm may take it on contingency in return for a larger portion of the settlement/judgment.
EDIT: I wouldn't trust the opinions of the 'just execute better' posters here, considering your competitors' employees already infiltrated your slack channel.
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#7Unless they literally stole your code, or had access to privileged information from your YC application or something, I doubt there is much you can do. It's not illegal to enter the same business as an existing company, or even to make an app that does the exact same thing. Where it starts to get iffy is when you start talking about people literally copying your HTML/CSS or what-not. Is that the case here? If so, call a lawyer. If not, ignore them and just execute better.
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#8Stop talking about it and call a law firm. Your local Bar Association will be able to give you a list of firms/attorneys that practice in this area, or your existing lawyer may have a recommendation. Many law firms will give you a short consultation for free. Bring a succinct written summary of the facts with you that briefly describes the product, how you discovered the issue, and what you found when you investigate…
Unless it was patented or the code copied, it's unlikely that it's illegal. But I'm not a lawyer.
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#9Just keep building. Ideas are cheap. Focus on execution.
And compete with YCs resources, right...
Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?
#10Throw a rock through their window.