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pCreating competitive advantage may be the single most critical and least comprehended concept in emerging growth technology companies.nbsp; This post is part of a series that joins competitive advantage to establishing and executing business growth strategies and a href=http://blog.openviewpartners.com target=_blankcompany development strategies/a.nbsp; br /br /In my last post, I introduced the principle of creating competitive advantage to a href=http://www.openviewpartners.com target=_blankbusiness growth strategies/a and company development.br /br /This post addresses the question strongwhat is competitive advantage?/strongbr /br /Competitive Advantage Resultsbr /a/abr /strongIf you have a competitive advantage over your competitors, you will be able to win more than your fair share of customers in your target market without needing to compete with price/strong.br /br /Competitive Advantage Definedbr /br /a href=http://www.openviewpartners.com target=_blankCreating competitive advantage/a in your target product market boils down to two things:br /br /1. Creating somethingstrong unique from your competitors/strongbr /br /2. Creating some thingnbsp; yourstrong target customers will perceive as significantly more valuable than their alternatives /strong(including your direct competitors offerings, a home-growth solution, or undertaking nothing)br /br /Net net, if you develop and present stronghigh unique value/strong in the minds of your target customers, you have created competitive advantage.br /br /Competitive Advantage- The Confusionbr /br /Many people today become perplexed by the concept of competitive advantage. I believe it is because they listen to a lot of confusing terms like sustainable competitive advantage or long-term competitive advantage.nbsp; These terms basically mean you created competitive advantage to (most likely) maintain your lead for a long period of time.nbsp; Though everybody would agree its a good thing to create competitive advantage that endures for prolonged periods of time, it nevertheless boils down to undertaking something different and making certain that those differences are perceived as more valuable by your target customers. The longer you can preserve these differences, the better!br /br /Competitive Advantage- My Examplesbr /br /Examples of competitive advantage are all over the place.nbsp; Just pick your favorite product or company and look at it from the position of uniqueness and value to you.nbsp; Some of my examples consist of:br /br /- strongPorsche/strong – They possess a uniquely styled 911 series, wonderful performance, and fits all 6 3 of me (very few others do)br /br /- strongVirgin America/strong – I discussed them previouslybr /br /- strongZappos/strong – They are the Nordstroms of online products, with wonderful customer service (supported by their company aspirations)br /br /- strongGoogle/strong – Allows me to very, very quickly locate what I am searching for and just worksbr /br /- strongCentral Desktop/strong – Gives the people in my firm the ability to share documents very easily and run meetings with ease.nbsp; The real advantage for me is the ease of setting up and altering details. (note: it is also a portfolio company)br /br /- strongFacebook/strong – In my experience, it has one of the least complicated and very best user experiences and also continues to accumulate all of my old friends and help reconnect them to me (the more of my friends they have, the more unique value to me).br /br /strongWhat is your unique value in the eyes of your customers?nbsp; What unique value can you create for your customers?/strongnbsp; If you can clearly articulate it, you have taken the initial step toward creating more competitive advantage!nbsp; All you need to do now is answer your prospects question why should I use your product? and your answer should speak to your prospect./p
pScott Maxwell is the founder and Senior Managing Director of OpenView Venture Partners./p