It doesn’t matter that it’s been done before.

SpaceX launches cost less than 1/20th of NASA’s. The iPod was not the first music player. The Tesla was not the first car.

My life is full of examples of great products that were replaced by even better ones:

• Figma replaced Sketch, which replaced Photoshop for UI design.
• Linear replaced Trello, Jira, and PivotalTracker.
• Notion replaced all note-taking apps I used.
• Superhuman replaced Gmail, Sparrow, and Mail. There’s also Hey, and I’m excited for Notion’s new email app.
• Notion Calendar replaced Google Calendar.
• PocketCasts replaced Overcast, which replaced Apple Podcasts.
• Slack replaced Campfire.
• Readwise Reader replaced Google Reader.
• Pitch and Figma Slides replaced Powerpoint and Google Slides.
• Kit replaced Mailchimp.
• Google Sheets and Docs replace Excel and Word.

Yes, entering a crowded market is hard, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t huge opportunity there.

Don’t let yourself be stopped because it has been done before. Ask if you can do it on a level that makes the status quo look like sticks and stones.

You don’t have to be first; you just have to be better.

And if you have a successful product, don’t assume it will stay that way. If you don’t innovate, someone else will.