I agree, competition is somewhat of an after-thought when building a successful company. However I consider the comments "work hard, run faster" to be general knowledge, something that every blogger will tell you, what you'll hear at a start-up seminar. What I am interested in, and the reason d'etre of my post, is to hopefully read actual, real-life stories from the users of HN. I am sure there has to be at least a few interesting stories based on personal experience, considering most people here are hard-working indivuduals, driven to see their business succeed, not just write a few lines of code.

What I mean by start-up, is its literal definition - a business starting out, with very limited resources, small market share, no brand recognition. Nike and Adidas are already established brands / companies. I am assuming though, that they had similar woes when they first started out - its natural to have competition and to differentiate yourself and your brand from it.

What I would like to see, is a discussion along the lines of "Nike used special stitching in their shoes, and Adidas didn't, because they didn't feel it was important. The stitching caused the shoes to gain popularity." Preferrably for internet-related start-ups, not shoes. :)