James Siminoff

Competition is a way of life… deal with it

I remember when I started PhoneTag (back then SimulScribe).  Everyone who I would tell the idea to would immediately start to look for competitors.  I would always get an email 2-3 days later saying, “You are too late XYZ is already doing what you want to do”.  I think it is built into most people’s DNA to fear competition and want to be the only one.

Well in the case of voicemail to text it was not until we saw Spinvox in late 2005 that we realized that there was anyone else doing Voicemail to Text.  But who cares.  When I was single I was not the only guy in the bar trying to get a date but I still did (Sorry Erin).  When Google started doing search they were entering a fairly crowded and established market and they did OK.  Yet I hear lots of times “What happens if Google does what you are doing” (picture someone wiping their eyes and crying when they say that), my answer is, “If I can not make a business work amongst competitors then we should not be doing the business in the first place”.

Sorry for the rant, the catalyst behind this post was waking up to the announcement that my friends from Jott, John and Shree, launched a voicemail to text service today.  Over the last 2 years I have established a great personal relationship with the founders of Jott, as while they were in the same industry they were not competitors… that is until today…

Well I say good luck Jott, really I mean it.  You have a great team and I wish all of you success.

So why do I have such positive feelings towards Jott and wish them such luck when it could directly effect me?  Because as I said above, I have faced competition and won against competition all my life.  So while I say good luck Jott, I also am confident in what we have built and have been working on at PhoneTag for the last few years.  With the stuff that we will be announcing this year, I would definitely not want to compete with me:)