To thrive in a competitive landscape, it's crucial to find the sweet spot between adopting industry best practices and fostering independent thought. The internet is teeming with advice on how to run a business, engage with customers, and design a product. However, the pitfall lies in blindly following these guidelines without injecting your own unique perspective. The key to standing out from the crowd isn't merely about being better, but about being different. This calls for insightful thinking and the bravery to chart your own course.

The recent demise of InVision, a formerly popular design tool, serves as a stark reminder of the intense competition that once existed in the design space. Figma dedicated a decade to developing a tool that allowed product designers to design and prototype their software. Meanwhile, Sketch experienced a rise and fall in popularity, and a host of add-on tools like Abstract and InVision Studio sprouted up, trying to ride the wave of popularity. Canva, on the other hand, carved out a niche for itself by focusing on creating a design tool for the masses, with few daring to challenge them.

It's difficult to pinpoint why some products succeed and others don't, but one thing is clear: those that triumphed had the audacity to think independently and resisted the temptation to merely mimic their competitors.