So, how do you compete with these multimillion-, if not multibillion-, dollar companies out there?

所以你該怎麼和這些市面上擁有數百萬，或是數十億資產的公司競爭呢？

Hey, everyone, I'm Neil Patel, and today, I'm gonna teach you how a bootstrapped startup out-marketed a multimillion-dollar company.

嘿，大家，我是 Neil Patel，今天我要來教你草根創業公司是如何勝過擁有數百萬資產的公司。

One of the companies I created is called Kissmetrics.

我創立的其中一家公司叫 Kissmetrics。

I no longer work there, but you've probably heard of it.

我已經沒有在那裡工作了，但你也許聽過。

If not, you can check it out.

如果沒有聽過，你可以去查看看。

When I was there, I raised millions of dollars.

當我還在那裡時，我籌到了好幾百萬。

That company raised anywhere between 15 and 20 million dollars.

那家公司募到一千五百萬到兩千萬美金之間的金額。

That's a lot of cash.

那是好大的一筆錢。

We had a competitor called Mixpanel.

我們有一家競爭公司叫 Mixpanel。

Do you know [what] the difference between Mixpanel and us was?

你知道 Mixpanel 和我們之間的差別嗎？

They raised a lot less money when they were starting off and their product didn't really have any innovation.

他們剛創立時募到的資金比我們少得多，且他們的產品一點都不創新。

When we started off we created a new product for our market.

剛開始時，我們創造了一個新的產品。

Mixpanel took our exact designs, they copied them, they released them, they out-marketed us, they raised very little to no money, and they ended up becoming worth more money.

Mixpanel 用了我們的設計，複製並發佈它們，他們在市場上勝過我們，他們募到少到幾乎沒有的資金，而他們最後卻成為價值更多錢的公司。

How much more?

多多少呢？

Well, at one point, they were worth over 800 million dollars, according to TechCrunch.com, and we weren't even worth 100 million dollars.

事實是，在某一個時刻，根據 TechCrunch.com ，他們價值超過八億美金，而我們甚至價值不到一億美金。

How can that be when we get way more traffic than them, right?

當我們比他們市場更好時，那怎麼會發生呢，對吧？

If you go to Alexa.com, our Alexa rank on Kissmetrics.com is way better than Mixpanel.

如果你去 Alexa.com，我們在 Kissmetrics.com 的 Alexa 排名比 Mixpanel 好很多。

And the blog on Kissmetrics.com gets over a million unique visitors a month.

而且在 Kissmetrics.com 的部落格每個月都有超過一百萬的獨特訪客數。

So how is it?

所以是怎麼一回事呢？

They decided to go the freemium route.

他們決定採免費增值的路線。

They took our product, copied the designs, and be like, "You know what? [It] Doesn't matter if our product is better or worse than yours, we're just gonna take it and release a free version out to the market."

他們採用我們的商品、拷貝我們的設計，然後說：「你知道嗎？我們的商品比你們的好或是差一點都不重要，我們就是要利用它，發佈一個免費的版本到市場上。」

Nothing beats cheaper price.

沒有任何東西可以擊敗便宜的價格。

If someone's charging a lot of money and you can create the exact replica of that product or service and release a free version of it, even if it doesn't have all the features, you will crush your competitors.

如果有個人索取高價，而你可以創造出和那個商品一模一樣的複製品或是服務，並投放一個免費的版本，即使它沒有全部的功能，你仍能重擊你的競爭對手。

Why?

為什麼？

Because people are price sensitive.

因為人們對價錢很敏感。

And no one wants to pay thousands of dollars for something that they can get for free.

沒有人會願意付好幾千塊買一樣他們可以免費獲得的東西。

And when Mixpanel released that product for free, they said, "Hey, if you're on the free plan, you need to put a Mixpanel badge on your website, showing that we provide you analytics."

當 Mixpanel 免費發佈該產品時，他們說：「嘿，如果你正免費使用它，你必須在你的網站上放一個 Mixpanel 的標誌，顯示是我們提供你數據的。」

And a lot of startups were like⏤and companies even⏤they're like, "Okay, sure, we'll put your badge if you give us your product for free in a limited version."

很多的創業公司，甚至是大公司都覺得：「好啊，沒問題。如果你讓我們免費使用一個功能有限制的版本，我們可以放上你的標誌，」

That's how they grew.

這就是他們成長的方法。

So, if you want to grow your company faster, you don't necessarily have to create a better product or service than these big, multimillion-dollar companies.

所以如果你想要讓你的公司成長得更快，你不一定要做出比那些擁有數百萬的大公司更好的產品或是服務。

Just figure out how you can offer more for less money or a portion of your product or service for free.

只要去想你如何以更低的價錢提供更多，或是免費提供你的部分商品或是服務。

If you do that, you'll grow really fast and these big companies have no choice but to buy you.

如果你這樣做，你將會成長得非常快，這些大公司除了購買你的產品之外，沒有其它的選擇。

It's the same reason why Intuit bought Mint.com.

這也是為什麼 Intuit 買下 Mint.com 的原因。

It's not that Mint.com was the best service out there; they just had a really good free service.

並不是因為 Mint.com 是市面上最好的服務，他們就只是有個非常好的免費服務。

And Intuit, this multibillion-dollar company was like, "Whoa, this startup is gonna eat our lunch; we can't lose billions of dollars from this. Let's just buy 'em for a few hundred million dollars."

而 Intuit，這家擁有數十億的公司發現說：「哇，這家新創公司會把我們的市場吃掉。我們不能因為這樣而失去數十億美金。我們就用幾億美金買下他們吧。」

That's how the world works.

那正是世界運作的方式。

So, release something for free or cheaper than your competition, and eventually, you'll start gaining on their market share.

所以免費提供一些東西或是比你的競爭對手便宜，最後你將會開始從他們的市場獲利。