I'm not sure this is a SV mantra. Plenty of companies with products in spaces with lots of players get funded by very good VCs. Stripe. Zoom. Snowflake. 50 other data analytics companies. Arguably Airbnb. Lots of CRMs.
I guess so. IIRC somewhere Ben Horowitz talks about the fact that you are just going to have to face competition? I (and I guess others) often try to think of "new" ideas when anecdotally "better mousetraps" seem to have a better track record.
I long ago rid myself of any conceit in originality in going to market. There is much more security in aiming at large and compounding markets with such a wedge as this company. The difficult part is in convincing investors who are looking to party. Quite simply: you can't.
It would be much easier to fundraise if people saw competition as a healthy barometer for entrance. Google and the search engine is a famous example.