Doesn't everyone think execution is more important than idea alone? Even he stole the idea, but after he unveiled his site, he definitely could not steal the idea from connectU any more. So if founders of ConnectU really competed their service against Facebook with a better product, will Facebook be like today? I guess most likely they were just sat and waited and maybe did not treat it seriously until it was too late.
And we see ConnectU's founders are much better in enjoy life outside their startup.
Because no one is really competing with Twitter on the exact same product category at the moment. Pownce and Friendfeed are different to Twitter.
I think the idea of traction is very dangerous. It gives an excuse for losing competitors to sooth their fragile hearts. But if you believe market is efficient and ruthless and if you agree that users vote with their browsers in Web 2.0 world, then the failure of the competitors should be attributed more to failing to give what users want than the winner has more traction!
Case in point? Google Search vs. Hotbot Search vs. Alta Vista Search vs. Windows Live Search and Yahoo! Search in U.S.
I am still in doubt that we just use "brand" and "habits" to cover the core questions in our thinking.
In the case of Ebay, what a buyer and a seller wants in common is there is a large pools of users in the site. So they have better chance to find the other end of the transaction. So even though currently eBay can't satisfy its users in different aspects, but they have the most important element in auction: a lot of users. This is the same for dating sites.
So to build a new competitor against eBay, the most important thing is to figure out how to convert users in eBay to the new competitors. I guess anyone who figure this out will reap the reward.
I just think we use "brand" and "habits" too much without reallying understanding the reality. A successful product or service must satisfy a demand. Even in soft drink market, where there is no difference between them. But each one uses a "brand image" to resort to different customers' psychology. So the product actually fulfill the need of consumers' desire to define themselves. From this point of view, they create a product that is what people want.
And we see ConnectU's founders are much better in enjoy life outside their startup.