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Entrepreneurs: Copying Success

by Miki Saxon

What a joke.

The US startup ecosystem is complaining (more like ranting) that Rocket Internet is a copycat/cloner/, even scamster, because they are successfully creating new businesses in various parts of the world mimicking the business process of successful US companies.

But, as the Inc article and Rocket Internet’s CEO Oliver Samwer point out, copying is as old as business.

Samwer says he doesn’t mind being called a copycat. “Most innovations come on top of other innovations, if you really look at it,” he says. To Samwer, Airbnb’s suggestion that Wimdu is a “scam” is as silly as the idea of Samsung’s alerting customers about a Vizio scam of developing a similar flat-screen television and selling it for less money. “There’s always competition,” he says. “We win because we take our work very seriously.”

Let’s get serious, folks.

  • Ford didn’t invent automobiles.
  • Boeing didn’t invent airplanes.
  • Apple didn’t invent computers, MP3 players or mobile phones.
  • Google didn’t invent the search engine.

The idea that most Silicon Valley startups are original is hilarious.

In fact, many of the current service darlings were done on Craig’s List long before they were a twinkle in their founder’s eye.

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There’s also a small company started by Jack Ma called Alibaba.com, which has many parts that mimic the same companies that Rocket does.

Not only that, but many of Rocket Internet startups are tailored for developing countries.

What I think has infuriates entrepreneurs is three-fold.

  1. They didn’t think of doing it first;
  2. even if they did funding wasn’t available in the US and finally,
  3. Rocket Internet is a German startup and Germany, as we all know, is highly risk adverse.

It’s also incredibly successful.

Since its founding in 2007 by Oliver Samwer, and his two younger brothers, Marc and Alex, Rocket Internet has helped launch over 70 companies across 50 countries, generating a combined revenue of $4 billion.

Note that the $4 billion is revenue, not valuation.

It’s called success—whether you approve of it or not.

Image credit: Andrew Parker/The Gong Show

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