Fascinating comment from Arnold Waldstein in relation to a Fred Wilson blog post regarding conflict and the perception of conflict:

Marketplaces are all about competition for consumers’ dollars. In new segments it’s all about creating a market and consumer behavior. More generalized segments, you end up both slicing off pieces of the incumbent and doing end runs.

Interesting thought that leaves me thinking today. Here’s my take-away: when doing something new, I can’t just think about the new thing and the customers I’m serving — the job to be done — but I also must think about what I am pulling customers away from and the job they hired that product or service to do. While I’ve been thinking about this issue, I haven’t quite thought about it that succinctly.