Why I Like Competition

Sam Goldman
CEO, D.light Design

I’m often asked about d.light‘s competition, especially by journalists who are probably fishing for a juicy quote. This is the response I typically give, and I’m sticking by it: 

We welcome competition. In fact, many of our direct competitors are people with whom I have very congenial relationships. Occasionally we’ll chat about our shared goals and challenges, and even engage in a friendly debate about murky areas like social impact metrics.

Not only do I respect and appreciate our competitors, but I think they’re necessary. As we always say, there are about 1.6 billion people in the world without access to electricity. Even under the best of scenarios, d.light isn’t going to be reaching all of them anytime soon. There is plenty of space for others to participate in our shared vision of improving the quality of life for off-grid families. The more partners we have in developing cool products and getting them out there to rural areas, the sooner we can achieve that vision.

I also appreciate our competitors because they push me and my team to do better. There is no room to be complacent when someone I know to be smart, passionate, and well-resourced is coming up right behind us. We have to continue to innovate and improve if we want to retain our existing customers and increase our market share. We have to make better products, expand our distribution, and improve our customer service to differentiate ourselves from other brands. And, in turn, our competitors will do the same.

The best part of all is that our customers are the ones that benefit the most.

There is one competitor, though, for which I have no fond feelings: kerosene lanterns. One of the earliest catch-phrases that we used around the d.light office was, "Let’s make kerosene lanterns history." This is the competition for which we save all our vitriol, and rightly so. Kerosene lanterns lock families in a low standard of living, while polluting their air, eating up their savings, endangering their children, and providing extremely dim light. Our customers should have the option to choose a better alternative–one that’s brighter, safer and more affordable.

D.light wants to offer that alternative. But so do our competitors. Which, in my mind, is a great thing.

Next blog post: Why I Don’t Like Copycats