Is your product just another product's feature in the future?..

Recently, I read about location based services being just an added feature and not a full pledged product on itself in the very near future.. I believe we can say that about so many products, possibly many of Today's startups are just features in the not so far future.

With huge Internet monopolies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook, it's very easy for them to add a full product as just a feature iteration on their huge platforms. Also, most of the products that many startups are being built on these days are only features and once they get popular, they'll have to be integrated with larger platforms to gain any usage traction for them to become good business.

Apart from location based services, other startup/product types that could end up as features in other products in the future are collaboration tools. A good example is how Myspace swallowed Threadbox.

This list of products that are future's potential features goes on, including messaging services and so on...

So should you look into the glass ball to see if the product you have been killing yourself to bring to market will end up being copied and offered to millions of users as part of another product in the future? Well, this is really hard to say...

Whoever builds a startup is totally aware of the risks they are taking because whatever they are building is not guaranteed to bring results. With all the risk awareness, its still heart aching to see a big company take an idea that is genius and that you first developed to market just because they have more manpower and distribution to execute better and much faster than you and your small team.

This fact shouldn't stop you though from developing an innovative product even though it could possibly be taken from you. What you should do instead is work tirelessly and smartly to get the first mover advantage and once you gain traction, expand your product further by adding utility features and keeping your potential competitors on their toes. Also keep in mind there is always the pivot. If you are not doing well in a market, look at other potential use of the technology you've built and do a quick shift. The pivot also works when you build a product and find out your market doesn't exist or its too small.

Lastly, the ability of your product to be integrated into another product as a feature may be a blessing to you in disguise. Especially when you have competing big companies in that market space, it will turn out as a good thing for you because you'll most probably be approached and if you are lucky and your product is good you'll possibly get acquired by the big company.

From day one, you can put this in your exit plan or even start building a product just to be acquired and integrated as a feature into a larger company's product.