I recently saw a post from Ryan Babenzien at Jolie calling out an issue that founders deal with that hits hard.
Competitors making knockoffs of a product that you poured your heart and soul into.
If you are building something original, this moment will come.
It is incredibly frustrating. It is flattering. More than anything else, it is distracting.
When you spend years developing a concept, testing variations, and risking your own capital, seeing someone try to take a shortcut stings. Your immediate reaction is anger. You want to call them out. You want to send letters. You want to spend all your time proving they ripped you off.
That playbook is cooked.
Expending energy trying to fight copycats pulls you away from the reason you built your business in the first place.
At Laundry Sauce, we built an 8-figure business by doing something nobody else was doing. We made laundry feel cool for the first time. We took a boring, overlooked household chore and turned it into an experience.
That resonated with customers. And because it resonated with customers, it attracted the knockoffs.
We have seen several brands try to follow our blueprint. They pop up out of nowhere.
We started noticing similar scent profiles. Then we saw nearly identical scent names.
Next came the packaging. It was flat out the same packaging “inspiration.” They looked at our boxes and decided to skip the design phase completely.
Then we looked at their websites. It was copy-and-paste messaging. They literally lifted the way we talk to our customers and slapped it onto their own brand.
Honestly, I get it.
Building a brand from scratch is hard. Figuring out a unique value proposition takes time. It is much easier to just look at a winner and hit duplicate.
But here is what I have learned.
Getting copied is part of the territory when you are doing something right. It is not a signal to panic. It is a signal to double down.
Competitors can borrow the surface, but they can not borrow the soul.
If you are a founder dealing with this right now, you have to shift your mindset. You cannot let the knockoffs distract you. You have to embrace the situation, keep your head down, and focus on what actually moves the needle.
Here is exactly where your energy should go.
Make Amazing Products
A copycat can replicate your packaging. They can rip off your marketing copy. But they rarely want to put in the work required to match your product quality.
Copycats are looking for a quick win. They want high margins and fast cash. They do not have a relentless focus on excellence.
This is your biggest advantage. Let them sell a subpar version of your vision. You just keep making the best product in the world. When customers try the knockoff, they will eventually realize it falls short. They will come looking for the real deal. Stay obsessed with your supply chain, your ingredients, and your final output.
Create an Unforgettable Customer Experience
People do not just buy a product. They buy into a brand. They buy the way you make them feel.
We focus heavily on this at Laundry Sauce. From the moment someone clicks on an ad to the moment they open the box in their laundry room, we want them to feel something special.
Knockoff brands do not care about the customer experience. Their customer support is usually nonexistent. Their unboxing experience is cheap. They do not engage with their community.
You beat copycats by treating your customers so well that they would never dream of leaving you for a cheap imitation. Building real relationships does not scale easily. That is exactly why you need to do it.
Innovate Instead of Imitate
The fundamental flaw of a copycat business model is that they are always playing catch up.
By the time they figure out how to replicate your last product launch, you should already be rolling out your next one. You are the one setting the pace. They are just trying to keep up.
If you stop innovating because you are worried about someone stealing your ideas, you lose. You have to keep moving forward. Stay scrappy. Stay hungry. Let them study your past while you build the future.
The Soul of Your Brand
Knockoffs might follow your moves. They will never match your “why.”
When we started Laundry Sauce, we had a very clear vision. Every late night, every stressful supply chain issue, every financial risk was fueled by that vision. We have skin in the game. We actually care about what we are building.
A copycat does not have that drive. When things get difficult, they will fold. When the market shifts, they will not know how to pivot because they never understood the underlying mechanics of why the brand worked in the first place.
Critics do not know sh*t. Neither do the copycats.
They just see the success. They do not see the years of getting s*** done that it took to get there.
Running a business is hard. Dealing with cheap knockoffs makes it harder. But you know you have built something legit when other people try to claim it as their own.
If you are a founder dealing with the same thing, remember this. Your energy is better spent building greatness. Do not let them pull you into the mud. Keep your focus on your team, your customers, and your execution.
Keep going.