Founders: UI can be a game changer. Sometimes we see late entrants becoming market leaders with a re-imagined UI. (Examples include Gmail, Tinder, and Slack). But remember, what it takes isn’t just pretty pixels, it’s the whole user experience.
One time, we asked teams to test-run a few different SaaS software so we can decide which one to officially use. Turned out, all these software had pretty much the same feature sets (this happens often in B2B SaaS, as everyone copies from one another to provide an entire “suite”).
Over time, one emerged as the group favorite; interestingly, people couldn’t really put finger on and articulate why they liked this particular software. Maybe it was the choice of the font. Maybe it was the faster loading speed by a few miliseconds. Maybe it was more friendly user-guiding messages. Users can’t explain, but they know it when they’re using a software that’s efficient and pleasant to use.
You might be able to build a very successful company without necessarily inventing a new industry category by closely examining what users do and providing a vastly superior UI/UX.