---
title: "Are You Creating a New Market or Serving an Existing One?"
section: "Market"
sectionId: "market"
date: "2026-05"
---

Two consumer subscription companies illustrate the difference clearly: Spotify and Calm.

## Spotify — serving a market that already existed

The market for Spotify was clear: everyone loves music. Consumers would love all the music in the world catalogued and instantly accessible for a small monthly fee.

The issue wasn't proving demand — it was figuring out the rights issues that plagued music startups in the past. Spotify **knew** their market existed; they just had to figure out how to avoid making the same mistakes as Napster.

## Calm — creating a market from scratch

When Calm launched, their market did not exist. They helped create it by building a great product and launching at exactly the right moment — just as the general population was becoming aware of self-care.

Calm did not know for sure there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But their product was so good it helped create the market they now exist in.

## Great products create markets

Some of history's most valuable companies built their market rather than finding one:

- **Uber** — created the on-demand ride market and the gig economy
- **Airbnb** — created the short-term home-sharing market
- **Calm** — created the mainstream meditation and mental wellness market

The lesson: if your market doesn't exist yet, that isn't necessarily a red flag. The question is whether your product is strong enough to pull people in and whether the timing is right.