> if they hadn't paid attention to Snapchat, would they have come up with it?
There's a big difference between large established players and new startups. Established players can't just grow, they need to protect what they have so that their base doesn't drop out from underneath them. New startups are default-dead and don't have anything to protect yet.
Furthermore: oftentimes, big players offer customers a boatload of features, and most customers don't use nearly all of those features. If you mindlessly copy features, then you aren't paying attention to whether those are the features your small but developing customer base actually wants. The only way to know what features your customers actually care about is to talk to your customers.
There's a big difference between large established players and new startups. Established players can't just grow, they need to protect what they have so that their base doesn't drop out from underneath them. New startups are default-dead and don't have anything to protect yet.
Furthermore: oftentimes, big players offer customers a boatload of features, and most customers don't use nearly all of those features. If you mindlessly copy features, then you aren't paying attention to whether those are the features your small but developing customer base actually wants. The only way to know what features your customers actually care about is to talk to your customers.