Ben-Rowe.com

Only 3 weeks ago I blogged about TweetMyTee.com. My little idea for a T-Shirt business, using amusing Tweets.

But it’s dead.

Because Threadless had the same good idea. So last week, they launched twitter.threadless.com. Bugger.

Ahh, I should have known that Threadless and Twitter were in cahoots. Anyway, I’ve decided to let my Tweet My Tee project go, because:

1. Threadless have a HUGE fanbase, and an email newsletter subsciber list to die for
2. I don’t stand a chance at competing against their might
3. This was only a side-side project for me
4. Their homepage looks fabulous and is well co-ordinated with Twitter itself
5. The website is much more appealing than my little spreadshirt shop ever could be
6. They’re paying $500 per winning T-shirt!
7. They’re already a T-Shirt company. I’m just a kid with a laptop
8. This idea has generated a huge amount of blogosphere buzz for Threadless, resulting in tonnes of submissions.

I’m not bitter. Not at all. Threadless have nailed the idea. The execution is perfect. They are an amazing company, and this is a perfect fit for them.

For me, it’s been a good lesson in “Fail and fail fast”. Every winning entreprenuer talks about their failure stories. This, I guess, is my first (but not my last). I lost this one, but I’ll be back with plenty more ideas. You’ll see.

Besides, Twitter T-Shirts will be “So 2009″ in 2010. And at least I know that you know that I LAUNCHED IT FIRST!

(Of course, you can still by the 2 TweetMyTee.com t-shirts whenever you like. Who knows, they may be worth something someday)