 When to release? 
bjclark: I think you should launch as soon as your service provides enough value to someone that they should care. If no one cares, it doesn't provide enough value (for whatever reason). If people do care, then you know your on to something.If you launch before you provide enough value, no one will care.If you wait to launch, you are only doing yourself a disservice by delaying or prolonging the feedback cycle. You should be doing the opposite, figuring out how to make your feedback cycle as short as possible.Worrying about competitors at this stage is dumb. You could only be so lucky as to have an idea good enough that someone would care enough to try to challenge you for it.