“Being an open-source alternative to any big incumbent isn't a surefire success. You need to reach at least feature parity with the existing tools in the market and then you need to out ship them. You want to become the clear successor to the incumbents, not just be an alternative that's also there.”

Reach feature parity first, then out-ship incumbents to become the clear successor

Mark frames open-source competition as a two-stage race: match the incumbent on must-have features, then use community-driven velocity to surpass them. Stopping at parity leaves you a footnote; continuous shipping converts GitHub stars into switching momentum and eventually paying customers.