If Anyone Can Do It, No One Should: The CENTS Commandment We Keep Ignoring

A few months ago I wrote about validating ideas correctly. Today I want to go one step earlier: the mistake that happens before validation.

Look, the most cited stat in the digital entrepreneurship world is that 34% of businesses fail because they build something nobody wants. Fair. That’s real. But there’s another equally devastating mistake almost nobody mentions:

Entering markets where competition crushes you before you can do anything.

And the worst part is it’s predictable from day one.

The framework that separates viable businesses from disguised traps

MJ DeMarco proposed five commandments for evaluating any business idea. He calls them CENTS:

• Control: Do you own critical assets or depend on platforms that could shut you down tomorrow?
• Entry: How hard is it to enter this business?
• Need: Does it solve a real problem someone will pay for?
• Scale: Can it grow without you growing?
• Time: Does it generate income when you’re not working?

Each one matters. But there’s one most people evaluate poorly—or simply ignore.

Entry: the commandment we most underestimate

Here’s DeMarco’s golden rule on Entry:

If a business can be replicated in ten minutes, it violates the commandment.

Simple. Brutal. And most people ignore it because they’re too busy looking at the demand side.

They think: “There’s a lot of people searching for this. There’s a market.” And they’re right. But demand without entry barriers isn’t an opportunity—it’s a trap.

Think about it: if you can enter, so can a thousand other people. And if a thousand others are offering exactly the same thing, the only remaining differentiator is price. That’s a race to the bottom very few survive.

Classic cases of Entry violated

Generic dropshipping. The promise was attractive: set up a store, find a supplier, start selling. The problem is that same “opportunity” could be replicated by anyone with an internet connection. And they did. Thousands of them. Result: crushed margins and a price war nobody won except the suppliers.

Curation newsletters with no unique angle. In 2024 and 2025 the newsletter format exploded. And with it, a flood of newsletters “curating the best of the week” on the same topics. Entry barrier? Zero. Result? Only those with unique perspective, a pre-existing audience, or both survived.

YouTube channels on saturated topics. Validation tools like Google Trends or search volume can show you real demand. What they don’t show you is how many channels already serve that demand and how deeply. Seeing 10,000+ monthly searches on a topic is a positive demand signal, yes. But if there are a hundred channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers covering exactly that, the Entry barrier doesn’t exist.

How to evaluate Entry before committing time and money

This is where CENTS gets practical. Before validating whether there’s demand, ask yourself these questions about barriers:

1. How long would it take someone to replicate this?

If the honest answer is “a few hours” or “a weekend,” you have a problem. Not unsolvable, but you need to identify what you’ll do differently that isn’t equally replicable.

2. What does it take to actually compete?

Not to enter. To compete. There are markets where entry is easy but competing requires time, capital, relationships, or accumulated knowledge. That friction is your ally.

Example: anyone can open a web development agency. But building reputation in a specific niche, with solid case studies and verifiable references, takes years. That time is a real barrier.

3. Do you have something that’s not trivially copyable?

Owned distribution. Deep niche knowledge. Proprietary technology. Contact networks. Exclusive data access. Any of these create real friction.

Without this, you’re playing on quicksand.

The Control trap that amplifies the Entry problem

There’s a second CENTS commandment directly connected to Entry: Control.

Many entrepreneurs, detecting a market with some demand, rely on external platforms for distribution: Amazon, YouTube, LinkedIn, an app store. Using them at the start is fine.

The problem is building your entire strategy on top of a platform you don’t control.

Amazon can change commissions. YouTube can tank organic reach. A social network can penalize your account. It’s happened before and will keep happening in 2026.

When you combine low Entry barriers (anyone can do the same) with platform dependency (you don’t control distribution), you have the perfect recipe for a fragile business. Lots of effort, little resilience.

What CENTS forces you to do differently

The framework doesn’t tell you to avoid competitive markets. It tells you that if you enter, you need a real reason to be there that can’t be replicated in ten minutes.

That reason might be:

• Proprietary technology that improves efficiency or results
• Specific niche where you’re the most specialized
• Owned distribution not dependent on third-party algorithms
• Accumulated knowledge that takes time to build
• Network or relationships hard to replicate

When I ran my own ideas through this filter last year, I found most failed on Entry. Not because the idea was bad, but because I hadn’t thought about what differentiated me beyond “I’ll do it better than others.” That’s not a barrier. That’s hope.

Before launching, run your idea through these three questions

1. How long does it take someone to copy it? If the answer is less than a week, define your differentiation layer before building.
2. Do you depend on a platform to reach your customers? If yes, what’s your plan when that platform changes the rules?
3. Is there real demand? Use tools like Google Trends or organic search volume to verify people are actively searching for a solution. Sustained 10,000+ monthly searches is a solid signal.

Order matters: Entry first, then demand. Most people do it backwards.

The real takeaway

I’m not saying avoid competitive markets. I’m saying enter with your eyes open.

If anyone can do what you’re about to do, in the time it takes to watch a YouTube tutorial, you need more than hard work. You need a real barrier.

Build that barrier before building the product.

Do you have an idea in mind right now? Before moving forward, evaluate the Entry: how long would it take someone to replicate it? The answer will tell you more about that business’s future than any market analysis.