No one should take PG's quip to be anything more than advice for those who are running a dysfunctional ship due to excessive obsession with competitors.
There are likely two broad ways any business gets off the ground:
(1) Unintentionally
(2) Intentionally
Google was likely unintentional (Brin and Page weren't attempting to create a business for their dissertation).
Amazon was quite clearly intentional.
Most startups are likely in (2).
VC-backed startups and startups hoping to obtain VC funding have a goal of gaining some amount of strong traction (thus increasing the likelihood of fast and significant growth).
If you're intentional, and you have a goal of obtaining the traction that's attractive in the VC universe, then competitive strategy is not something you can ignore. It's not something you myopically focus on, but it will help guide your positioning and development (among other things).
No one should take PG's quip to be anything more than advice for those who are running a dysfunctional ship due to excessive obsession with competitors.
There are likely two broad ways any business gets off the ground:
(1) Unintentionally (2) Intentionally
Google was likely unintentional (Brin and Page weren't attempting to create a business for their dissertation).
Amazon was quite clearly intentional.
Most startups are likely in (2).
VC-backed startups and startups hoping to obtain VC funding have a goal of gaining some amount of strong traction (thus increasing the likelihood of fast and significant growth).
If you're intentional, and you have a goal of obtaining the traction that's attractive in the VC universe, then competitive strategy is not something you can ignore. It's not something you myopically focus on, but it will help guide your positioning and development (among other things).