I've been reviewing web apps recently for accounting within my startup, there's a lot of offerings and most of them cover all the same functionality.
But even though they all do the same thing, its the way that they've implemented the functions that makes each app different, and has ultimately influenced my decision.
At this point, I have no idea what one came along first, that doesn't matter to my decision, and I didn't just pick the first one I found, I reviewed 5-6 before making a choice.
Another point is, that after your initial release hopefully you'll get a user base who will provide you with feedback and ideas, its up to you how you act on that feedback. You may react to your users differently than your competitors, and ultimately that too will distinguish you from them further.
I had the very same experience recently. I tried a couple of different web and desktop apps for time tracking before settling on Harvest, which I like. Harvest isn't obviously better than the others, but there are subtle ways in which it works that fit me well.
Web apps are easy for users to try out for a while. So build a couple of differentiating features and see if a subset of the (apparently lucrative!) market tries your site and sticks with it.
I wish I remembered the details. Seriously, it was subtle enough that I've forgotten.
The Dashboard widget for recording your time was one -- Harvest's is nice, especially because you can easily switch from client project to client project with the UI. But the thing which ultimately switched me over was the ability to fully customize the line items on invoices -- I was able to get the style I wanted with a few clicks, and I can easily edit and merge line items if I want to. For me, it hits the sweet spot between doing things automatically and allowing you to edit things.
Of course, once I switched over to Harvest I gradually became subliminally aware of other reasons to like it. I haven't found myself wanting to try out anything else.
I'm not mechanical_fish, but Harvest just felt right to me. It was easy to use; gave easy, flexible reports (important when I'm billing clients for my hours and my employees' hours); easy, private access for employees; reminder emails that I could trigger ("Get your hours in!"). It wasn't a clear thing, but the right mix of features and the right feel.
So maybe something intangible. Is that a cop-out answer?
But even though they all do the same thing, its the way that they've implemented the functions that makes each app different, and has ultimately influenced my decision.
At this point, I have no idea what one came along first, that doesn't matter to my decision, and I didn't just pick the first one I found, I reviewed 5-6 before making a choice.
Another point is, that after your initial release hopefully you'll get a user base who will provide you with feedback and ideas, its up to you how you act on that feedback. You may react to your users differently than your competitors, and ultimately that too will distinguish you from them further.
Good luck!