Thinking Outside The Box… What If Competitor Copies?

I’m looking at starting a new site in my niche.
I have some ideas that haven’t been used before, which I think I can take advantage of.
Now, I’m using these ideas on a new site, which will obviously have little traffic, and take time to build.
Now what if competitor(who is on top of the niche) sees these ideas, and uses them on his own site. With all his traffic and exposure, he’ll basically be credited for the ideas.
How do you avoid that?