A big difference is that you’re selling a service only and a service that is really difficult to differentiate yourself in. A big player could swoop in and obliterate you in a second.
Unless you meant obliteration by lobbying, lawsuits or something similar. There's little hope if your competition goes that route.
If you’ve set up in an area that a big ISP suddenly sees as profit potential you’re toast.
The problem is that to be competitive you might be looking at years to break even on investment depending on what you offer and where, and how you deliver it. Running fiber on poles to deliver 1gig or 10gig? The buildout is expensive, you have to target dense areas or buildings with lots of units, and even then it's a lot of up-front money and it will be a while before you're out of the red even with a good takeup rate.