Entrepreneurs: Is First-Mover Status a Winner?
by Miki Saxon
What do Google, Facebook, Amazon and iPods have in common?
None can claim first-mover status, yet all are recognized winners.
First-mover position isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
In fact, it takes a very special mindset beyond what’s mentioned in the article if you are truly in first position.
Let me illustrate.
Way back in late 2009 I worked with an offshore client who had developed a location-based advertising platform that provided ads, bought through a bidding system, targeted to users’ exact location, context and behavior in applications on mobile phones, portable navigation systems and internet sites.
They had fully developed software and filed for patents overseas and in the US.
Unfortunately, they were years ahead of the market and couldn’t get traction.
As a result of the frustration and the educational effort/cost needed to move the market they chose to pivot and move on to other ideas.
It was a logical choice at the time, although it doesn’t look like it in hind-sight.
First-mover status, especially in consumer tech, equals primary market educator—an effort that makes the actual product development feel like a piece of cake.
That ‘s why it is often second (or even third or fourth)-mover status where you find the big winners.
Flickr image credit: Tom Ray
