The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Fast Followers Finish First

Entrepreneurs always want to be first to market. There’s a sense of security about being first and not having any competitors to worry about. First-time founders often brag about the lack of competition to potential investors, and try to demonstrate that they will dominate the market by virtue of being first. Unfortunately, the idea that you gain an advantage by being first in a market is wildly misleading. The companies that eventually dominate new industries are almost never first movers; they’re the fast followers. Think for a moment of as many Fortune 500 companies as you can. How many of them were veritable pioneers of the industry and how many were fast followers? Google, Microsoft, Apple, GM, eBay, and Walmart—all fast followers. Fast followers are companies that are not the first to market but close on the heels of the first movers. It’s like NASCAR—the race usually comes down to the last few seconds, when the drafting car uses the car in the lead to build momentum and win the race. Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Think of your competitors’ strategies as free advice, and stand on their shoulders.

So don’t worry if you are not first to market. Use your delay as an advantage to learn everything you can about the marketplace dynamics, and then out-execute them.

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