The value of being early
Note: original post was in 2013
I had a fantastic discussion the other day with a company that is interested in entering a new (for them) market. They have been told by some experts that it is “too early” and that this market is still very young.
My question back to them was: “What happens when you are too late?”
If you are late, that product or service most likely is getting commoditized, exogenous market pressures and tremendous competition is driving lower pricing models, focus shifts to cost per widget and new and innovative differentiation is now being sought. And the question comes up again “Is it too early?”
Does the benefit of “too early” outweigh the loss of value in being “too late”?
The trick is to maximize the ROI and keep the costs down during the “too early”, weather the storm, incubate the idea/product, shift and pivot as needed.. but dont be “too late” to the party (all the best food is gone by then)
Being an entrepreneur or a corporate change agent means believing in creating a market not being part of one!