Sean Everett argues that being the last mover beats being first in internet business. Google and Facebook didn't invent search or social networks, but they won by moving second and executing better. Sometimes the best strategy is letting someone else prove the market exists.
Well, should we talk about end games? No, I'm not talking about the Avengers movie. I'm talking about the internet and products. So a lot of people mistakenly believe that you want to be the first to do something. I mean, sometimes that's great, right? Like first man on the moon, Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly Fly overseas, around the world, that sort of thing. But with internet products, typically what happens is the first person ends up taking all the damage, spending all the money to educate people. What you really want is to be the last person, right? So Google was the last search engine. And, uh, well, you could argue this one. Facebook was the last social network. I mean, it really wasn't, but they were the one that really figured it out and collected 3 billion humans on their properties as a reward for figuring it out. So yeah, do you really want to be first or do you want to be last? And Ricky Bobby, right? If you're not first, you're last. So yeah, maybe we should be last or try to be last now. All right, something to think about. Ponder that one on this gorgeous Sunday. Have a great day.
