Market trends for first movers and fast followers

Whatever happened to the first-mover advantage?

Photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash

Maintaining the first-mover advantage depends heavily on whether a startup is in an inevitable category or a fabricated category.

First movers gamble on intuition. They have a hunch that a market is going to emerge and they want to beat everyone to it. Historically, this is the exclusive territory of the bold and the brash.

GIF from Spongebob Squarepants painting “The Bold & Brash”

Unfortunately for most pioneering types, being first does not guarantee a sustainable lead over time. Oftentimes it’s the type of category that a first-mover creates that ultimately dictates where they finish.

When it comes to category types, there are really only two types of overarching categories that are most relevant to the topic of first movers 🆚 fast followers:

• Inevitable categories
• & fabricated categories

Now, please bear in mind that regardless of the nature of a category, it’s often the case for entrepreneurs that their natural inclination towards…