Is First-to-Market Best?

Steve Blank, Stanford University

Why is it a bad idea to be the first and only player in a market? Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank outlines a host of reasons, including limited market opportunity, the expense of defining new markets, and the positioning risk involved in setting the market standard. Blank cautions that it may not be wise to be break new ground, and that safer terrain can be found in the footholds of the “first fast follower.”