In today's market, I don't see any customer being like, "Man, I wish this came faster." Look at Blizzard... they focused on speed for their last expansion, and they lost 3M subscribers. Look at all the automotive recalls this last year. And really AOL... wasn't even first to market, Compuserve beat them but like 10+ years.
There are many ways to get ahead. Bureaucracy sucks.
But just saying, "Speed man, speed... that's the good stuff..." It's only true when it's paired with customer demand, high quality, and all the other things users demand.
ICQ vs. AIM? I can't actually think of a single example of a product being first to market and that making them better than the challengers. Getting to market... no question, that's great. Blowing away what exists in the market... that's what gets you customers. So inherently being first isn't advantageous since you're opening the door to others taking your idea and improving on it.
I'll say again, build the best thing you know how to build... if you don't build it great, people will notice. Nobody wants a quick and dirty solution once they see the well-designed, delightful, secure, improved, etc. solution.
Facebook > MySpace
Instagram > Facebook
Reddit > Digg
Any modern software language... nobody is like, "Man, give me some ASP VB, that came out before Rails or Node... it must be better." We evolve. Speed, it may be a factor. But what you build has to survive past launch. Do your best to give it the legs it needs... and maintain it as vigorously as you can. ROI is in planning.
There are many ways to get ahead. Bureaucracy sucks.
But just saying, "Speed man, speed... that's the good stuff..." It's only true when it's paired with customer demand, high quality, and all the other things users demand.
ICQ vs. AIM? I can't actually think of a single example of a product being first to market and that making them better than the challengers. Getting to market... no question, that's great. Blowing away what exists in the market... that's what gets you customers. So inherently being first isn't advantageous since you're opening the door to others taking your idea and improving on it.
I'll say again, build the best thing you know how to build... if you don't build it great, people will notice. Nobody wants a quick and dirty solution once they see the well-designed, delightful, secure, improved, etc. solution.
Facebook > MySpace
Instagram > Facebook
Reddit > Digg
Any modern software language... nobody is like, "Man, give me some ASP VB, that came out before Rails or Node... it must be better." We evolve. Speed, it may be a factor. But what you build has to survive past launch. Do your best to give it the legs it needs... and maintain it as vigorously as you can. ROI is in planning.