It's easier to be second

To be first, is to do the hard yards. It’s to innovate, it's to be different. It's to be a creator. It's to lead the pack in any way you think is best. Nobody can beat you to the punch when you’re first. But it’s hard, and a load of energy and time is spent on research and development. It’s spent in constant testing and refining with the possibility that nothing goes right.

Just wait until they invent shirts!

When you’re second, you can copy those that go first. You can look at their blue sky solution and make necessary shortcuts or optimisations as you please. You can cut out the trial and error. You can spend your energy really thinking hard about the best way to copy whoever goes first. You don't need to spend your time or resources thinking in the same way you do when you need to innovate. 

Not that kind of short cut

However when you’re second you don’t really get it. You don’t really understand why or why not to do something. You don’t have the golden experience that only comes from trial and error. What really drove the success of the solution? Have you spent the time thinking about all the risks or possible problems that may occur? When you’re first, you see the why. You understand why.

Not that kind of short cut either!

Our world is changing quickly, and to go first sometimes means you come last. The barriers to entry are getting lower, and competition is fierce. Everyone has the tools and connections to be able to manufacture, ship and distribute their products or solutions worldwide. Sometimes by releasing innovation into the market, you allow a competitor to copy it and perhaps bolster it with their own strengths. Sometimes being first can mean you put yourself out of the next race entirely.