Speed Or Perfection? Here Is What Matters The Most

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A first mover is a company that is the first to introduce a new product or service into the market. Being a first mover comes with many perks, and startups are often in a position to be first movers. This gives them a competitive advantage over bigger companies already existing in the market. 

First movers enjoy brand recognition, sales, and customer loyalty because they are often the only available choice in the market. They have some time to make their process more efficient and cost-effective without the added pressure of a second player in the market. 

They define the industry standard and have a long list of suppliers to work with. 

Some startups have failed not because they didn’t have a good product or service, but because they launched late. This is why becoming a first mover is often about speed, not perfection. 

Nobody knows this better than first movers and here’s what they have to say;

According to Reid Hoffman, your first product should embarrass you. This means perfection shouldn’t be your initial goal, instead, you should focus on getting the product (in this case, a minimum viable product) to the market as early as possible. This is a first mover thinking. Facebook was a mess when it was launched, but that wasn’t a fluke, It was all part of Zuckerberg’s plan. Its success as one of the earliest social media platforms testifies to the effectiveness of speed over perfection. Mark Zuckerberg who founded Facebook believed strongly in speed over perfection and he made it a mantra in the company, “Move Fast and Break Things”. According to him, unless you’re breaking things, you’re not moving fast enough. 

This strategy of launching an imperfect product and then improving it iteratively is not unique to Facebook only. Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos also understood and implemented the concept of speed over perfection concerning decision making.

According to him;

Moving fast and perfecting a product may not hold as much glamor as it used to when Facebook and Amazon launched. Most people believe this strategy is no longer as effective as it used to be. But if there was ever a time speed was important, it is today. Let's take AI for instance. AI has seen spontaneous growth recently with so many big companies showing interest in the technology.

But it is the early adopters that have enjoyed the most benefits. Nividia made an early bet on AI, and it has paid off big as the company is now the most valued in the world. Taking over Apple INC. If Nividia had waited until AI gained as much reputation as it does now, there’s a good chance another chip manufacturer may have filled the market gap by developing chips to power AI.

This is perhaps the most recent example that proves speed still matters. Also, while a lot of attention may be on pushing a minimum viable product to the market as soon as it is ready, speed in entrepreneurship is not only about products or services but decision making as well. Jeff Bezos believes 70% of available information is enough to make a decision and waiting any longer is being too slow.

In summary, move fast, act fast, think fast, get those mistakes out of the way, and learn the lessons as early as possible. Good or bad, waiting only delays the inevitable.

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Until next time, Best Regards.

Alex