First mover advantage or disadvantage

I stumbled upon an interesting article on whether one should be an entrepreneur or not. It was placed in the Star Newspaper written by a regular columnist.  The first paragraph reads:

To be or not to be ... an entrepreneur

ON YOUR OWN By TAN THIAM HOCK

MY big aunt once told me that I should be very proud of myself because I built a business from nothing.
I told her I would have gladly exchanged places with my cousins who went straight into their big family business upon graduation and became major corporate players by the age of 30. I spent 10 years of my life looking aimlessly for that one Big Idea that will instantaneously transform my business life. I never did find one.

I will give you the link to the article at the end of this posting.

I gathered from the article that the columnist tried to warn (and rightly so) of the hardship an entrepreneur had to endure and the disappointment he had to face. And one of it is the absence of that one big idea. He then went on to state that not a single one of Malaysia's success story came from one big [original] idea.

Well, the thing is, we must realise that there is no real first mover advantage. Creating something original does not equate to money. Best example is Thomas Edison; the genius invented electricity but was never rich by it. The one big idea, original it may be, bringing along the first mover advantage is not only elusive, but could prove to be unprofitable.

However, it is very valuable. Value does not equate just profit. It includes many other things, like the durian parties, flexibility and freedom of time, time with the kids, the positive impact your customers had when dealing with your novel products, changing their lives forever. Entrepreneurship done right, while might not be profitable is certainly valuable. Just ask the social entrepreneurs.

And entrepreneurs must realize and accept that improving on the status quo is innovation. It is also part of the entrepreneurial trade. There is no shame or wrong in improving others and certainly not exclusive to Malaysian too. Just look at Google (predecessor yahoo, Aol search), Facebook (predecessor MYspace, Friendster) and a host of other entrepreneurs' success stories.

So to aspiring entrepreneurs out there, the question of whether you should be an entrepreneur should be phrased as "whether you want the opportunity to be amazing, be amazing". Plan your way ahead and be creative - if you find the need to borrow from Along , YOU ARE NOT READY YET. Otherwise, go forth and prosper (and don't forget to pray too, you need all the help you can get).

Work smart everyone.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/15/business/9677356&sec=business