axiom 2 – early entrants win the field
axiom 3 – significance precedes momentum
axiom 5 – producer and consumer utility
axiom 6 – gatekeepers, intermediaries, and the attention deficit
axiom 7 – positive feedback loops
axiom 8 – differentiation of products and pricing
axiom 9 – switching costs and lock-in
axiom 10 – free information: cooperation in a competitive environment
Axiom 2 – Early Entrants Win the Field
There is no substitute for experience. Those who aspire to play the role of community organizer or owner will need to move quickly and aggressively to increase the likelihood of becoming the first to aggregate a critical mass of members in a target area (Hagel and Armstrong, 75).
The longer a new entrant waits, the more difficult (and expensive) it will be to pry members out of existing communities….new entrants will confront a concentrated business driven by large community organizers who enjoy substantial operating cost advantages, clear differentiation through unique assets, and high switching barriers for their existing members (Hagel and Armstrong, 80).
That’s why preemptive strategies become so important in markets where increasing returns prevail – if you don’t get there first, you may be too late (Hagel and Armstrong, 6-7).