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It's a shame, really, as AIM could have easily evolved into Slack for family/friends connections all along a spectrum of casual to intimate. It's like how Flic
by astrodust 9y ago
It's a shame, really, as AIM could have easily evolved into Slack for family/friends connections all along a spectrum of casual to intimate.
It's like how Flickr couldn't make a mobile app and Instagram happened, or how Digg fumbled so badly Reddit came out of nowhere.
First mover advantage is only important in the initial cycle. Once the market matures it's a huge liability.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- acdha 9y agoIt’s not just first mover: Flickr was doing great until they were bought by Yahoo, which was a decade into the management vacuum by that point, and AOL was doing their best to make Yahoo’s management look visionary and competent. In both cases the message I take is that a good team can’t make up for executives who don’t know what their business model is. Management by oh-shiny! and laying off people until a spreadsheet column is positive will trump lower level competence every time.
- astrodust 9y agoSometimes first mover means first to achieve any significant valuation which means first to be acquired. As you point out, acquisitions can often mean death.