if you were the innovator that was smarter and faster than the other guys, you could make money [on the long and / or short side of the market] before the imita

if you were the innovator that was smarter and faster than the other guys, you could make money [on the long and / or short side of the market] before the imitators and then the idiots flooded the market. - That seems to be a market universal. Same shit happens with Blogs, SEO and Internet in general.