Every good niche has competition. Being first to market doesn't mean much (remember GeoCities? Six Degrees? Friendster? MySpace? and these guys were in a space

Every good niche has competition. Being first to market doesn't mean much (remember GeoCities? Six Degrees? Friendster? MySpace? and these guys were in a space where the first mover has an even bigger advantage.) You just don't know who will win. Killer features aren't usually obvious, except in retrospect. Google didn't know that its algorithm would make it king of search, or they wouldn't have tried to sell so soon, for so little. Facebook didn't know that real names and a clean design would get your grandma to sign up. And you don't know which subtle design edge will make the difference in your niche. Neither do your competitors (those you know about, and those still working on launching), or the VCs. What you should be doing (launching and getting funding) hasn't changed one bit. I don't know the secret recipe for success, but I can tell you lots of ways you can fail. Not launching would be the easiest.