Don't cheat.

In 2016, my brother and I saw an opportunity to create the first escape room in Hoboken, NJ. The market was ripe, and the location was perfect. We pounced.

What we didn’t know was that there was already another escape room under construction in Hoboken. This company had been building their rooms for months before we even came up with our idea. They had elaborate designs, puzzles, and some serious production value behind them.

But we launched first.

We went from an initial idea to our first customers in three weeks. We cornered the market and all of the ads, SEO rankings, and social media for our area. Our first mover advantage allowed us to expand to neighboring cities.

Our competition launched months later. And they went out of business shortly after. Despite having a better product than us. They later asked us if we wanted to acquire them. We didn’t.

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The ground beneath us tech folks is shaking. There are some fundamental changes coming to how software gets made.

I’m not smart. But the good news is that it’s easier to just be first.

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P.S. “Be first. Be smarter. Or cheat.” is a line from the movie ‘Margin Call.’ The CEO of a large Wall Street investment bank directs his people to sell all of their positions in a troubled market (be first), triggering the 2008 financial crisis. But at least their firm survived. This example feels murky, because the firm (and others) setup the subprime mortgage crisis in the first place.

P.P.S. Don’t cheat.