Being first sounds like an advantage but it's usually not. The first mover proves something is possible. The company behind them pays less to do it better.

Amy Heckerling knew this when she made Clueless. She took Pride and Prejudice's skeleton and dropped it into 1995 Beverly Hills. Jane Austen's framework but a completely new movie.

This is also Bob's story. He built RunTime in the late '90s without playbooks. He paid the pioneer's tax and carried every lesson into what he built next.