Pioneers and followers are fundamentally different
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
In consumer startups, people used to love saying:
"The market has already validated it. I'll just follow along."
That playbook really did work when traffic was cheap. Whoever executed fastest got a share of the boom. But today the environment has completely changed: traffic is expensive, users are picky, every lane is crowded, and followers have almost no chance.
Today I came across a line from Chang Kaisi of Source Code Capital:
"In the past, everyone crowded around copying an existing path. You borrowed a bit faster, I borrowed a bit slower. But today, good consumer companies create a category of their own and blaze their own trail. The top student scores 100 because 100 is the maximum. The second scores 60 because 60 is all it can manage. Pioneers and followers are fundamentally different."
Starting a business is just like that. The pioneer defines the race. However hard the followers try, they can only live in the pioneer's shadow.
Pop Mart dared to create the "blind box economy" and locked in global IP early, leaving later players no road at all.
For founders, the lesson is simple:
- Don't dream of being the second version of some brand. That road doesn't go far.
- Differentiation is a brand's lifeline. Not a clever trick, but systematic understanding and a moat.
- Better to be small and first than big and mediocre.
Followers may win for a while, but the ones who survive and go the distance are always the pioneers.