Some people worry that if their product is very successful, it will be copied by the competition...
Why worry about a competitor that can only (try to) keep up with you by copying you? If you continue innovating at a rapid pace, by the time they catch up to what you have now, the distance between you and them will have only gotten bigger.
Unless they happen to be that special blend of better and faster, in which case they will out-innovate and overtake you. However, that probably would have been inevitable anyway.
I think it's a small risk to take to be able to go all out.
Reminds me of playing Warcraft II online.
At first, my strategy was to be as small as possible on the map so that maybe I can stay in the shadows long enough to maybe get strong enough to maybe eventually beat my opponent. My play got much, much better when I realized it's better to be strong even if it makes you more visible, because then they're screwed anyway.
>If you continue innovating at a rapid pace, by the time they catch up to what you have now, the distance between you and them will have only gotten bigger.
Big if. Few people or organizations are capable of sustained, on-demand, innovation.
So, yes, if you can pull that off, you're golden anyway.
There is no rules when it comes to business. just guidelines.
For example: Friendster was one of the leading social networks back in the day. They dropped the ball and there were 20 other competitors willing to pick the ball up.
If someone is copying then they don't understand the philosophy, the assumptions or the discarded options. The chance of being overtaken by an outright imitator is possible but small.
Why worry about a competitor that can only (try to) keep up with you by copying you? If you continue innovating at a rapid pace, by the time they catch up to what you have now, the distance between you and them will have only gotten bigger.