But unless there's some comparative advantage, competition will quickly commoditize the market.  Profit margins will decline to just above breakeven.

"You should either be first or be better than your competition."

We don't know who the original source of this often-repeated business advice is.  Like most advice on the subject, it sounds smart while not being all that useful.

From our experience, finding and filling gaps in the market, and being better than the competition, is extremely difficult.  Even the most successful entrepreneurs fail more than they succeed.  And success in one endeavor doesn't guarantee success in another.

Anyone who has ever developed and marketed a new product from concept through sale knows how difficult it is to achieve profitability.  For every good idea there must be a hundred bad ones.

Yet the only way to really know the difference between a profit generating idea and a cash hemorrhaging fiasco is through trial and error.  To put it out there and let the market decide.

Success and failure provide real feedback.  They deliver information – at a profit or loss – to businessmen and investors.  What's working?  What isn't?  What adjustments can be made to help eke out a profit?

These are the types of information that only the market can provide.  When something impedes this information, there are destructive consequences…