Comparative Advantage

Am I Next? Comparative Advantage

There is an old joke that says it all. Two hikers are confronted by an angry bear who gives all of the signs of attacking. The first hiker sits down and starts putting on his running shoes. The second hiker looks at him and says, "You can't out run a bear." In reply, the first hiker says, "I don't plan o outrunning the bear -- only outrunning you." Which sums up the central point of comparative advantage, you do not have to be perfect to win in life, you just have to be marginally better than your nearest competitor. I am not saying that you should not strive for perfection or be all you can be. I am saying that the time, energy, and money that is expended on achieving the last ten percent may not be the best investment in producing tangible results.
I have a friend that lost his "first mover advantage" because he kept perfecting his application while another company put out an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), captured initial market-share and went on to dominate the market. The marketplace did not seem to care about my friend's application which was marginally better and more aesthetically pleasing than the other application. In fact, the other developer made a point of his process of continual improvement by giving the user free upgrades for all new versions within the subversion. That is if you purchased version 1.0, you got free upgrades until version 2.0 was released -- and then you got a "longevity" discount to upgrade to the next significant version. A clear case of "good enough" beating better.
So you may wish to factor comparative advantage into your planning; especially if it helps you to capture market-share and cement your brand as the dominant force.