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3
three

step one – seeking and
shaping opportunities

G Amazon.com – shaping the internet opportunity 57
G don’t rush to headlong action
G give yourself time to develop alternatives
G treat your first business idea as purely tentative
G total immersion in the market
G fact-finding
G tools for seeking and shaping opportunities
G moving to step two – acknowledging Catch-22
G Iridium – the imperfect solution to an opportunity which never

existed?

To go headlong after a market which does not exist may be regarded as
unfortunate. To stick slavishly with an unworkable business solution
for that market mirage looks like carelessness.

But Iridium, the would-be global telephone service provider, did
precisely both. As a result, Iridium serves as a warning beacon for all
those who want to rush in with a preferred solution without adequately
seeking and shaping the business opportunity which they think they
have seen.

In contrast, Jeff Bezos took his time. Not so much time that he
sacrificed first-mover advantage in the emerging internet-based retailing