Page 120 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

The Pull of the Market 99

Modality was riding on the back of a technological sea-
change, the irreversible movement of computing power onto
mobile devices and a population of learners increasingly
hungry for higher-quality content accessible at more times
and in more places. As we will see in Chapter Six, this
broader trend would lead to new categories of revenue op-
portunities for Modality, reaching beyond its initial direct-
to-consumer product line.

As for timing, ask yourself: How long will your window of op-
portunity be open? Why is now the right time to enter the market?

Mark Williams and his team assumed that their early-to-
market advantage would be brief—they referred to it as a
“fifteen-second lead”—and they knew competitors would
quickly attempt to duplicate their early success with health-
care education titles. But no one fully predicted the explosion
of competitive products that filled Apple’s online channel
soon after the release of its iPhone Software Developer Kit.
By the end of 2009, 100,000 applications would be available
to users of iPhone and iPod Touch. Modality’s window of op-
portunity had, indeed, been narrow. Had the company waited
a few additional months to launch, its first products would
never have stood out in the long, noisy line of competitors.

4. Who else is currently addressing (or attempting to address) the
opportunity, and how? Why do you think the opportunity is not
yet fully exploited? The tendency to underrate or dismiss the
competition is one of the most common, and dangerous,
characteristics of passionate entrepreneurs. The remedy is
simple: Take inventory of the relevant players in your chosen
market space, and do your homework to understand their
strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Tools for analyzing
competitive forces abound, but your willingness to explore
the competitive landscape with curiosity and objectivity is
more critical than the particular tool used. Seek to under-
stand what is happening in your target market space, being
careful not to downplay the strengths of competitors in your

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