

You don't change the world with a marginally better mousetrap - tmarman
http://slashstar.com/blogs/tim/archive/2008/07/30/you-don-t-change-the-world-with-a-marginally-better-mousetrap.aspx

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brm
You can change the world with something only marginally better in markets that
are less competitive and less well-established than general internet search...
unfortunately cuil chose search.

Facebook is a marginally better mousetrap, Wordpress and Movable Type are
marginally better mousetraps...They just happened to enter markets where the
other options were not the greatest.

Marginally better can also be accomplished by simply removing a feature or
two... 37signals, Twitter

~~~
Parthon
I think you can be a marginally better mousetrap if the ones that already
exist aren't quite "good enough". If there's a need for a better one, and you
fill that need, there might be success if you play your cards right.

In an arena without a need for a better mousetrap though you are going up
against already established competition, because they are already "good
enough". People rarely go looking for better when they have good enough. :)

~~~
tmarman
Yes, I think you're right on that distinction, and I guess I sort of
internalized that. As Seth discusses to in the linked article, things don't
become "iconic" without at least being "good enough" in that category - so if
you're saying you're the "next" something, they're probably at least good
enough.

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TrevorJ
Yes you do. Think about it. Was the object we know as "The mouse trap" the
first tool used to kill mice? I doubt it. It simply was better than the
current solutions. Sure, I know that being 'marginally better' isn't going to
guarantee success, especially in a competitive market, but slight improvements
can lead to widespread successes.

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helveticaman
True. Dvorak still hasn't caught on.

