Sometimes early momentum traps you, a phenomena you could call creating a tech island.
An early mover with a clear advantage builds up their proprietary system.
Over time, the outside world creates an open alternative.
It starts off not as good, and the early mover continues to have an edge.
But the early mover is one entity, and the outside world is a swarm.
The swarm can innovate faster than the singular entity, so it starts off slower but gains momentum and inevitably beats the early mover.
But now the early mover is stuck in a terrible dilemma
Option one is to continue with their internal system.
Option two is to switch to the external system.
Option one seems tempting.
It used to give them a true edge, after all… maybe they can recover that edge.
But the open swarm will overpower them and leave them further and further behind, making the dilemma even worse.
Option two seems terrible.
This dilemma gets harder and harder the longer it goes on.
Early momentum that then holds you back.
Stuck on an alternate branch of history.
This dynamic only happens in the early stage of a paradigm, not the late stage.