Time to market and positioning: the path I got wrong (and that paid off later)

On a recent call, talking about my experience building and exiting a SaaS product, I was asked what my market positioning strategy had been—how I thought about time to market, and what I believe the right strategy is today.

The honest answer is that I got time to market wrong—clearly wrong.

I watched what was happening in English-speaking markets and saw that type of SaaS starting to work and grow. In Italy, demand for cloud-based solutions was still flat, and stayed that way for many years.

I was lucky I wasn’t economically dependent on that project. Instead of quitting, I never let it go—I kept going despite the early-year economics.

With hindsight, thinking calmly, I see two ways to position in the market.

Playing early

It’s a long game, when there isn’t real demand yet—or it’s limited to a few early adopters. Competitors and leads are few or none: you have room to build slowly, pivot, test the market, and adjust. But it takes a long time, and you need to know that. When time to market finally arrives, you’re already there—strong, credible, ready from day one.

Entering with the hype

The opposite mode: enter after hype has already exploded—strong demand, sector growing, users ready to buy. But good products already exist, and you’re betting you can do better than others.

It’s faster, more validated—and more competitive and expensive in energy, marketing, and differentiation.

To make it concrete, I use an analogy that’s very clear to me—it also matches how I invest in real estate.

It’s the difference between buying in an up-and-coming area—where you see urban renewal signals, future projects, huge upside not yet in prices—and buying where demand has already exploded: a prime neighborhood, services already great, everyone’s talking, the train is already moving.

In the first case you move first and wait for value to emerge; entry price is lower. In the second you jump onto something validated, but you have to outperform others.

For me, SaaS and business follow the same logic. You can build before the market arrives—or enter once it’s already there.

Neither strategy is “correct” in the abstract; both carry risk. It depends how much time you have, how long you can hold on, and what you’re willing to pay—in waiting or in competition.

I chose the first path without knowing it, and I paid for it; staying resilient paid me back later.

In hindsight, the real skill isn’t only building a product—it’s choosing which train you want to board, and how long you stay on it.