Building a market

"At the Sotheby's sale, a collector paid $442,000 for the first lunar rock ever to be sold," reported Business Week.

The balance of supply and demand is a dynamic process. What looked good will begin to look a lot less good when a dozen others join the party. That is the lesson the telecom bubble teaches us.

Here's a rule of business I once read: Don't fall in love with your product/service; that's the customers' job.

A lesson I learned all these years is to never underestimate how difficult it is to build a market. I don't lose sight of what counts; strategy, capabilities, customers and competitive advantage.