There is a heartwarming story in today’s WSJ about myYearbook.com, which was started in 2005 by 15- and 16-year-old siblings and was just sold in a cash and stock deal for $100M.  Their “older” brother, now 33, provided the seed capital from an online resume business he started and sold while a student at Harvard.   (It’s no wonder that there is a venture fund dedicated solely to founders 19 and younger.)

These founders had a simple mission – to displace print yearbooks.  They had plenty of competition over the years, but together with their acquirer they have managed to attract and retain 70M users while others fell by the wayside.  I’m just guessing here, but there’s probably no IP in this business; they achieved success based on a number of other factors.

I am seeing many businesses like this that fall in the general category of “land grab” models.  I remember an early mobile banking play in Atlanta that was a wonderful success, and its goal in the flip-phone era was to be one of the 10 buttons available on the home screen.   In today’s world that goal might be landing a spot on page one of the apps selection and not getting relegated to page 12.

The “grab” is also a time grab and certainly a real estate grab on users’ home screens on mobile phones and tablets and on their browser menu bars.  I have a few thoughts here if you are embarking on such a strategy:

Master your chosen domain.  The myYearbook founders were immersed in the high school scene and were developing features that were natural in their social lives and suitable for their peer group.   They obviously had the creativity and intelligence to recognize those opportunities and to continually iterate their offering accordingly.  They picked up 100,000 users in their first full month as a national website, so “traction” was a milestone quickly achieved.  And, they continued to gain even while both the younger siblings attended and completed college.

Yes it is a zero-sum game.  All the time being spent on Google+ as we learn how to use it and build up our networks is coming from somewhere.  If you’re part of the test group, chances are you’re spending less time and attention on other social media sites that were part of your routine.  Land grabs aren’t permanent; there’s always going to be a threat from above or below, and protecting hard-won turf is no easy task.

You don’t have to be first.  But, you do have to get in the game as fast as you can and concentrate your forces for maximum impact.  I’ve seen some categories pioneered by products that quickly get 100-miles wide but are only an inch deep, and they can be plucked off by for more focused competitors who deliver much more thorough value.  In some cases, however, particularly those with recurring revenue models that are based on contracts, being first does give you the ability to stiff-arm your competitors for the duration of those contracts.

You don’t have to have the best product.  As discussed in another recent post, the winner in a land grab is the one that is best at the nitty gritty of basic sales and distribution, picking the right strategic customers, and figuring out a cost-effective customer acquisition model.  If you aren’t in the field selling, learning, and reacting, you can’t grab or solidify a position.

Think like the Duke of Wellington.   You may remember his famous quote from 1852: “All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavor to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called ‘guessing what was at the other side of the hill.’”  Being able to look over that hill enabled him to outwit Napoleon on the field of battle.  Today, and particularly today, what you see on this side of the hill in your market may look very different tomorrow.  It’s more important than ever to anticipate what is just out of sight.

<Sir Thomas Lawrence painting (1818) of the Duke of Wellington from Wikipedia>