Delay Is a Decision

2006. Steve Jobs approached Intel with an opportunity.

Make the chips for a new product called the iPhone.

Intel turned him down.

The phones wouldn't sell enough to justify development costs.

The decision you delay costs more than the decision you make.

Intel didn't ignore mobile. They started developing Atom chips for smartphones back in 2004.

They saw it coming.

But they were too profitable in PCs to prioritize mobile. Too addicted to their fat margins. The decision could wait.

Apple went with ARM architecture instead.

By 2010, ARM-based chips dominated smartphones. Intel realized the miss.

They tried to buy back in.

$10 billion in subsidies over three years to manufacturers who'd use Intel processors.

The result? 1% market share.

Then they gave up entirely.

The mechanism: While you deliberate, the market moves. Every day you don't decide, competitors do.

That 2006 decision Intel delayed didn't preserve their options.

It eliminated them.

ARM became entrenched. Developers optimized for ARM. Manufacturers built supply chains around ARM. Software ecosystems formed around ARM.

What would've cost normal development in 2006 cost $10 billion by 2013. And still failed.

The cost of delaying the decision was 100x the cost of making it.

Your competitor launched their feature last quarter. You're still planning yours.

You think you're being thorough.

Actually, while you plan, they're learning. Iterating. Building moats. Making your eventual entry exponentially harder.

Intel didn't fail because they made the wrong decision.

They failed because they didn't make one when it mattered.

The market doesn't wait for you to feel ready.

What decision are you delaying that's costing you more each day than making it would?