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A lot of them were just early.

pets.com => Chewy. Also PetSmart operates the pets.com domain now apparently.

webvan => Amazon Fresh, Instacart

kozmo => DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc.

Mind => blown. There are very few original ideas, it seems. Just slightly better execution maybe.

Mobile devices, ubiquitous 4G comms, GPS location-based services. Underlying tech is always what enables "too early" products to succeed later on, particularly comms bandwidth. The same fundamental products have been reinvented with every improvement in bandwidth since the beginning of the internet. Once you've seen these cycles happen over and over you just watch for the underlying tech improvements, pick an idea lane and re-execute. Keep an eye on 5G and Starlink, it's already happening.

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