Catch of the Day: Queue theory

From Redherring.com

May 31, 2000
JERUSALEM -- Israelis abhor lines -- lines in stores, lines on the road, lines on maps. They are outside-the-box thinkers, rejecting as they do the concept of the box itself.

By nature, they are entrepreneurs -- just ask yourself, in whom would you rather invest, a polite person, or a queue-breaker who's trying with all his or her might to unseat the status quo?

Over dinner with a half-dozen people here, I also experienced a culturally typical verbal line-crossing, aka the Pitch That Would Not Die. Despite a drifting line of conversation, Here2fix.com CEO Gidon Wallis kept coming back to his own company (a well-thought-through extended warranty and repair service that integrates the needs of online retailers, repair shops, shippers, and consumers). Even after I told Gidon that I've already covered extended warranties, that he was late to the game, he pressed on.

If I appear to be making a case in favor of rudeness, well, tough. But I'm not talking about waiting in line for a movie. I'm talking about grabbing hold of technologies, markets, and perhaps even press, before anybody else does, and if necessary, stepping outside of the line and on a few toes in the process.

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