[csense]

The "if you don't, then somebody else will" argument only applies if you're in a commodity market: A market with a lot of players selling the same product, or a market where there are few barriers to entry keeping out people who sell an interchangeable product.

Much of the world inhabited by HN'ers is not like this. If you have a typical software or web product, then a competitor would have to spend substantial resources developing code that duplicates your functionality, and then they have to worry about the head-start the first mover has in branding and network effects.