Constraints as Advantage
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SpaceX achieved launch costs that were a fraction of the government and established aerospace industry's costs — not despite being constrained, but partly because of it. Without the large cost base of incumbents, SpaceX had to be radically more efficient. Without access to existing supply chains at incumbent prices, they had to build many components themselves, which gave them more control and lower costs in the long run. The constraint forced the innovation that became the competitive advantage. For builders in Lagos, in Nigeria, in Africa: the infrastructure constraints, the capital constraints, and the ecosystem constraints are real. They are also the filter that produces solutions the rest of the world will eventually need. The constraint is not the problem. It is the brief.