Actually you're not just behind, you've burned up money.. you've destroyed value - there's an opportunity cost of that money. Whilst the other competitor who is prudent eventually wins will be far more attractive in the eyes of investors - moreover once you are confident you can scale up inputs (engineers) and hone in the quality whilst the other competitor runs ragged with a half-baked product.

We've seen this story play out already numerous times: Apple. They made a mis-step with Apple Intelligence but aside from that, they've been right not to lurch to deep into things they shouldnt. Its not zero-sum.