It is often said both that America is a nation of immigrants and a nation of entrepreneurs. You could also reasonably say that we are a nation of immigrant entrepreneurs. Immigrants are more likely to start a business than native-born Americans, and participate in 25% of the international patents filed in the U.S. (about twice their proportion of the population). Research out of Duke University in 2007 suggested that immigrants also founded or co-founded more than a quarter of U.S. engineering and technology firms from 1995 to 2005. By 2007 those businesses sold $52 billion a year and employed 450,000 people.

While calls are strengthening for further liberalization and an extension of immigration quotas, current U.S. immigration law already helps encourage this link between business ownership. Two classes of visas, the E5 and E-2 Treaty Investor Visa both help immigrants looking to start a business in the U.S. get the residency they need to manage their company. The E-2 visa is available for immigrants from treaty countries that are looking to invest a modest sum, usually at least $50,000, in a new or existing U.S. business.

But of course part of the deal is to demonstrate the viability of the company and show the capital needed to sufficiently cover asset purchases and operational costs until the business breaks even. That means a business plan is a must—it’s the best way to show how your business will continue the great American tradition of entrepreneurial immigrant success. Add in the knowledge you’ll receive during the writing process about the market you’re entering, and it’s clear that a business plan is a useful tool for immigrants both in attaining their visa and in making the most out of it.

It’s every entrepreneur’s nightmare: you’re sitting on a great business idea—and you get scooped! In this scenario, it turns out that while you were busy fine-tuning your crazy-good concept, somebody else started a business that, say, allows people to communicate online through 140-character messages. And you’d been thinking you were the only one who had come up with that so-crazy-it-just-might-work idea!

Disheartening, to be sure. But is your business idea really finished? Not hardly.

We hear a lot about first-mover advantage, which is the idea that the first occupier in a specific market segment has a significant competitive advantage. But, it turns out that second-mover advantage can be even greater. The Financial Times recently ran a story declaring that being first-mover is not always a surefire path to success—in fact, it turns out that “fast followers” oftentimes eclipse the first-mover.

The pink paper runs through a number of examples to prove this thesis: for example, Xerox was not the first company to release a photocopier, Pampers were not the first disposable diaper brand, Apple did not invent the personal computer (or the portable mp3 player!), and Kodak did not come out with the first camera. (OK, maybe Kodak’s a bad example.) And, incidentally, does anyone still use AltaVista, a search engine that pre-dated Google?

Why is this? As the FT explains, “so-called ‘fast followers’ have the advantage of being able to use pioneers’ experiences to learn about consumer tastes, new designs and manufacturing techniques, and the potential size of a market. They can also learn from their mistakes.”

So do you think you’ve spotted the flaw that Jeff Bezos/Fred Smith/Steve Ells (that’s the Chipotle guy) have failed to notice? Then get moving!