Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate which product attributes lead consumers to prefer startups’ products over established companies’ products in the specialty product category. The research object is the electric vehicle market in Germany and the product attributes that are researched are alignable attributes, non-alignable attributes and the price. Design/Methodology/Approach – Quantitative data was collected via an internet questionnaire by means of the non-probability sampling techniques convenience and snowball sampling. The data of 408 members of the German Generation Y (age 17 – 38) was used to test six hypotheses by applying ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. Findings – It was found that established companies possess a pioneer advantage in comparison to startups for the specialty product ‘electric vehicle’. This advantage can be overcome when startups differentiate their electric vehicles by implementing superior alignable attributes, a valuable non-alignable attribute or a lower price. Superior alignable attributes had the strongest positive influence on consumers’ preferences towards the startup’s electric vehicle, followed by the lower price and a valuable non-alignable attribute. Limitations/Implications – This study is limited to investigating consumers’ preferences without focusing on the reasons behind the preferences. Further, the category of specialty products is represented by only one example, namely the electric vehicle industry. Practical Implications – Startups can benefit from the results by adopting differentiation strategies that were found to be successful in overcoming pioneer advantage. Originality/Value – This study contributes to pioneer advantage literature by researching how startups can successfully overcome pioneer advantage in the specialty product category.