LGHT

notablog™
https://paragraph.xyz/@nbd/ring-culture

Interesting. I didn't know this saying, my kids brought it home from their English-language school. But with two twists. 
1: in their version the third is the one with the hairy chest.
2: there's an alternative - minus the highness, zero the hero, first the worst.

In line with your post, to me that suggest that maybe that if to prove your project to the masses, you have to have stamina, but the real heroes (from alternative version) are the ones who come before the mass market - the innovators and the early adapters. In other words: the crazies here on FC.

Would that fit in your idea?