3 ms·

Let's just add in a little virality

31 points by jkopelman 17y ago

chris100 17y ago
Mint's founder on virality (paraphrased): his product had essentially no virality (no one shares their bank stories with their friends) so he focused instead on good old PR: making sure he'd be in the news as much as he could. So much for virality :-)
- nex3 17y ago
  Interestingly, just a couple days ago I was talking about Mint to my friends...
  - tomjen2 17y ago
    True, but you properly wasn't using Mint with your friends the way you would use Facebook, etc. "Nex3 is paying of his credit card bill. Remaining amount $12158" is properly not something you want to share with your friends.
- wavesplash 17y ago
  I think Josh's point was not that you needed virality. Virality is just one way to get distribution (albeit a very efficient way). Josh's point was that distribution (aka Customer Acquisition) is hard and you can't just 'bolt virality on' as an afterthought.
zaidf 17y ago
This is the single biggest change in how I filter ideas these days. Few years ago between two competing ideas, I would go with the "cooler" one(ie. one I liked more). These days I start out thinking about any idea from the perspective of distribution. If I have an idea with no clear path of distribution(and revenue), it is an automatic no-go. I think a lot of Valley folks have learned this in past few years. It can't be a coincidence that VCs in general are blogging more about sales: http://southeastvc.blogs.com/southeast_vc/2009/11/vcs-hear-it-all-of-the-time-entrepreneurs-say-they-have-the-best-software-for-xyz-industry-they-tell-us-how-their-software.html http://southeastvc.blogs.com/southeast_vc/2009/11/vcs-hear-i...
- gaborcselle 17y ago
  I think the genesis of this line of thought was actually Steve Blank's stuff, not VCs.
  - zaidf 17y ago
    True in that Blank's been saying this for a while. But VCs only recently have started openly blogging/talking about distribution and sales openly.
- theprodigy 17y ago
  peter thiel has said it before as well. if you don't have solid distribution and you are a consumer internet company your company is worth nothing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SRfBaKAiUM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SRfBaKAiUM at 2:37
  - zaidf 17y ago
    Totally makes sense, especially having read the book PayPal Wars where the author--who led PayPal's marketing--talks of day to day strategies that helped PayPal acquire users consistently and cheaply.
oppoo 17y ago
--------------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ----http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com our company lentron is a professional exporting company dealing with name brand footwear, such as Nike etc. All of the products are exported to America, Europe, Middle-east and Southeast Asian countries.and honor with a gooddevelop the market with you. our price $33shoes,$15tshirt,15sunglasess, $13cap,$33jean,$35bag We sincerely hope to cooperate with the customers at home and abroad to develop together. reputation in the international company isa direct exporter and is becoming a brand enterprise integrated with design, production and sales together. With our good service, we believe lentron Trade CO., Ltd. is able to You can see the more photos and the price for our product in our website our website name is in the photos.we have all kinds of brand new shoes,clothing, handbag,sunglasses,hats etc for sale, 8000000% best quality with the cheapestprice. ,they are satisfied with our product .our price $33jordan shoes,$15tshirt,15sunglasess, $13cap,$33jean,$35bag"""" --- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com -------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s70 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s70 t-shirt http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s5 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s5 Timberland http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s12 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s12 jordan http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s14 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s14 DUNK http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s29 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s29 air max http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s32 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s32 women boot http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s75 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s75 Jean http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s69 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s69 handbags http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s3 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s3 NBA Jersey http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s76 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s76 Jacket
yukh 17y ago
--------------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ----http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com our company lentron is a professional exporting company dealing with name brand footwear, such as Nike etc. All of the products are exported to America, Europe, Middle-east and Southeast Asian countries.and honor with a gooddevelop the market with you. our price $33shoes,$15tshirt,15sunglasess, $13cap,$33jean,$35bag We sincerely hope to cooperate with the customers at home and abroad to develop together. reputation in the international company isa direct exporter and is becoming a brand enterprise integrated with design, production and sales together. With our good service, we believe lentron Trade CO., Ltd. is able to You can see the more photos and the price for our product in our website our website name is in the photos.we have all kinds of brand new shoes,clothing, handbag,sunglasses,hats etc for sale, 8000000% best quality with the cheapestprice. ,they are satisfied with our product .our price $33jordan shoes,$15tshirt,15sunglasess, $13cap,$33jean,$35bag"""" --- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com -------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s70 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s70 t-shirt http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s5 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s5 Timberland http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s12 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s12 jordan http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s14 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s14 DUNK http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s29 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s29 air max http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s32 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s32 women boot http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s75 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s75 Jean http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s69 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s69 handbags http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s3 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s3 NBA Jersey http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s76 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s76 Jacket
frodwith 17y ago
I'm really beginning to hate this terminology (virality). It just sounds retarded.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
decode 17y ago
It's also worth noting that it can actually hurt your image if you try to bolt on virality when you don't know what you're doing. You can become a laughing stock. I'm reminded of recent failures by two of the largest engineering companies in the world. Microsoft: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090917/windows-7-now-with-extra-street-cred/ http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090917/windows-7-now-with... Siemens: http://www.lc-d-825.com/ http://www.lc-d-825.com/
InclinedPlane 17y ago
Ah yes, the Poochy the Rockin' Dawg theory of application development: "Hmmm, add in a little more MVCness." "OK, good, can you make it about 30% more AJAXy?" "It needs more social networking, can you do that?" "Now, how about adding in a pinch of virality?" "What about crowd sourcing? Can you add more crowd sourcing?" "Is there some way we can leverage synergies in the cloud?" "Excellent, ship it!"

31 points by jkopelman 17y ago

Mint's founder on virality (paraphrased): his product had essentially no virality (no one shares their bank stories with their friends) so he focused instead on good old PR: making sure he'd be in the news as much as he could. So much for virality :-)

nex3 17y ago
Interestingly, just a couple days ago I was talking about Mint to my friends...
- tomjen2 17y ago
  True, but you properly wasn't using Mint with your friends the way you would use Facebook, etc. "Nex3 is paying of his credit card bill. Remaining amount $12158" is properly not something you want to share with your friends.
wavesplash 17y ago
I think Josh's point was not that you needed virality. Virality is just one way to get distribution (albeit a very efficient way). Josh's point was that distribution (aka Customer Acquisition) is hard and you can't just 'bolt virality on' as an afterthought.

zaidf 17y ago

This is the single biggest change in how I filter ideas these days. Few years ago between two competing ideas, I would go with the "cooler" one(ie. one I liked more). These days I start out thinking about any idea from the perspective of distribution. If I have an idea with no clear path of distribution(and revenue), it is an automatic no-go. I think a lot of Valley folks have learned this in past few years. It can't be a coincidence that VCs in general are blogging more about sales: http://southeastvc.blogs.com/southeast_vc/2009/11/vcs-hear-it-all-of-the-time-entrepreneurs-say-they-have-the-best-software-for-xyz-industry-they-tell-us-how-their-software.html http://southeastvc.blogs.com/southeast_vc/2009/11/vcs-hear-i...

gaborcselle 17y ago
I think the genesis of this line of thought was actually Steve Blank's stuff, not VCs.
- zaidf 17y ago
  True in that Blank's been saying this for a while. But VCs only recently have started openly blogging/talking about distribution and sales openly.
theprodigy 17y ago
peter thiel has said it before as well. if you don't have solid distribution and you are a consumer internet company your company is worth nothing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SRfBaKAiUM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SRfBaKAiUM at 2:37
- zaidf 17y ago
  Totally makes sense, especially having read the book PayPal Wars where the author--who led PayPal's marketing--talks of day to day strategies that helped PayPal acquire users consistently and cheaply.

oppoo 17y ago

--------------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ----http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com our company lentron is a professional exporting company dealing with name brand footwear, such as Nike etc. All of the products are exported to America, Europe, Middle-east and Southeast Asian countries.and honor with a gooddevelop the market with you. our price $33shoes,$15tshirt,15sunglasess, $13cap,$33jean,$35bag We sincerely hope to cooperate with the customers at home and abroad to develop together. reputation in the international company isa direct exporter and is becoming a brand enterprise integrated with design, production and sales together. With our good service, we believe lentron Trade CO., Ltd. is able to You can see the more photos and the price for our product in our website our website name is in the photos.we have all kinds of brand new shoes,clothing, handbag,sunglasses,hats etc for sale, 8000000% best quality with the cheapestprice. ,they are satisfied with our product .our price $33jordan shoes,$15tshirt,15sunglasess, $13cap,$33jean,$35bag"""" --- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com ---------------------------------------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com -------------- http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s70 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s70 t-shirt http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s5 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s5 Timberland http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s12 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s12 jordan http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s14 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s14 DUNK http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s29 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s29 air max http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s32 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s32 women boot http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s75 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s75 Jean http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s69 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s69 handbags http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s3 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s3 NBA Jersey http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s76 http://www.ustradebuy.com/productlist.asp?id=s76 Jacket

yukh 17y ago

frodwith 17y ago

I'm really beginning to hate this terminology (virality). It just sounds retarded.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

decode 17y ago

It's also worth noting that it can actually hurt your image if you try to bolt on virality when you don't know what you're doing. You can become a laughing stock. I'm reminded of recent failures by two of the largest engineering companies in the world. Microsoft: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090917/windows-7-now-with-extra-street-cred/ http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090917/windows-7-now-with... Siemens: http://www.lc-d-825.com/ http://www.lc-d-825.com/

InclinedPlane 17y ago

Ah yes, the Poochy the Rockin' Dawg theory of application development: "Hmmm, add in a little more MVCness." "OK, good, can you make it about 30% more AJAXy?" "It needs more social networking, can you do that?" "Now, how about adding in a pinch of virality?" "What about crowd sourcing? Can you add more crowd sourcing?" "Is there some way we can leverage synergies in the cloud?" "Excellent, ship it!"