Pinterest: Product Evolution from Delicious

My wife super-like Pinterest lately (moving away from craftgawker), and it lead me to think of how Pinterest is an “evolution” of past product like delicious and twitter, and how to mesh elements of different product together and how to get it “right” at the end. Though I’m a programmer cum entrepreneur, I am kind of a late adopter in terms of product and technology (I totally missed the Friendster boat, and I use Facebook only because I need a Facebook Page for my startup). Let’s get to know Pinterest a bit more, shall we?

My wife told me that Pinterest is successful because it is beautiful, and she like pinning beautiful photos under her collections: design, craft, travel places, etc. Beauty is attractive, and collecting is addictive, sounds like a deadly combo.

Thinking of collection, it reminds me of delicious, and further back with bookmarking on browser. In the beginning of Internet experience for me, I try to scout for all my favorite sites and bookmark them properly into folder (tagging was invented much later). It’s quite an addictive exercise; I am guessing “to collect and organize” is human nature. Then came delicious (the social bookmarking), where the power of the crowd comes into play: not only you can share your bookmark list publicly with others (no naughty stuff here), you’ll know how many people share the similar links as you did, and which links are the most popularly shared (sounds interesting and powerful). Sadly, Delicious was sold to Yahoo and innovation kinda stop there. Later we have Foxmarks and Google Bookmark, but those are just useful but boring tools. So that’s the end of social bookmarking.

My wife reminded me that Pinterest is like StumbleUpon, where there is a button on your browser toolbar to share site with others (which sounded like delicious as well). I never use or cross path with StumbleUpon, but why did Pinterest gain more prominence? I am guessing visual beauty (picture can be attractive, webpage might not), and perhaps the application is simple and easy to use. Having said that, it also means Pinterest is not good at sharing website with great information, but not visually attractive.

Is Pinterest like Twitter? Twitter focus on spreading or sharing of Text, and Picture as secondary (no great Photo or Video integration yet, perhaps Weibo is doing a better job); Pinterest share Picture, you can follow it, collect it, repin it :) Isn’t it something like a Twitter for Picture (or Delicous for Picture).

It’s kind of amazing where such a simple and mundane idea have such great traction and make an impact. Thinking of it, Twitter is simple as well.

I do admit I like the space of consumer Internet, where there is so much fun and innovation. As someone who comes from product development, I believe in the mantra “solve a pain” (build something of value to your customer, which is good). But does Pinterest or Twitter really solve an existing pain when it was launch, or it just creates a new and fun opportunity where you can do new things which are not possible before? Is twitting really micro-blogging, solving the pain of writing lengthy blog? Perhaps twitter is our voice on the Internet, and also to hear what others have to say or share; Pinterest solves the problem of finding and sharing beautiful picture. I am guessing these are not “serious existing problem”, but the outcome is equally unpredictable. Something like luxury goods? Not much of a real purpose, but it feels good :)

 What can we learn from Pinterest?

• UX Rulez: Layout and Usability; Mansory Layout and Infinite Scrolling, simple and barrier free 
• It’s still about Social Sharing (and Follow), and bookmarking (collection), and also a Passion Pit (narrow into categories which interest us). 
• Still have to be easy and fun, right?

Idea: Any Pinterest for Video coming up?

Who is the real competitor?

More than a decade, Microsoft Windows had enjoyed more than 90% market share on computers. Linux win some market share on the server front, Mac OS get 5% of the pie, and BeOS is almost gone; it seems like no one can threaten the giant, until a new breed of computer is born: smartphone and tablet. By 2014, Mobile Internet usage should overtake Desktop Internet, and the number of conventional computers (Desktop & Notebook) is shrinking. Microsoft Windows is not running on smartphone and tablet, and Windows Phone had less than 5% market share on mobile devices. Who would have thought that a Microsoft Windows killer is not another Desktop OS, but iOS and Android running on mobile devices? 

Google is the King of search (except in China, where Baidu owns 83% market share) with 66% market share, which dwarfed other competitors: Bing (15%), Yahoo (14%) and Ask (3%). Money is being invested to create better search engine, such as Blekko, Yandex, DuckDuckGo might be gaining some prominence; but many others failed miserably (I can’t even remember or google for their name anymore!). Who would thought Google Search’s enemy is Facebook, who control a significant amount of new content generated every day, which are inaccessible for Google Search? Not forgetting that “social” element is starting to play a role in search as well (not just pure data and result, but human’s relationship with the data: who recommend what).

From the above example, the real competitors emerged not by creating similar products in the same category, but by changing the source (the element which the dominant product is controlling or depending on). Microsoft Windows control the PCs, so iOS and Android replaced the PCs with mobile devices; Google Search depending on web content (the more content the better), and Facebook is controlling the new content.

What’s next? Facebook is the newcomer for the decade, and Google is challenging that with Google+. From my perspective, I would say Google+ is just an interim solution to wrestle some market share from Facebook and injecting social element into Google Search at the same time. Google+ will gain traction, but it’s unlikely to dethrone Facebook (unless Facebook did something really stupid, let’s see if adult-supervision model a.k.a Eric Schmidt for Google is overrated or not); and Google doesn’t have a significant advantage over Facebook’s resources and talent pool. I suppose the real question is: what is Facebook controlling or depending on? How to create a new application or technology to wrestle or replace this element?

Perhaps:

• Creating a better platform for content creation?
• Creating a place for people to spend their time online every day?
• Change how we connect with friends, again?
• Perhaps something so seamless, that people aren't aware they are using it at all?

Review: Tara Hunt - The Unclear Path

She might have a dramatic showmanship, but that's the true emotions, feelings and thoughts of a startup entreprenuer. Totally delusional :)

• I'm Tara, I'm more broke and happier, and I'm a Startup Entreprenuer
• Most investor will not understand nor believe in your venture, and believe you'll probably fail (too much competition, no competition, never been done before); you walk out of the meeting with 2 things: i) a broken weary heart ii) the burning desire to walk back someday and say "I told you so" when you found success.
• Sometimes you get a meeting which really go well, but the follow up is dead with an email of "You're great, but we have to skip"
• You break my heart, but not my spirit
• Despite all the disappointment, what if ... (we actually made it), wouldn't it be worth it?
• What it takes to be an entreprenuer: You need to be all in; working on side project is fine, but it's not a entreprenuer; working as a consultant is detter defined as self-employed.
• When you are all in, you are obsessively focus on survival and success of your business day in and day out because you have to be. You get very creative, you dream about it, you keep thinking and doing it.
• Characteristics: i) delusion ii) a desire to change the status quo iii) sheer, utter and audacity
• It's not a matter of taking a easy or hard road: it's to do something meaningful
• I don't know the road to "success"; goals will shift (pivot); does Mark knows what Facebook will be today, in the beginning?
• The arrogance in believing in something so strongly that you are going to drive the people around you that love you completely bonkers.
• Perseverance: ability to hang-on, stand up and continue walking again (99 no to get to a single yes).

Apple's Think Different

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different

Review: Aaron Patzer (mint.com) - The $170 Million Idea: From Idea to Exit in 3 Years

Summary


Mint: The product is FREE, we get money if we can help you save money. Our ad helps you save money: e.g. Save $200 on interest if you switch your current mortgage to this one.

• Validate your idea
• Prototype
• Build the right team
• Raise the funding

Real Business: Business is creating value (not just a feature)

• Problem people will still have in 5-10 years
• Billion dollar market
• Sustainable advantage

Pasychology of Startup: Listen to Frank Sinatra - That's Life to counter Depression

• Quit your job
• Self doubt is okay
• Work flat out hard
• Can be very lonely: working in a room in a new city alone for 7 months, thinking you could change the world could be pretty daunting

Pre-launch Evaluation: +500K per Engineer, -250K per Business Person

1st 5 hires are Engineers, 6th person is Marketing

Profit Projection = Relistic Estimated User Base * Revenue per Year

2012: Yet Another New Hope

100 minutes of the New Year just swoop by, while I spend my time watching the deep (by superhero movie standard) and twisted Watchmen. The sounds of fireworks outside reminded that the new year has arrived, yet I am too lazy to get up and go out, but I decide to make and effort and go out anyway, but all the fireworks are blocked by nearby buildings. I raise my hand in air and shake my hand and body like an insane person, saying “yeah!” to usher in the New Year. 2012 is no longer the future, it’s here.

New Year, New Hope, New Beginning, and Hopefully not too much of the same old shit.

Year-end usually felt slightly shitty psychologically (in regardless of the holiday mood, like a bad hangover), knowing the year had passed and the feeling of we accomplished so little and “wasted” so much time? What had we accomplished? What do we intent to accomplish? What are we doing? We are wasting time living our life. Perhaps we wish for more wealth, more acknowledgement, more gains, more love, less misery and misfortune. Then again, perhaps no news is good news. Then again, we are all greedy being which are not easily satisfied. We wish for the simplest thing, yet we always over complicated things. We always wanted the things we never have (or yet to have, like a child wishing to grow up faster, and later wishing to age slower), else life would have ended.

If I believe end of the world is coming, I am not quite sure what should I do; pack my bags and travel the world, or stop living my life, and how do we actually love our loves one more every day? Can we actually increase the amount of love pumped in per day, or perhaps the current dosage is just fine. So if the end of the world is coming, I would prefer not to be preempted about it, it just adds more misery and it lessens the hope for mankind.

Anyway, after the year end, it feels good because we are being reminded that the old just pass us a few hours ago, and the new is here. It’s like life got a reboot, where the machine is running faster again with more memory to spare (and all the bad problems are gone). We forgotten about the pain and despair, and we are all set to march towards our hope, to reach the destination which we missed last year, and to create bigger and better destination for this year. We are all pumped up, and ready to take on the world, as we have another 12 months to do a lot of stuff. We are going to OWN the world, and the people of the year shall be us.

2012 have to be a better year; else there is nothing to look forward to. In fact, it’s going to be a great year, a year of accomplishment and great satisfaction. Of course we would pray for world peace, less natural disaster and less financial crisis. We hope for less corruption, less stupid and greedy people staying in power, and more “right” things to happen. We want our loves ones to be happy and healthy, and wish everyone would find their dream and have the courage to chase that dream. I just wish everyone would be happy, in regardless of the long list of wishes and hopes.

Then again, if we aren’t specific, we aren’t going to accomplish anything and be happy about it, as the pursuit of hapyness is very broad and we might get lost within. My current ultimate dream is to go into semi-retirement within 3 years, and start doing things because it’s fun and meaningful, not because I have to. Until then, I would give it all out to give birth to 2 consumers Internet Application: Foodoly (morphing from Malaysia Most Wanted Food) and Travelopy, by working really hard and nurture them to grow strong and healthy. All out, not holding back, until I ran out of excuses in regardless of the outcome.

2012 shall be different, and great :) Happy New Year

Review: Evernote Business Model

Founder Showcase - Phil Libin Keynote

The Best Product Doesn't Always Win is a total BS. People who tell you this don't want you to succeed. It is true that some great product doesn't win, but given the choice to invest in product vs marketing/logistic/crm, you should put more emphasis on product and could potentially get the other stuff for free.

2 step plan in making revenue

1. Make an amazingly great product
2. Charge money for it

Stick with 1 revenue model for startup

• Premium Subscription (90%). Not because it's biggest, but because it had the most salable growth.
• Advertising (little money, promote partner product)
• Technology licensing
• Schwag (T-shirt, stickers)
• Giant novelty checks

Stats

• 3 Million Users in 2 years, 8,000 per day
• Free users grow by 10% per month, paid users grow by 15% ($5/month, $45/year)
• Lose 50% users on the 1st month, then the rest stays month after month
• Conversion Rate: 1% (1st Month), 2% (1st Year), 8% (2nd Year)
• Cost per User: 9 cents, Revenue per User: 25 cents
• If you haven't reach break (gross margin profitability), the more users you add (scaling) means the faster you run out of money; after break even, the more users you add means more revenue

Freemium Model

• A great long-term retention rate (don't have to spend money to re-attract users again)
• Product that increases in value over time
• Low variable costs

Startup Realities Checklist: Coder or Entrepreneur?

So what are some of the harsh realities of a startup that applied to me as well?

Your First Iteration of an Idea Will Be Wrong
Our first product is a property website which allows checking for historical property prices so that you could make a wiser decision before purchase. Though it might sounds useful, but we fail the gain user tractions or wrestle with the big boys like iProperty. Price Analysis is nice, but people use property website to search for property (either buy/sale or rent); and we don’t have the resources or connections to succeed in this manner.

Perhaps it isn’t a fail product (yet), just that it would consume more resources and industrial relationship to succeed (something which we don’t have). Restaurant reviews is something which we could do really well given our limitation, thus we focus on that.

Your Friends And Family Won’t Understand What You Do
It takes years before my dad stop asking me to get a “real” job. When I told people we are running a restaurant reviews website without charging for usage, people would ask how we survived. I would explain it is like The Sun newspaper, a free local newspaper and make money from the advertiser. Wait until they found out I am making less than being employed (sometimes).

Why do it (start a business) if it doesn’t make more money than being employed? The short answer is it’s fun and satisfying, I can work through weekend and midnight and still feel good about it (though I curse at the notebook many times). What if it doesn’t work out? The problem is, I could no longer get myself to do work for others which doesn’t interest me. It’s just painful. There seems to be no turning back (I once wished for burning the bridges, seems like it had happened).

You Will Make Less Than Normal Wages For A While
It could be a long while. I would probably earn more if I continue to climb the corporate ladder 6 years ago. Then again, I would end up in a dead end: a life which I wouldn’t enjoy. I need good mixture of freedom and passion, and a good mix of programming and traveling. I am lucky that my life expenses are low, and I am good at saving money, and pretty good at bootstrapping, and doing something which is within my means and capabilities.

Everything Takes Twice As Long…If It Even Happens
Still remember about thinking about making the 1st million by 25, then 30, and now turned to 35. Still remember about become sustainable within 6 months, then 1 year and then forgotten about how to calculate. Being a programmer, we are always optimistic about launching a new product or finishing the feature within 3 days, which might ended twice or thrice as long. All system must go live and all features must go out the door! Luckily that is still true: late but deployed. Getting it done is still better that getting it perfect.

Titles Mean Nothing. You Will Be a Janitor
I can call myself CEO, Founder, Serial Entrepreneur, Software Architect, Product Manager, etc. It doesn’t matter: I’m still a coder, and a thousand other things.

There Is No Silver Bullet
There is no savior (mentor or VC) which is going to come in and save the day, or any magic formula not known to mankind; I have to make it work though countless iteration of experimentation and error, until I get it right, or stop being relevant.

Customers Will Frustrate You
I like the users and consumers (since they are not paying and happily using our free services); customers could be a bit demanding since they are forking out the money. Then again, I am thankful of Google Adsense which could temporary shield me from sales and customers.

You Can’t Do It All Yourself
Yup, I have tasks piled up for me for the next 12 months if I am going to do this alone. I can pick-up multiple skills, but I could squeeze more than 24 hours in a single day. I definitely need help, HELP!!!

Building A Team Is Hard
Yup, I could be very tricky, but there is no other way. Then again, we shouldn’t just assemble a team just because we need to, we need to find the “right” people; just like we should not get married just because it’s time to get married, and we need to find the “right” girl or else we would be miserable for the rest of our life.

Building a team is like a courtship which hopefully would lead to marriage, and expect a lot of heartbreaks, incompatibility, wrong timing, betrayal, bad judgment, misaligned vision, not good enough, etc.

You will LOSE all of your money that you ever earned, and then a bunch that you still have not earned. If you’re not prepared to put it all on the line, you’re not prepared for a start-up.
When I am Solo, I just need to feed myself and get a shelter (which my parents could temporary provide for me).  Worst case scenario for me is that I might lose that “potential” income per year, or don’t have enough money to get married or have children. Should I take on more risk?

Am I a Coder or Entrepreneur?
I have ponder this question for quite a while, am I an Entrepreneur doing a Startup? I know I am a coder who likes to build stuff, and I am happy when people like to use my stuff. Is my stuff (a product or a website) a startup? Is a coder running some stuff an Entrepreneur? Before the word Entrepreneur doing Startup becomes popular, it was known as Businessman running a Business; and it is common knowledge that technical person are less likely to be a businessman. Technology (and Timing) made it possible for a coder to become an Entrepreneur doing a Startup. We know Entrepreneur consist more than just a coder: the business and management side, the sales and marketing side, and the whole “running a startup” side.

Rather than being all glamorous about entrepreneurship and startup, perhaps I am happier being a coder building some useful stuff which people happens to like to use. I guess I am not getting any VC love after admitting to this :)

Jeff Hoffman: How to overcome criticism of your idea?

Kinda missed his talk during the SVC2M event due to an 1-to-1 session, now I know why it's the most liked talk: Inspiration and No holding back (and no excuses).


Notes:

• Successful people are not smarter. They just wake up and go do something about it, no more excuses.
• Entrepreneur take gamble on themselves.
• Info Spunge: read (and gather data points) about things which might not be relevant to what we are doing, and somehow the dots might connect after a few cycles to form a new picture.
• You'll fail, so what?
• Leader: build a team who is smarter than you.
• Ask what your future team member want? Do you share the same value or vision?
• 299 vs 300: It's what differentiate Heavyweight Champion and other boxers.
• Should I do something which make instant money, or work on the product? Hardwork & Sacrifice are the nutients
• We always know we are going to sell everything, but let's focus on selling one thing. Amazon got so good at selling books, people start asking what else are they selling. Same goes of Zappos.
• Protect Idea: Patern, Switching Cost, Industry with Relationship
• Blue Sky: Pretend there is no gracity and rules, don't try to innovate by making more lanes in the highway to solve traffic.
• You cannot control of being a victim, but you can control if you want to continue to be a victim.

How to take on Negativity?

• Don't take advice from golfer if you want to play baseball (find the right mentor/advice)
• Great Multi-tasker = No Focus
• The Drive to get it done now = Impatient
• Not afraid to try something no one else had tried before = No Respect for Authority
• Quit taking opinion from the guy you are not going to sell your product to

PS: I always knew I am pitching/talking to the wrong kind of people: they are not the users of my product, they do not understand the dynamics of consumer Internet and they are definitely not entrepreneurs. Thanks Jeff for the validations.


It's time to do more with less excuses.