Push On

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:54:00 -0400

It amazes me the groundbreaking innovations people have written off. I found these examples on Reddit:

“Everything that can be invented has been invented." — Charles Duell, U.S. Patent Commissioner, 1899.

"This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.” — William Orton, president of Western Union, in 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell tried to sell the company his invention.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment, in 1977.

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” — Harry Warner, Warner Bros., as movies with sound made their debut in 1927.

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM (1943).

“I see little commercial potential for the internet for the next 10 years.” – Bill Gates (1994)

“A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” –The New York Times, January 13, 1920.

“The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad” –President of the Michigan Savings Bank

Just think of all the innovations that have been stifled because someone listened to a quote like this. Push on.

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Follow the User Behavior Get uncomfortably close to a user...

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:43:00 -0500

Follow the User Behavior

Get uncomfortably close to a user behavior.

I can’t remember where this quote came from, but I can’t get it out of my head. The concept struck an entrepreneurial tuning fork that is still ringing. I can’t stop seeing examples in the wild:

Instagram - Kevin Systrom saw that users liked sharing photos on Burbn, so he positioned Instagram closer to photo sharing than any other app.
Pinterest - Trend setters and fashion lovers have been sharing photos of their inspiration through blogs, email and Facebook. Pinterest built a service for this one type of sharing, removed extraneous features and people are hooked.
Twitter - Some IM users meticulously edit and change their status. Twitter recognized this unintended behavior and built a service around this simple idea, making IM statuses persistent.

I have also experienced this first-hand, as a user. Last year, every Friday, I would spend 20 minutes on Grooveshark creating a weekly playlist. These playlists ranged in theme from all 80’s to Lady Gaga vs. Katy Perry (don’t judge). Once created, my friends and I hopped on Google chat, I shared the link, my friends struggled to load the playlist, we counted down over IM, and finally experienced the music together. When Turntable launched I knew I would never have to fumble with piecing features from multiple services together again. Turntable aligned almost perfectly with my previous behavior.

So, watch what people do in your application. Can you get closer to that behavior? If you are just starting, look at other applications. What are users doing that are not core features? Are people using extraneous features for unintended purposes? How could you build a service around that behavior?

Mark Brenneman

Push On

Follow the User Behavior Get uncomfortably close to a user...