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Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

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Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#11

Post by citricsquid »

jnotarstefano wrote: post #10

This is tangentially related, but here is less OT than in most discussions :) I'm currently building http://www.bandol.it , a Humble Bundle clone targeted at Italian Independent Music (and, maybe, books). I'm experiencing the dreaded chicken and egg problem: bands won't give me their music if I don't have a big following, while people won't follow me if I don't offer them good bands. How did Humble Bundle solve this?

The people behind Humble Bundle were indie developers themselves, they were already established in the industry so they had their own games to use (which were popular) and had industry connections.

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#12

Post by cinquemb »

jhonovich wrote: post #9
arbuge wrote: post #3

The title is a bit off in my opinion. AirBnB could be said to have stolen Craigslist's traction, but that really doesn't apply to examples like Youtube making sharing videos possible on MySpace. Youtube added value to MySpace and made it a better platform; AirBnB on the other hand added value to landlords and tenants - at the expense of Craigslist.

"It’s important to note that Craigslist doesn’t allow external services to post listings there and Airbnb had to go out of its way to simulate that feature." The author might make a good politician.

These claims always make me wonder: do sites really expect others to follow their rules (assuming nothing is signed to make such contracts binding legally?) if one is technically able to subvert them or are these in place to cover their own six?

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#13

Post by victoriap »

So there are 2 cases. First one is when a startup offers a brilliant product with the 'wow' and 'aha' moments. It spreads like crazy. Second one is when a startup with less striking product comes, executes well, pivots a lot and steals networked users from established ones.

In all cases once a startup becomes dominant, it starts limiting and throttling their APIs fearing others obsoleting themselves. So the lesson, is to find a new grownup startup, which is not yet defensively throttling its platform or not yet pursuing ultimate monetization of its network.

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#14

Post by SamanthaGray44 »

victoriap wrote: post #13

So there are 2 cases. First one is when a startup offers a brilliant product with the 'wow' and 'aha' moments. It spreads like crazy. Second one is when a startup with less striking product comes, executes well, pivots a lot and steals networked users from established ones. In all cases once a startup becomes dominant, it starts limiting and throttling their APIs fearing others obsoleting themselves. So the lesson, i…

I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do...

http://www.cnn13.com

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#15

Post by brandnewlow »

citricsquid wrote: post #11
jnotarstefano wrote: post #10

This is tangentially related, but here is less OT than in most discussions :) I'm currently building http://www.bandol.it , a Humble Bundle clone targeted at Italian Independent Music (and, maybe, books). I'm experiencing the dreaded chicken and egg problem: bands won't give me their music if I don't have a big following, while people won't follow me if I don't offer them good bands. How did Humble Bundle solve this?

The people behind Humble Bundle were indie developers themselves, they were already established in the industry so they had their own games to use (which were popular) and had industry connections.

Right. The solution is to go make friends in the industry.

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#16

Post by DenisM »

jnotarstefano wrote: post #10

This is tangentially related, but here is less OT than in most discussions :) I'm currently building http://www.bandol.it , a Humble Bundle clone targeted at Italian Independent Music (and, maybe, books). I'm experiencing the dreaded chicken and egg problem: bands won't give me their music if I don't have a big following, while people won't follow me if I don't offer them good bands. How did Humble Bundle solve this?

Consider a change in perspective - instead of asking "how can I make Humble Bundle model stick with my target audience", ask yourself "what can I do for my target audience that generates obvious value?". Hang out with the bands, hang out with the listeners, keep looking for other important players (labels, radio stations, venue managers, event organizers, government employees driving "persevere out culture" type of programs, politicians who are focusing on culture, etc).

If you spend enough time with the crowd and keep an open mind about it you are guaranteed to find something you can add to the table.

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#18

Post by Michael_Murray »

I'm always amused by the way that what's old is always treated as new when it comes to online/digital marketing. While the methods may be different, brand positioning has always involved using the attributes, features and (especially) short-comings and weaknesses of the market players.

And the idea of "piggybacking" on other services that you know that users want isn't really new either... It's why Coke is the only cola you can get at certain baseball stadiums - Coke knows that people will come to the stadium and buy drinks, and they're "piggybacking" on that to drive demand in general.

Re: Stealing Traction: How Youtube, Paypal, AirBnB grew through piggybacking

#19

Post by sanguit »

Michael_Murray wrote: post #18

I'm always amused by the way that what's old is always treated as new when it comes to online/digital marketing. While the methods may be different, brand positioning has always involved using the attributes, features and (especially) short-comings and weaknesses of the market players. And the idea of "piggybacking" on other services that you know that users want isn't really new either... It's why Coke is the only c…

No, no one's claiming that anything is new. The fundamental rules of business do not change. What does change is that all this happens in a world of perpetual connectivity now and so some of the frictions go down, metrics become more trackable and the whole process becomes more controllable. So yes, some things do change.
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