5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
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Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#2Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#3Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it?
We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement.
PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#4Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it? We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement. PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.
Growth hacker, eh? Tell me one thing: how do plan to recover the cost of sending the sms? You cant really call it growth when you are losing money on every user.
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it? We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement. PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.
Growth hacker, eh? Tell me one thing: how do plan to recover the cost of sending the sms? You cant really call it growth when you are losing money on every user.
Well, to enter and grow so fast in such a competitive space, you've to differentiate yourself from your competition.
Our differentiators are: 1. A beautiful UX/design 2. The ability to message everyone through hike/SMS
#1 works everywhere and has driven growth for us globally. #2 combined with #1 gives us a compelling proposition for Indian users, the first market we intend to dominate. It's very powerful for a market like India where more than 80% mobile users have yet to experience data.
The unit economics in the long term are quite favorable and we expect to have a positive average LTV across the user base.
It's going to be tough, but we're betting we can do it. Just wait and watch. ;)
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#6Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it? We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement. PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.
Maybe having a viable business model should be a top priority from the start. The only way this approach to starting companies makes sense is if you're aiming to get acquired from the very start.
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it? We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement. PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.
Maybe having a viable business model should be a top priority from the start. The only way this approach to starting companies makes sense is if you're aiming to get acquired from the very start.
We do have a lot of ideas in mind, but in a space like this, you can start looking at monetization only after you've hit a certain critical mass in terms of user base.
Ultimately, it's going to be a "content and connections" play, but the initial focus has to be on growth, otherwise you're just putting the cart before the horse. :)
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#8Curious about this line from the article: "128bit encryption over Wi-Fi." Why only when using wifi? I'm not aware of too much bandwidth overhead involved in exchanging public keys and using AES in some kind of stream-emulation block mode.
My cynical side worries this is some kind of concession to the wireless carriers that want to easedrop on traffic easily. I hope that's not the case! Anyone know?
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#9Business model: cover the cost (a loss) of sending SMS, and sell advertising once it is big enough.
Whatsapp was created because telecom operators have crazy pricing for SMS (5000% profit margin last time I heard). So, people saved on money and limitations (India has a 100 message limit/day) with their data pack.
Hike wants to create an app that goes back to the SMS model where they pay the charges, not the users. They use a mass SMS gateway which is much cheaper. Using mass gateway also means the users must opt out of "Do not disturb" registry, which opens gates for more spam.
Interesting part is, it's backed by a large telco in India[1].
[1] "a 50:50 Bharti Softbank joint venture"
Re: 5M users in 4 months. How hike plans to win the global messaging space
#10Curious about this line from the article: "128bit encryption over Wi-Fi." Why only when using wifi? I'm not aware of too much bandwidth overhead involved in exchanging public keys and using AES in some kind of stream-emulation block mode. My cynical side worries this is some kind of concession to the wireless carriers that want to easedrop on traffic easily. I hope that's not the case! Anyone know?
Oh, there were some genuine technical limitations in implementing it over carrier networks. I'll check the exact details with the team and get back to you. (Most of them are sleeping, it's 3AM here in India.)
No ulterior motives. :)