I recently thought about listening to the excellent NPR podcast episode a few years back. It was all about how Instagram got started.
Truly a remarkable story. Instagram Founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, launched the app in October 2010. By April 2012 only a year and a half later – Facebook acquired the service for $1B dollars! Yes, that’s right – a billion dollars!
Are you asking yourself? How could someone make a billion dollars in just a year and a half? That’s an incredible TRUE story!
I learned 6 success lessons from this story, and I’d like to share them with you. But I’m doing bite sized- so we can really dig in to this. Here’s the first 3 and I will come back next time with 3 more. Here they are:
1. Find untapped potential.
How do you make something people want? A good way is to find untapped potential, something that could be done but hasn’t been done yet.
For Instagram, the untapped potential was the power of cell phone cameras. In 2010, cell phone cameras had become good enough, comparable in quality to point-and-shoot cameras. But nobody up to that point had made it easy for people to share photos right from their cell phones. Other apps at that time required you to transfer photos to a computer first before uploading them.
The founders saw this untapped potential and decided to make the most of it. They made it easy for people to share photos right from their cell phones.
2. Meet emotional needs.
Finding untapped potential is vital, but it’s not enough. For people to really want what you have, you need to meet their emotional needs.
Instagram did it well. First, it meets social needs. Instagram makes it easy for people to share pics with their friends.
Second, it meets self-confidence needs. A pivotal moment in the story was when one of the founders realized it wasn’t enough just to help people share pics; the pics should make them feel good. So what did they do? They built filters right into the app so that users can polish their looks and photos before sharing.
3. Make something people want.
Making something people want is the key to success in business. You can only thrive if people want what you have. If they don’t, nothing in the world can give you success in the long term.
In the case of Instagram, people want to share their life stories in a visual way. Instagram is still winning today because it meets this desire better than most.
With the app meeting users’ social and emotional needs, it’s a no brainer people love Instagram.
Now think about yourself, what creative thing do you have or does your business product? Consider these 3 things as you begin to work on your next big endeavor. Then, come tell us about it. I can’t wait to hear what you’re doing next. Until Then.
To Your Success,
MG
Truly a remarkable story. Instagram Founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, launched the app in October 2010. By April 2012 only a year and a half later – Facebook acquired the service for $1B dollars! Yes, that’s right – a billion dollars!
Are you asking yourself? How could someone make a billion dollars in just a year and a half? That’s an incredible TRUE story!
I learned 6 success lessons from this story, and I’d like to share them with you. But I’m doing bite sized- so we can really dig in to this. Here’s the first 3 and I will come back next time with 3 more. Here they are:
1. Find untapped potential.
How do you make something people want? A good way is to find untapped potential, something that could be done but hasn’t been done yet.
For Instagram, the untapped potential was the power of cell phone cameras. In 2010, cell phone cameras had become good enough, comparable in quality to point-and-shoot cameras. But nobody up to that point had made it easy for people to share photos right from their cell phones. Other apps at that time required you to transfer photos to a computer first before uploading them.
The founders saw this untapped potential and decided to make the most of it. They made it easy for people to share photos right from their cell phones.
2. Meet emotional needs.
Finding untapped potential is vital, but it’s not enough. For people to really want what you have, you need to meet their emotional needs.
Instagram did it well. First, it meets social needs. Instagram makes it easy for people to share pics with their friends.
Second, it meets self-confidence needs. A pivotal moment in the story was when one of the founders realized it wasn’t enough just to help people share pics; the pics should make them feel good. So what did they do? They built filters right into the app so that users can polish their looks and photos before sharing.
3. Make something people want.
Making something people want is the key to success in business. You can only thrive if people want what you have. If they don’t, nothing in the world can give you success in the long term.
In the case of Instagram, people want to share their life stories in a visual way. Instagram is still winning today because it meets this desire better than most.
With the app meeting users’ social and emotional needs, it’s a no brainer people love Instagram.
Now think about yourself, what creative thing do you have or does your business product? Consider these 3 things as you begin to work on your next big endeavor. Then, come tell us about it. I can’t wait to hear what you’re doing next. Until Then.
To Your Success,
MG
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