>> It is the outliers like snapchat @3billion and instagram @1billion that were not created to solve problems but to start a startup.
That's not why either were started. Both were started as just cool little projects by guys who wanted the product. They may have rapidly shifted into growth at all costs, but that's not why they were initially created.
I do agree that they weren't created to solve a problem in the way DropBox was, just to scratch an itch of the founders. Which makes growth hacks like Dropbox's referrals much more difficult. Dropbox could survive on people loving the product no matter how many others used it. Snapchat and Instagram value to users craters without a critical mass of users.
I disagree, snapchat was made with a purpose of being a startup, this is documented in the leaked deposition videos where they discussed who came up with the idea. Instagram, which morphed from a location app was created with the intention to create a startup, see the Stanford ecorner video. Now, craigslist was created without the intention of being a startup, it morphed from an email list when the founder realized how popular it was.
>> snapchat was made with a purpose of being a startup, this is documented in the leaked deposition videos where they discussed who came up with the idea.
Good point about Instagram. You're right, Burbn was started as a startup, it was the photo filter and sharing part that they kept that was Systrom's piece that he just wanted (since he claims to have been square cropping and filtering his photo's for years).
With Snapchat, however, that's not the whole story told by people who knew Speigel at Stanford (my brother was his year). The argument came after they'd already built the app and run around campus showing off how cool their app was. They did, however, very quickly realized that what they built was a company. It's also extremely likely that they had all intended to start a company and that SnapChat immediately became the company once they figured out what they were doing.
That's not why either were started. Both were started as just cool little projects by guys who wanted the product. They may have rapidly shifted into growth at all costs, but that's not why they were initially created.
I do agree that they weren't created to solve a problem in the way DropBox was, just to scratch an itch of the founders. Which makes growth hacks like Dropbox's referrals much more difficult. Dropbox could survive on people loving the product no matter how many others used it. Snapchat and Instagram value to users craters without a critical mass of users.