The Cold Start Problem The Cold Start Problem

The Cold Start Problem

How to Start and Scale Network Effects

    • 4.5 • 26 Ratings
    • $20.99
    • $20.99

Publisher Description

A startup executive and investor draws on expertise developed at the premier venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and as an executive at Uber to address how tech’s most successful products have solved the dreaded "cold start problem”—by leveraging network effects to launch and scale toward billions of users.

Although software has become easier to build, launching and scaling new products and services remains difficult. Startups face daunting challenges entering the technology ecosystem, including stiff competition, copycats, and ineffective marketing channels. Teams launching new products must consider the advantages of “the network effect,” where a product or service’s value increases as more users engage with it. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants utilize network effects, and most tech products incorporate them, whether they’re messaging apps, workplace collaboration tools, or marketplaces. Network effects provide a path for fledgling products to break through, attracting new users through viral growth and word of mouth.

Yet most entrepreneurs lack the vocabulary and context to describe them—much less understand the fundamental principles that drive the effect. What exactly are network effects? How do teams create and build them into their products? How do products compete in a market where every player has them? Andrew Chen draws on his experience and on interviews with the CEOs and founding teams of LinkedIn, Twitch, Zoom, Dropbox, Tinder, Uber, Airbnb, and Pinterest to offer unique insights in answering these questions. Chen also provides practical frameworks and principles that can be applied across products and industries. 

The Cold Start Problem reveals what makes winning networks thrive, why some startups fail to successfully scale, and, most crucially, why products that create and compete using the network effect are vitally important today.

GENRE
Business & Personal Finance
RELEASED
2021
December 7
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
400
Pages
PUBLISHER
Harper Business
SELLER
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
SIZE
5.4
MB

Customer Reviews

ex3cut0r ,

Solid

Enjoyable read - interesting business studies and lots of anecdotes narrated in an exciting manner.

Lazersmat ,

Good overview of a well-known, but seldom talked about problem.

This book had a lot of great information for anyone trying to build a scalable company on network effects. Recommended if you’re building such a company or are just interested in how they work.

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