And although we don't always agree with his definition of the value-much less the valuation- of some of this stuff, he is always interesting.
From Singularity Hub:
The Billion-Dollar Trait Behind Airbnb, Instagram, and Pinterest
An overnight success… after 10 years of hard work.That's the story for my founding XPRIZE and co-founding Zero-G.It's also the story of Airbnb, Instagram, Pinterest and a lot of other startups.People often forget how difficult it is to start a company.This post is about "grit"… one of the most critical attributes of being a successful entrepreneur today.
What is grit? Grit is refusing to give up. It's persistence. It's making your own luck.Entrepreneurial success is almost always harder than you think and almost always takes longer than you expect.But that's also why its fun — it is a challenge that you have to throw your whole life into, and when you get it right, the rewards are well worth the effort.
Entrepreneurship Is Non-Linear — Grit Is Your Key Friend
Let's take a look at three infographics depicting the non-linear, sometimes crazy paths to success of a few well known, billion dollar startups: AirBnb, Instagram and Pinterest.First, here's AirBnb:A few of my favorite highlights:
- Two co-founders can’t make rent and rent out their spare bedroom.
- They launched at SXSW in 2007 and only got TWO bookings.
- They had to sell Obama “O’s” CEREAL at $40 a pop to keep the lights on, a service that wasn’t even remotely related to their core business
- They were making $200 a week for months and NOT GROWING
- They pitched and were REJECTED by many VCs along the way.
Thanks goodness they stuck with it. Their little idea is now valued at $25 billion.And here is Instagram:A few of my favorite highlights:
- Kevin (co-founder) learns to code after work.
- Builds an app called Burbn that did everything from check-ins to photos.
- Didn’t work, so he decided to just focus on photos and built a different app...
- It didn’t work, so they went back to Burbn...
- Iterated again, scrapped everything, simplified, and renamed Instagram.
...MOREThe photo sharing app was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. And it's now worth an estimated $35 billion....
Previously on the Diamandis channel, we take issue with some of his thinking:
"Exponential Finance: Cost of Living in the Future Will Be Substantially Reduced"
The Case for Less: Is Abundance Really the Solution to Our Problems?
X Prize Founder Wants to Mine Asteroids
And Now for Some Good News
Easy Money: The $10 Million Qualcomm Tricorder X-Prize
...Here's the Tricorder X-Prize homepage. There is no such thing as easy money. Vulcans never bluff.*
*"The Doomsday Machine"
Stardate 4202.9
