

Let's just add in a little virality - jkopelman
http://redeye.firstround.com/2009/11/lets-just-add-in-a-little-virality.html?awesm=frc.vc_31v&utm_medium=frc.vc-twitter&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=bookmarklet-twitter

======
zaidf
This is the single biggest change in how I filter ideas these days. Few years
ago between two competing ideas, I would go with the "cooler" one(ie. one I
liked more).

These days I start out thinking about any idea from the perspective of
distribution. If I have an idea with no clear path of distribution(and
revenue), it is an automatic no-go. I think a lot of Valley folks have learned
this in past few years.

It can't be a coincidence that VCs in general are blogging more about sales:
[http://southeastvc.blogs.com/southeast_vc/2009/11/vcs-
hear-i...](http://southeastvc.blogs.com/southeast_vc/2009/11/vcs-hear-it-all-
of-the-time-entrepreneurs-say-they-have-the-best-software-for-xyz-industry-
they-tell-us-how-their-software.html)

~~~
theprodigy
peter thiel has said it before as well. if you don't have solid distribution
and you are a consumer internet company your company is worth nothing.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SRfBaKAiUM>

at 2:37

~~~
zaidf
Totally makes sense, especially having read the book PayPal Wars where the
author--who led PayPal's marketing--talks of day to day strategies that helped
PayPal acquire users consistently and cheaply.

------
chris100
Mint's founder on virality (paraphrased): his product had essentially no
virality (no one shares their bank stories with their friends) so he focused
instead on good old PR: making sure he'd be in the news as much as he could.

So much for virality :-)

~~~
nex3
Interestingly, just a couple days ago I was talking about Mint to my
friends...

------
decode
It's also worth noting that it can actually hurt your image if you try to bolt
on virality when you don't know what you're doing. You can become a laughing
stock. I'm reminded of recent failures by two of the largest engineering
companies in the world.

Microsoft: [http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090917/windows-7-now-
with...](http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090917/windows-7-now-with-extra-
street-cred/)

Siemens: <http://www.lc-d-825.com/>

------
InclinedPlane
Ah yes, the Poochy the Rockin' Dawg theory of application development:

"Hmmm, add in a little more MVCness."

"OK, good, can you make it about 30% more AJAXy?"

"It needs more social networking, can you do that?"

"Now, how about adding in a pinch of virality?"

"What about crowd sourcing? Can you add more crowd sourcing?"

"Is there some way we can leverage synergies in the cloud?"

"Excellent, ship it!"

------
frodwith
I'm really beginning to hate this terminology (virality). It just sounds
retarded.

