69 chunks · 49 episodes
... Another approach is to go with the smaller ones and surf upwards by creating a network effect. Go for the easiest ones now in a way that makes it easier and easier to bring others on board in the future. Seems backwards, but in many cases, mom...
...tency signals. The proprietary access to those signals gives a very strong data network effect to the lead search engine. AI has a few similar structural things. The common crawl is (presumably) used by almost every LLM. There's also proprietar...
The same origin paradigm is lots of little silos, so network effects are hard to get going. If you put all of the silos together, it would be unsafe, but have a wild network effect. Remember that network effects go up...
In an ecosystem, which sub-component will be the one where the network effect coheres and start running away? If there's a good enough, sufficiently open system, that's the emergent schelling point. The point that every partici...
...is the primary use case. The platform is the secondary use case. Platforms have network effects, so as it grows, it eclipses the primary use case that got it going.
...heir median users to kickstart the ecosystem. Vertical products have a singular network effect of strength in numbers. Horizontal platforms have multi-layered, multi-dimensional feedback loops, which scale with the combinatorial possibility of ...
...s of the universe individually, and any functionality that could have a kind of network effect with more use can't get off the ground. The vast majority of functionality that is specific to a given experience is thin and small… but every origin...
...ordinate means do a thing compatible with others. The power of coordination has network effects that dominate as it gets momentum. The more people you could plausibly collaborate with, the more the pull towards coordination will dominate. You c...
...ing to do it. That requires a clear primary use case that works even before the network effect value of the service. The network effect of many users putting their data in the service can only be a bonus.
...ne. This gives you a cold start problem, especially for experiences that have a network effect, where their quality rises with the amount of overall usage. A product that is only network effect can't hope to get off the ground. To get off the g...
...es are minor and hard to activate. But sometimes the secondary use cases have a network effect. The more that people use them, the more useful they get. In these cases, even if only a very small number of people use the secondary use case, that...
Network effects dominate everything else. Nothing linear matters next to a compounding force, in the fullness of time.
Things with massive network effects are inherently wildly path dependent. Small starting noise blown up to galactic proportions. The slight bumpiness in the distribution of matter afte...
...n often be a small but distinct asymmetry, an edge. Ecosystems have significant network effects, which means a consistent edge (even a small one!) can rapidly accumulate an overwhelming advantage. A small but consistent and distinct asymmetry w...
An ecosystem has not crossed its rubicon of viability until demonstrating network effects strong enough to break through the early adopter ceiling. If you have network effects but a low ceiling, it can't change the whole world. To change ...
...ed to be open and allow zero-friction safe composition, it will turbocharge the network effects and hopefully eclipse the quality of any one model. This approach is only possible with the right laws of physics and ecosystem gardening knowhow. T...
...duct. A secondary use case is just a bonus. But some secondary use cases have a network effect. Their value goes up super-linearly with use and adoption. This can allow the secondary use case to quickly eclipse the original primary use case. Th...
...sting as a built object. It's only interesting if it's alive. Alive things with network effects have momentum. This is the all-important self-sustaining flame. That essay is now 8 years old, but I think it still slaps! Ecosystem building is ver...
Network effects are easier to start in 20% time because they don't look like much to start. The withering effect of a powerful person looking at a seedling and sayi...
...e critical mass of users. Second, they grow quickly based on the speed of their network effects. Some network effects have a weak gradient, and some have an incredibly steep one that accelerates with momentum. For example, open systems typicall...