The five major models for 1 billion dollar Internet companies to succeed

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There are five strategies, or models, that make the best internet start-ups stand out, and it's clear that these startups are all 1 billion-dollar levels.

In the past few years, I have been studying how enterprises can form a successful habit, so I read countless books, professional articles, and also attended the TED talks conference to discuss consumer behavior, how habits form, consumer thinking type, and even study the human brain evolving ability. The authors also studied a number of startups to explore the patterns behind their success.

Not only that, I also have a hobby, that is to analyze the 1 billion-dollar level of consumer internet companies performance, I began to realize that in their rapid development of the success of the road is actually a number of patterns, rules can follow.

Tony Dungy, a famous football coach, once said: "Champions don't do something extraordinary, they just do mundane things, but he does it without thinking, they do it too quickly, and other teams don't even react." It's like their instincts, and they just follow the habit of their own. ”

Charles Duhigg, in his new book, "The Power of Habit", "Habit," quotes Dungy's coaching philosophy and tells a story. In the NFL, there was a team called the Tampa Bay Pirates (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), a very bad team in the league, until Dungy coach joined the team and began to change their habits, or behavioral patterns, Soon the team was in the playoffs, and the failed team, which had no future in the league, soon became one of the strongest teams in the NFL's history. This book can be said to be very attractive, and the author believes that changing habits can pave the way for success. And it argues that even a failed company may succeed if it realizes its own shortcomings and then makes some changes to its operating model. If companies are to climb to the top of their success, Duhigg says, the inevitable thing to do is to identify the habits that lead to their own successes, and then try to change those bad habits.

But the question is, what are these habits? Well, as Dungy coaches say, it's a winning habit.

Let's take a look at the 1 billion-dollar consumer internet companies, such as YouTube, Pinterest, Chegg, Groupon, Airbnb, Shazam, Instagram, Waze, and Twitter, The authors call these companies The 1 billion Dollar Club (Bdc:billion Dollar). By studying the trajectory of these companies, the authors found that all of these industry giants used the same five models, or some basic habits, which allowed them to succeed overnight, and that they were a ticket to the 1 billion dollar club.

The following is the author through observation, summed up five successful habits:

Habit One: to distinguish between emotion and reality, to convey an emotional, or a functional, message

When a company puts a product on the market, including every 1 billion dollar club, when it comes to introducing its products to the market, it is accompanied by a concise message that is either functional, focused on some practical features of the product, or emotional, The main emphasis on their products can bring emotional or psychological benefits to users.

Here, I can give a few examples: Twitter is positioned in the user's emotional social needs above, they stimulate users to share their personal experiences or ideas among friends.

In this 1 billion dollar club circle, there is also a company named Shazam, they are straightforward to meet the user's practical needs, to provide people with speech recognition search engine services.

Pinterest at first conveyed a very clear message that, by using a pin button, you could save and share your own photos with just a single click. YouTube allows users to share video around the world; Airbnb provides a platform for vacation rentals.

Google is using one of the most convenient ways to make Internet search very practical, their homepage is very simple, the page design has only one search bar; Apple has created a technical miracle, and they have expressed their mission from the outset, that is, "let everyone have a computer on their hands."

Today, it's hard to imagine what it would be like if we weren't able to use Google search, or to tweet, or share pictures on Pinterest.

Some behavioral economists, such as Daniel Kahneman and Dr Dan Ariely, have found that if a potential message attracts our emotions or fits our logic, it can help us make a quick decision. These decisions will help consumers respond to a range of responses, such as starting to focus on the product, testing it, accepting it, and eventually buying it.

In all, one of the most important thing is to help build a brand, so that consumers will produce brand awareness, but also create a subconscious demand out. In other words, an innovative, breakthrough product, creating a brand awareness process is actually as important as the development of this product.

The purpose of this approach is very strong, that is, it is to quickly invade the consumer's brain, how to do? is to use one of the most direct and correct information, quickly into the most correct part of our brain, and then let us effortlessly make a decision: choose and use their products.

Habit Two: Become more extreme: develop a simple, but extreme function

When 1 billion dollar club companies introduce their products to us, all the Giants do the same thing, picking out one of the most important features and then conveying a whole new cognitive message to the user. This most important killer feature must be unique, and it should be the DNA of the application, and the importance of all the other features is at its back.

For example, like Pinterest, Shazam, YouTube, GetTaxi, Instagram, Snaptchat, Twitter, and Waze apps, most of them can bring value to users with just one to two clicks, These features make the user very convenient to use, but also very user-friendly, and, more importantly, it tells the user that this feature will become an inseparable part of your daily life. This little function is branded on our fingertips, which is why we call them the ultimate.

There is a good reason why these 1 billion club companies do this: if the enterprise develops more functions, then the relative consumer response will become smaller.

We have become accustomed to receiving a very stimulating product function, but we will soon ignore it, we will soon feel that this function is boring, then we will not feel fresh. "Extreme" information or user experience has become an original sin, in noisy public information, the so-called extreme can make this function become unique.

Perhaps when we talk about "extreme", the most famous example is not Apple, and the most representative figure is Apple founder Steve Jobs, his philosophy is to adhere to an extreme way, in the product design of the minimalist abstract art style.

Although his staff did not agree with him, Mr. Jobs insisted on his ideas and launched a revolutionary music player---iPod, all of which were implemented with just one button. He again and again let engineers rework optimization, until finally launched the world's first single MP3 player, and this is the ultimate!

While still sticking to his ultimate idea when he developed the ipad, Jobs insisted on refusing to have a USB connection on the ipad to keep the device's minimalist design

Habit Three: Make a commitment: product and customer expectations agreed

When a company launches a new product, they have actually made a basic commitment to send a message to consumers telling them what they expect when they use the product, he said. This can almost become a formal revelation, like a slogan, but also an absolute creed.

In other words, through such a commitment, the product developed by the enterprise must be consistent with the expectations of the user, and the biggest problem is that this commitment should not be too big.

Twitter is simply providing users with 140 text characters that people can use to share their thoughts with others. This is a promise that allows us to keep using this product. Today, its slogan is social networking and Twitter, but their initial commitment has been etched into our minds.

Pinterest, another company in the 1 billion dollar club, is committed to allowing users to share their favorite photos on the Internet, even today, we can pin,repin, share, or make a beautiful panel, Pinterest the company's initial commitment, It's the pin picture, it's their essence, and until now, they're still on the road.

When Fiverr was founded, there was also a commitment to provide a working platform for freelance workers or part-time workers to find a reward of five dollars. Today, Fiverr companies offer far more than that, but their commitment to help customers deliver five of dollars has not disappeared, and the service echoes in the minds of users. When we think of a cheap part-time platform, the mind is definitely fiverr.

Google promises to provide answers to the search that people need, and Apple, well, Apple's promise is innovation.

Take Waze for example, today, Waze's slogan is "Make the traffic more intelligent," but at the beginning of the company, they want to be able to quickly penetrate the market, so they provide free beta program.

They began by promising to provide a quasi GPS navigation service, which has no maps, no traffic updates, and no speed camera reminders. But their users are willing to suffer the inconvenience and the bug of the program, they insist on using Waze product, know those main problem is solved by one by one.

Why not? The answer is that this product is free! At the time, no company was willing to provide free GPS navigation services, and Waze this means to win the user loyalty.

Interestingly, all of these 1 billion-dollar companies seemed to have started off with a very small commitment (except for Apple, whose promise was Steve Jobs's awesome image). But none of this has any guarantee of concrete results, and these companies are working to develop and update their own products, making them an integral part of the user's daily life.

So what makes this consistent win? In fact, these companies are set up an initial commitment, then the enterprise in accordance with customer expectations constantly improve their products, and finally let their products meet customer expectations.

Not only that, but these companies are really doing their best, and they are committed to focusing on the product, not the outcome. This in itself is the same product success rule, because when the user's expectations are set, and ultimately be satisfied, not much more, so there is no discontent, and customer loyalty will increase.

Habit Four: "One-stop" panacea: If users like, the company will grow

Those "one-stop-button" products not only provide value to their users, but also help companies expand their size by facilitating the use of their products (because they bring usability to users).

In fact, this is a cyclic process. But whether the process is deliberate or unintentional, it can help businesses generate value and revenue.

So, take Waze as an example, users contribute to the update of their traffic information; When Twitter users send a tweet, Twitter can keep up with social events and trends; using Instagram on Facebook, Make them the most widely used picture-sharing app application.

Groupon, in the early stages of their start-up, aims to increase the purchasing power of consumers, with each new user not only getting better deals, but also helping the entire user community improve purchasing power.

On the Pinterest website, as long as a user pins a picture on his picture board to help the "picture bank" improve, they will make a profit. These users contribute not only to their own experience, but also to the value of the application, adding value to other users and pinsterest companies. Pinterest's guiding principle is "mine is mine, and everyone is using mine, and the final value is mine." ”

In a virtual world, by sharing a separate product can get value, "Users like, your company will grow", this is a genius principle.

Habit Five: Building assets: doing the best vs. cashing the most important

The fifth successful model that these 1 billion-dollar companies are concerned with is either a collection of special data, a leader in their respective fields, a special business model of their own, or the sound of "clicking clicks" in the Register machine.

Those successful companies basically account for one or two of these types.

One: "Do the best"

Companies using this model include Facebook, Instagram, Waze, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, and Shazam, and of course, some of these companies are not earning 1 billion of dollars in profits, but have 1 billion of dollars in market value.

There are companies that have just stepped into the 1 billion dollar threshold. But all of these companies have one thing in common, and that is to become the best, largest and most powerful company in the field of digital information.

For example, Twitter users are the hottest user updates; Instagram brings the most shared images to Facebook; Shazam almost became synonymous with voice search, and Waze became the leader in the field of free navigation and traffic update applications.

When you become the biggest or best company, you can be sure that the lamp that the investor wants to "cash in" has been turned on, and they will loudly demand and profit from it.

Second: Make money the most important

Chegg, GetTaxi, Airbnb, and Groupon, these companies are good examples of this theme. The main assets of these companies are an active business model, and once their products are in the market, they will aim and profit from them. This dominant model, from the moment of the birth of the product, is ready to make money.

Therefore, to make money as a company's operating focus, enterprises can be around this point to add some targeted functions, so that products can be more people use, thereby supporting the increase in sales. Once the company has implemented this model, the rest is the problem of cash flow.

All these winning habits are so beautiful because each of them is a part of success, and when they are combined, they become very powerful. However, these five models are interdependent and mutually dependent and, in essence, are an operational habit that helps companies become stars in their respective fields and enter the 1 billion Dollar club.

We live in an era that can be said to be "super products," in which companies can design very simple, yet very important, products that can be worth billions of of dollars in just a few years, or even a few short months.

In this era, we are fortunate to share, learn about reverse engineering, mapping strategies, and professional knowledge and speeches, with our intuition, understanding, and constant effort, and believe that we will eventually succeed.

(via TNW/fast carp)