Why you should let users define your app, sometimes

Blog
About

Why you should let users define your app, sometimes

Posted by claude - 18/02/08 at 02:02:14 pm

ReadWriteWeb has an interesting post titled “Why You Should Let Users Define Your App“, written by Josh Catone. First I have to say that I generally agree with that statement but I feel that some things have been mixed up in this article.

To explain my point I need to reach back a bit. Most businesses, be it online or offline, have to generate revenue in order to operate and grow. This is the case with our company. We operate a bunch of community websites and generate revenue with a mix of advertising and premium services (Freemium Business Model). Our company did not take VC money until know and is running profitable since the beginning. I said “most businesses” above because a startup could also try to get some external investment, grow as fast as possible and then look for an exit. I am not saying that’s wrong but it’s something to keep in mind when reading the post I linked above.

Josh mentioned Twitter as an example. Twitter is running with VC money and is trying to expand its userbase as fast as they can. Eventually they will become some sort of “Internet Messaging Bus”, people and applications will depend on it to a degree that they can’t live without it. And then, Twitter will be sold.

Seesmic, Loic Le Meur’s new startup, also heavily uses crowd-sourced product planning. Without knowing their strategy I would guess that they have a pretty similar approach like Twitter. Do what the users want, get as many users in as possible and then sell the company. Therefore new features don’t have to support the business directly by generating revenue but are built to attract new users.

Another example mentioned in the article is the game industry. User driven development has been practiced quite a while in the gaming industry and I think that it’s the only way to develop games that people really want to play. But, there is a big difference between services such das Twitter and games. Games are actually SOLD, for real money.

I said that I agree with the fact that you have to listen to your customer. But the approach to simply do what the user wants, won’t work in every case. The two examples from ReadWriteWeb are very different and don’t represent the majority of companies or startups out there. So, unless you have a world changing idea with first mover advantage, a profound business strategy is still the key to a successful company.

February 18, 2008 | In Business, Web | No Comments

No Comments yet »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Claude Ritter