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The Cold Start Problem
- Using Network Effects to Scale Your Product
- Narrated by: Andrew Chen
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Business & Careers, Business Development & Entrepreneurship
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
A transformative guide to growing any business, from one of Silicon Valley's most esteemed investors.
Why do some products take off? And what can we learn from them?
The hardest part of launching a product is getting started. When you have just an idea and a handful of customers, growth can feel impossible. This is the cold start problem.
Andrew Chen has a solution. As a partner at the pre-eminent VC firm Andreesen Horowitz, he has invested in some of the world's fastest-growing companies. Along the way, he's become one of the most renowned bloggers in tech - hailed by Wired as a 'true Silicon Valley insider'.
Now, Chen reveals how any organisation can surmount the cold start problem. His solution lies in the network effect: the way a service improves as more people sign up. It means that today's leading products - from Wikipedia to to WhatsApp - get more powerful with every additional user.
Drawing on interviews with the founders of LinkedIn, Zoom, Uber, Dropbox, Tinder, Airbnb and more, Chen unpicks how to start and scale these network effects. He reveals how to build an 'atomic network' that is just big enough to sustain itself. He uncovers how to spot the tipping point after which growth takes care of itself. And he explores why some big companies manage to sustain viral network effects for years (while others quickly stop growing).
The result is a one-stop guide to scaling a product, road-tested at some of the world's most valuable companies.
What listeners say about The Cold Start Problem
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- R.
- 09-12-21
Could have been a blog post
I had very high expectations because I've been following Andrew Chen for a while.
Sadly, this book is incredibly repetitive and filled with outdated advice. Basically, he's sharing the numbers he used to win the lottery last week. Worked for him but the chances for the same numbers to work for you and me are minuscule.
2 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 22-03-22
the mindset behind the products that use networks
it's very helpful to build your mindset to build your next product using network effects tactics and methods. Full of stories and examples of big successful companies
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- MR C.
- 18-02-22
A bit repetitive
Feel like the book goes on too long. The actual content can probably be summarised in no more than two pages. Maybe the content would have been more effectively communicated over a blog post instead of a book.
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- Anonymous User
- 29-01-22
5* - Would recommend to my network.
An excellent write up about the importance and impact of network effects. Brilliantly illustrated with relevant examples and practical applications (not just those that would apply to Uber).
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- Conor Murphy
- 10-01-22
Good overview of growth problems.
Good overview and will spark growth ideas. Andrew bundles in a lot of just standard scale benfits and mixes them up with network effects in a few places that feel like padding. it's also very under centric and if you're not planning on burning 100 billion dollars that means some of the lessons can't be applicable.
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- Dylan Robinson
- 30-12-21
Deeply informative
This book is one of those rare gems that leave you far more knowledgeable than when you began. It’s one I will inevitably revisit. I hope/expect it to become a book that is mentioned to every entrepreneur as a must-read.
Dillon
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- William Keane
- 09-12-21
Useful, practical, and fascinating. New frameworks
Useful, practical, and fascinating. The definitive book on growth for the fastest growing start-ups and tech companies. I read Andrew Chen's essays, but this is his masterpiece.
The book details a new framework and vocabulary for understanding network effects. It cuts through the growth jargon and debunks common misconceptions. It gives you that sheer joy of understanding. Intellectual goosebumps. More importantly, it provides new actionable insights which you cannot find anywhere else. The audiobook is easy to listen to. Highly recommend.
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- Anonymous User
- 18-06-22
Entertaining but too biased on Uber's experience
I did enjoyed hearing this book but I had trouble believing all of the author stories. Seems too good to be true from my side.
Please note that I don't believe there is a differential value proposition on Uber ride business, so I might be biased as well.
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- srivatsa
- 19-12-21
Best book of the year!!
Must read for folks who want to understand network effects in detail. Excellent story telling and enjoyed listening to every chapter. As a growth marketing professional have a very high regard to Andrew and this book is Andrew Chen classic!!