From Airbnb to Uber, a revelatory exploration of how networks effects can turbo-charge businesses - from one of Silicon Valley's best-respected investors
'A true Silicon Valley insider' WIRED
Why do some companies grow exponentially overnight? And what can we learn from them?
In the age of Facebook, Amazon and Apple, founders must answer a big question. The established tech companies have an almost insurmountable advantage - making it nearly impossible to break into their markets. This is the Cold Start Problem.
Now, one of Silicon Valley's most esteemed investors explains how to surmount the Cold Start Problem - and take your business from idea to reality.
His solution lies in the power of network effects, the hidden force behind the success of the world's leading tech companies. Put simply, network effects explain the way a product becomes more useful the more people use it. Think of a telephone- there's nothing more redundant than a phone without a connection at the other end. But, as more people join the network, the phone becomes exponentially more useful - until, one day, your phone becomes impossible to live without. This phenomenon has always existed, but is even more crucial in an age of hyper-connected online media platforms.
The Cold-Start Problem is the first business book to outline how companies can use network effects to grow at speed. Andrew Chen - investor, blogger, and general partner at VC firm Andreesen Horowitz - argues that networks hold the key to understanding every notable business of the digital age. He interviews dozens of the leading figures in tech, including the founders of LinkedIn, Tinder DropBox and Airbnb, to unravel how network effects can make or break an organisation.
Above all, he outlines a step-by-step framework for using network effects to grow any company, big or small. Your company can overcome the Cold Start Problem - this book explains how.
Praise for Andrew Chen
'Andrew's blog is an inexhaustible source of numbers and ideas on concepts that matter.' Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal
'Here's one message you want. Chen's weekly newsletter offers thoughtful essays on startups and marketing.' WIRED
'One of the best entrepreneurship blogs of all time' Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup
