If you are contemplating creating a SaaS platform or app (and have the coding side taken care of), where you will either depend upon user engagement for growth, or have a two-sided matching situation, this should be on your bookshelf. This draws upon a very light framework to present numerous examples over the past 15 years which show how all the successful and unsuccessful ideas worked (or did not work).
Reading this book helped me connect a number of disparate facts most of us may know about many companies of our interest- Uber, Slack, Zoom, FB, Twitch, Tinder and many more. Andrew was in the ring for many of these fights, and has had a ringside seat for many more, thanks to his role at Andreessen Horowitz. There are as many examples of when some approaches do not work, as there are of when they do work- that helps understand these concept so much better. As Tolstoy said, "All successful software companies are alike, every unsuccessful ones is unsuccessful in their own way." (my memory is a bit hazy, apologies).
If you are a high level strategy person who is not directly involved in a software company, this book may not do that much for you- it starts from the general idea that Network Effects are contexts in which the connections become more valuable as more people join the network, and then breaks it down just one level lower- think of it as the Bass Diffusion curve of SaaS products meets Network Effects, with a side of Crossing the Chasm put in (repeatedly). Nothing more to add, except a wealth of examples, giving you something to think about.
What really put the icing on the cake for me was the very last section- how it can all implode after you have taken over the world. (Don't just jump to the last section, it is a payoff for having assimilated the rest of the material).
This book will reflect where you are coming from, when this catches your eye. For a book that was published just a couple of years ago (2021), it could have received a bit more traction. My conjecture is that this may be because Mr. Chen wrote this as a way to clear his head and put his thoughts down in a structured manner, rather than become a famous pop business author. Thank you for writing this book, Andrew.
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Popular Highlights in this book
In its classic usage, a network effect describes what happens when products get more valuable as more people use them.Highlighted by 1,324 Kindle readers- The entire ecosystem stays on because the value is in bringing everyone together. That’s the magic. The “effect” part of the network effect describes how value increases as more people start using the product.Highlighted by 1,259 Kindle readers
- Larger competitors are often able to copy the product, but find it difficult to capture the network.Highlighted by 1,234 Kindle readers
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This book will save your marketing budget.
Imagine cranking an engine, and it won't start. If you have a very particular set of skills, skills that you have acquired over a very long career as a mechanic, narrowing down various possibilities of the cause to just a couple based on its symptom won't be an issue, or you can simply read this book. This mechanical guide book for entrepreneurs and anybody in the marketing industry.Pretty sure you've read one of those books that presents the concept or an idea in the first couple of chapters and really milking it until the 250th page. Well, this book is totally the opposite. The author, Andrew Chen has done an excellent job presenting various perspectives (key points) that are evident by the research, case studies, his experiences, etc (which are also the takeaways themselves) evenly throughout 377 pages. Just by observing the way this book is structured, you realize the author's intention which is to offer as much insight as possible to bring value to the readers, and I can sure you, you'll gain perspectives that will save you expensive mistakes and headaches in marketing.
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Top reviews from other countries
Mike Hayden
Deep understanding of platforms and marketplaces
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 30, 2024
Bindi Dharia
Very useful book
Reviewed in India on July 10, 2022
Bindi Dharia
Reviewed in India on July 10, 2022
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RAGHUVEER
Detailed Descriptions of Operational challenges or setup of initial networks
Reviewed in Spain on May 5, 2022Kevin Lösch
If you are an investors - must buy
Reviewed in Germany on January 9, 2022