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- Big-picture overview of things I'm curious about:
- How Alex / Jan were able to get people to use the initial version.Although it seems that apps are often able to get a bunch of people using their initial versions; the issue is that those apps often aren't fixing an ongoing problem, and so people don't return to the app. Whereas with WhatsApp, people were already using SMS, and paying those SMS fees was an ongoing annoyance. So users had a strong incentive to switch.Questions about WhatsApp
- Questions about those first six-twelve months (2009)
- How long did it take to create the first version of the app? ~1-2 months? More?
- I'm just very interested in what that period from January to June 2009 looked like. I don't feel like I have a very clear picture of what was going on in that period.
- How long did it take to create the first version of the app? ~1-2 months? More?
- Managing / hiring
- What he looks for in developers / how he knew that Igor was a good developer.
- On the other hand, it looks like the SMS-fee problem they were solving was so painful for users that the execution wasn't crucial. So they just needed someone reasonably competent and reliable.
- How to manage remote developers / how to work with remote developers - What exactly does his process look like?
- What he looks for in developers / how he knew that Igor was a good developer.
- I'm just very interested in what that period from January to June 2009 looked like. I don't feel like I have a very clear picture of what was going on in that period.
- How Alex / Jan were able to get people to use the initial version.
- Although it seems that apps are often able to get a bunch of people using their initial versions; the issue is that those apps often aren't fixing an ongoing problem, and so people don't return to the app. Whereas with WhatsApp, people were already using SMS, and paying those SMS fees was an ongoing annoyance. So users had a strong incentive to switch.
- How Alex / Jan were able to get people to use the initial version.
- Questions about before / after that period
- Questions about those first six-twelve months (2009)
- Questions not about WhatsApp
- How Alex / Jan were able to get people to use the initial version.Although it seems that apps are often able to get a bunch of people using their initial versions; the issue is that those apps often aren't fixing an ongoing problem, and so people don't return to the app. Whereas with WhatsApp, people were already using SMS, and paying those SMS fees was an ongoing annoyance. So users had a strong incentive to switch.Questions about WhatsApp
Of course, also, check out my medium blog on medium.com/@fishman. I think I have 8-9 stories there. Probably the most relevant ones here are
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