Andrew Chen – författare

A venture capitalist draws on expertise developed at the premier venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, and as an executive at Uber to address how tech’s most successful products have solved the dreaded "cold start problem”—by leveraging networks effects to launch and scale towards billions of users. Although software has become easier to build, launching and scaling new products and services remains difficult. Startups face daunting challenges entering the technology ecosystem, including stiff competition, copycats, and ineffective marketing channels. Teams launching new products must consider the advantages of “the network effect,” where a product or service’s value increases as more users engage with it. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants utilize network effects, and most tech products incorporate them, whether they’re messaging apps, workplace collaboration tools, or marketplaces. Network effects provide a path for fledgling products to break through, attracting new users through viral growth and word of mouth.

Yet most entrepreneurs lack the vocabulary and context to describe them—much less understand the fundamental principles that drive the effect. What exactly are network effects? How do teams create and build them into their products? How do products compete in a market where every player has them? Andrew Chen draws on his experience and  on interviews with the CEOs and founding teams of LinkedIn, Twitch, Zoom, Dropbox, Tinder, Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest — to provide unique insights in answering these questions. Chen also provides practical frameworks and principles that can be applied across products and industries. 

The Cold Start Problem reveals what makes winning networks successful, why some startups fail to successfully scale, and most crucially, why products that create and compete using the network effect are vitally important today.

Brought to you by Penguin.A transformative guide to growing any business, from one of Silicon Valley''s most esteemed investorsWhy 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.Praise for Andrew Chen''A true Silicon Valley insider'' Wired''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© Andrew Chen 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021