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  • The Cold Start Problem

  • How to Start and Scale Network Effects
  • Written by: Andrew Chen
  • Narrated by: Andrew Chen
  • Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (49 ratings)

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The Cold Start Problem

Written by: Andrew Chen
Narrated by: Andrew Chen
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Publisher's Summary

A start-up executive and investor 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 network effects to launch and scale toward billions of users.

Although software has become easier to build, launching and scaling new products and services remains difficult. Start-ups 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, and Pinterest - to offer 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 thrive, why some start-ups fail to successfully scale, and, most crucially, why products that create and compete using the network effect are vitally important today.

©2021 Andrew Chen (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about The Cold Start Problem

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Mandatory reading for startup entrepreneurs

I forgot why I had subscribed to Andrew Chen's emails, until I listened to his book on Audible. this guy is a genius because he was sitting in the boardroom of Uber when they figured out surge pricing and how to capitalize or frat parties to supercharge Tinder. if you want to bootstrap your business, then this is required reading. I re-listened to several chapters because of how instructional they were to my own startup.

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Flawed but effective

As far as teaching about network effects, The Cold Start Problem is a great book. A must-read even.

However, it might lose a well-informed reader in its uncritical perpetuation of the Uber and broader Silicon Valley mythology. Perhaps a chapter that reflects more thoroughly on the negative societal externalities of networks run amok would be a worthy “2nd edition” inclusion.

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Worth its weight in gold.

An intelligent, well written book, from a likeable insider. Well done. Important reading for any investor, entrepreneur or corporate player looking to understand innovation and growth.

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Don't let the price tag fool you

it's high-quality stuff. However, the streaming only model gets annoying. Overall, an excellent listen and worth the time.

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WoWWWZERRRR!!! a very very good book for app buss.

Thank you so much for the work of this book! Thank you for making it available on Audible!!! Thank you for sharing all the experiences and history of the Network effects!!! Thank you.

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