Keep it simple for success

I was reading an article about the Geo Social apps Gowalla and Foursquare (which can be found here ) and it illustrated reasons why Foursquare “won”.

Both Foursquare and Gowalla launched at the 2009 SXSW conference, and many people thought Gowalla was actually better designed. At least it looked better, with more whimsical badges, for instance. But pretty doesn’t always win. “Startups and businesses are like making wine,” says Gowalla investor (and vinophile) Gary Vaynerchuk, “it is a blend. It is not about one element. Design is one element.”

NOTE: Look at how websites have changed! From crazy ineffective flash homepages to simple but direct messaging. 

Another Gowalla investor explains the difference in one word: “Austin.” Gowalla was headquartered in Austin and Foursquare is based in New York. For a mobile social app that depended on urban density to gain early critical mass, New York gave Foursquare a hometown advantage over Gowalla.

Lesson: You don’t have to move to be a success but since know where to be for your objective. You can’t have a night club if you can’t find what is hot in music demand!

Foursquare was able to build better network effects early on, and those just kept compounding. You don’t use Foursquare because it is a pretty app. You use it because all your friends use it, and because it is the geo-location platform across many apps. It is more useful because it touches more people and more apps that people care about.

The other thing about Foursquare is that it didn’t try to overcomplicate things early on. It did one thing very well: check-ins and rewards. Over time it added local recommendations and even pushed into city guides, but it remains mostly about the check-in. That’s what keeps people coming back to the app day-in and day-out.

Lesson: What are you trying to accomplish and do it better than everyone else!

Furthermore, when asked the public about the success here is one answer
“@erickschonfeld all in the name. Gowalla means nothing to people. Foursquare reminded people of their childhood(game of same name)”

NOTE: TO be so obscure such as traditional Martial Arts names, there is no relationship value. Even the name should create a visualization. For example, “KRU” Means “teacher”, but I used it because saying it evokes a sense of “team”.

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