Instagram and the golden goose

Something about golden eggs
I remember something about a fairy tale about someone that had a goose that laid golden eggs.  The details are fuzzy, but I think that the owner of the goose eventually got greedy and killed the goose to get all the eggs at once.  Obviously, that didn't work for them.

By now you should have heard that Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars.  A billion dollars.  Try and imagine that number.  Sheesh.  That's one-thousand millions.  That would be enough to build forty world-class indoor skateparks... in EVERY STATE IN THE U.S. (I only need ONE!)

A lot has been said about whether Facebook overpaid for Instagram.  I don't really care.  It's their money, and they can spend it however they want.  I wasn't an Instagram user, so I don't care about this rebel alliance getting bought by the evil empire.  I don't plan on building a career in mergers & acquisitions, so I don't care to make a case study about what you can get for a billion dollars (unless we're talking about skateparks.) What I DO care about is the lesson that we can take from Instagram about patiently
nurturing a golden goose.

You may or may not know this: Instagram had no revenue plan.  They didn't charge for their app.  They didn't have ads.  They didn't have a premium version that unlocked additional functionality.  They didn't have sponsored images.  They just gave it all away so people would use their product and talk about it.


Cashing in
What if they didn't?  What if they felt like they needed to be repaid immediately for their hard work?  What if they thought that $3.99 was a fair price for such a fun-to-use app?  How many of their 40 million users would have paid four bucks for it?  Not enough to get Zuckerberg's attention... guaranteed. What if they had included those obnoxious little ads that you accidentally hit when playing the free version of Angry Birds?  Would it have killed their growth?  I don't know.  Would it have added up to a billion dollars?  Absolutely no freaking way. Were they crazy to put so much effort into a business that didn't have a solid plan for making money?  I don't think so.  Any time you build a passionate audience that is aware of you and your reputation for quality, you have a pretty good chance of success.

So what does this mean for you and me?  We might not be in a position to spend all of our time on entertaining html apps.  What's the lesson for us? In short: don't kill your golden geese.  Look to build a passionate audience that is aware of you and your reputation for quality.


Giving away music to sell haircuts
I've written before about my friend Drew Danburry.   That guy put everything that he had into his music.  He had a following all over the world.  When he sold out of CDs, he put the music on his website for free download to get the word out.  At his shows, he'd charge about enough to pay for gas to get to the next tour stop.  He never made a lot of money at it.  But he built a following.  An interesting thing happened when he decided to stop touring and establish a barber shop.  People would get haircuts just to hang out with Drew Danburry. Check out this recent write up.


What would you do with ten million views?
I wrote recently about my cousin Devin Super Tramp.  (He actually turned me on to this idea about a year ago.  He also recommended the book Love is the Killer App, which I am now recommending to you.) What if he had held on to all of his sweet footage until he had enough to sell it to a TV station or a movie producer?  He'd have killed that goose in its infancy.  He'd have been selling tickets to a show that no one had heard of and that no one wanted to see. Instead he's traveling the world on someone else's dime.


Making happy customers
I heard a rumor about a local competitor of mine that allegedly GIVES MONEY BACK if he finishes a contract early.  This is unheard of in the programming-for-hire world.  There are several good reasons why he is entitled to keep that money.  But then again, how much is he giving back?  Five hundred bucks?  Five hundred bucks is a small price to pay if it causes his customers to tell others about his work.  Five hundred dollars is pretty cheap for good advertising.



Modern Art
My friend Minh Tran has a very giving attitude on this topic.  He has written that because technology has made it so much easier for a person to excel at art in less time, that we should all have productive day jobs and then give our art away for free.  It seems to work for him.  He has photographed some pretty interesting people! (Yeah, that's Bruce Springsteen.)


My golden goose
For me, I'm always looking for ways to meet new people.  I volunteer to speak in front of technical groups.  I've gotten pretty good at portrait photography, and now I offer free headshots as a way to meet local professionals. I've been organizing groups of business owners and community leaders to speak at local high schools to offer career advice.  I keep my blog ad free so that nothing will distract from the message I want to share.  I'd love to build an audience and build a reputation for quality.

What's your golden goose?
What do you have to share? What skills, talents, or products can you patiently nurture?  How can you build your audience and develop your reputation for quality?  Join the conversation in the comments!