[Best Of] Traction Class (Or how to end up on the cover of Time, forget who made you and then be looked at as a corporate sell out )

[originally posted May 10th, 2006]

O.K. Class!

Today we’re going to talk about traction.

Everybody wants it.

But some folks seem to have problems getting it.

You in the back! Pay attention…

One of the main lies about traction is that your product has to be better.

That’s not true.

Need proof?

Microsoft vs Apple.

VCS vs Betamax

P. Diddy vs ?uestlove

No, getting traction is all about execution kids.

But you gotta bring your A game to play.

Now remember, your goal is not to please everybody.

Fuck that.

Your number one goal is to only please your core users.

You treat those core users to your site, those who make comments, those who send suggestions, those who drop you an email to say you suck, like they are freaking gods.

They can make you.

Or break you.

Which makes them pretty omnipotent.

Number two is to Upgrade Constantly.

Everybody is reverse engineering everybody else’s shit.

Expect it.

If they are not, then your product sucks and you should be reverse-engineering your competitors shit.

That’s why you gotta keep upgrading. Listen to what your fans want to make the experience better.

Then every so often surprise them with something cool.

Cool is very viral. And the chicks dig it.

Which brings us to number three:

Help your fans get laid.

Give them the tools to introduce others to your stuff.

You know. Email. T-Shirts. Discounts for friends. Anything to make it easy to pass the word on about the great experience they had.

Got it?

Cool.

Just remember those things and you’ll have all the traction you need.

Then you’ll end up on the cover of Time, forget who made you and then be looked at as a corporate sell out.

But we’ll work on that later.

Class dismissed!

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