2) Virality — So many people misunderstand virality. Virality is not “word of mouth”. And having a product go viral is not easy — nor is it something you can just “sprinkle on a product” after creating it. If making a product viral was as easy as adding a “share with your friends” button, there would be no reason for the $100 Billion advertising industry. (I can see companies asking themselves — “let’s see, should we spend millions on advertising…or should we just add virality…Hmmm”). I believe a viral product is one where a consumer’s basic usage of a site/product brings new users (and therefore additional utility) to the site/product. Facebook, LinkedIn and Paypal are all great examples of viral products. If you’re pitching your business, you should know your viral coefficient. That is, how many new users get added virally from each additional user. And if you can get your viral coefficient greater than 1.0, then you’ve built something really special.
shared by a YC classmate
