Burbn, later Instagram, 2010
How did Burbn become Instagram?
The short answer
Burbn was a cluttered check-in app. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger cut it back to the one feature people used, photo sharing, and renamed it Instagram. It got about 25,000 users on day one, and Facebook bought it in 2012 for $1 billion.
The situation
Your app does check-ins, plans, points and photos. Testers say it looks nice but they can't tell what it's for. The one thing they keep using is the photos.
The options on the table
- Add a tutorial so people understand it
- Add more features to win them over
- Spend more on marketing
- Cut everything except photos, likes and commentsWhat they did
What happened
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger stripped Burbn back to photos, likes and comments and renamed it Instagram. About 25,000 people joined on day one and a million within two months. Facebook bought it in 2012 for $1 billion.
Sources: Business Insider, FourWeekMBA
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