1) Progressive Disclosure 2) Curiosity Gap 3) Social Proof 4) Price Anchoring 5) Minimized Task Perception
1) Progressive Disclosure
Tinder starts simple & adds complexity as users get more familiar with the product.
After swiping for a while, for example, you unlock features like Rewind or Swipe Like.
This keeps the product simple for new users while serving needs of power users.
2) Curiosity Gap
Tinder shows you blurred photos of people who liked you. You have to upgrade to Tinder Gold to learn who those people are.
This feature—blurred photos—plays on natural human curiosity that compels people to pay for premium features.
3) Minimized Task Perception
Tinder breaks out onboarding tasks—your name, your birthday, your sex.
This reduces cognitive load, easing the user's perception of how hard the sign-up is to complete. You feel moments of achievement as you go.
4) Price Anchoring
When asking you to pay, Tinder uses price anchoring. Seeing descending prices, users anchor on the middle price.
This is the same reason most people order a medium coffee. Or why some restaurants have extra-large sodas as anchors so that people buy larges.
5) Social Proof
On that same screen, Tinder uses social proof.
Tinder highlights the "Most Popular" paid plan. This is common for consumer apps— social proof is a psychological phenomenon in which people undertake certain behaviors because other people do.
6) Like the best consumer apps, Tinder understands consumer psychology.
This is similar to Calm's viral growth tactics (thread below).
The best companies understand how humans act & perceive & feel, building products tailored to those behaviors.
The "unbundling" of Microsoft Office and Google Workspace has been one of the most important tech trends of the past decade.
Elegant, best-in-class products have won with product-led, bottom-up go-to-market motions.
Thread below 👇
1/ In 1990, Microsoft reinvented work productivity tools with its Office suite.
In the 30 years since, Office has grown to 1.2 billion workers. Once-groundbreaking products like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint have become synonymous with knowledge work.
2/ In 2006, Google launched G Suite (now called Google Workspace).
Google Docs, Sheets, etc. reinvented work again by introducing real-time cloud collaboration.
How Google squandered its lead in productivity / collaboration tools I will never understand 🤦♂️
Technology and regulatory changes are both making investing more accessible.
At the same time, we're seeing a massive shift in the cultural mindset from "renting" time to thinking like an equity holder.
Thread 👇
1/ Until the past few years, you had to make over $200K a year or have a net worth over $1M to make angel investments. The rules were incredibly restrictive.
The SEC recently changed the rules to make angel investing more accessible (though still not available to everyone yet).
2/ As a result, we're starting to see more venture rounds include employees, creators, customers, and everyday people:
NoPixel is the most fascinating virtual world on the internet.
NoPixel is a role-playing game in Grand Theft Auto. You have to apply to get in, and you must stay in character the whole time.
Here's how it works 👇
1/ First, you create your character. You customize your hair, your clothing, your accessories.
Then you fill out an application. You answer questions in character, like "You’ve found what looks like a random car in the street with a load of drugs inside. What do you do and why?”
2/ The goal of role-play is to create an immersive experience—basically to create a realistic, robust virtual world.
At all times in NoPixel, you must talk and act as your character.
During the pandemic, unemployment in the Philippines hit 40%.
Thousands of Filipinos without jobs—like Howard, pictured here—turned to blockchain-based online games as a way to make money.
Here's how it happened 👇
It started with Axie Infinity, a popular blockchain game with cartoonish creatures called Axies.
Axie is what’s called a play-to-earn game: if you win battles you earn a resource called Small Love Potion. You can exchange SLP for the cryptocurrency ETH & then convert to dollars.
This man used to drive a taxi, but he had no customers during COVID.
He started playing Axie and making up to ~$300 a month. For reference, minimum wage in the Philippines is about $170 per month.