The Art of Growth
On February 19th, Facebook announced it would buy WhatsApp for $19 billion. WhatsApp was created in 2009, had only 52 employees and quietly grew its customer base to 450 million in just over four years; achieving much faster growth than Facebook.
Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp, left Yahoo in 2007 with Brian Acton, one of the company’s other engineers, and by 2009 Jan and Brian had started a new company. The idea of a messaging service wasn’t new and the mobile messaging space was already getting crowded with products like WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Kik, Snapchat, GroupMe and numerous others available on the market. So, why is WhatsApp different?
In part, it’s because Jan and Brian have consistently shied away from the spotlight. They repeatedly pass up the opportunity for television appearances and rarely give interviews. WhatsApp avoided marketing and relied on the word-of-mouth recommendations of its users instead. As competitors promoted ads, games and add-ons, and rushed to build platforms, Jan and Brian remained devoted to a clean, lightning fast communications service that, to put it simply, just worked. Their product development and marketing strategy was reinforced daily by a hand-written note on the founder’s desk reading “No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!”, and this allowed them to concentrate on creating an easy-to-use messaging service that quickly amassed a strong following. In Europe, India and Latin America WhatsApp began to displace traditional text messaging as the preferred communication method for young people.
It’s clear that right from the start Jan and Brian’s vision allowed for no compromise on WhatApp’s core principles. This led to the creation of a product that offers a very sleek and simple, high-quality user experience that surpasses the old SMS interface, texting, and existing mobile messaging services. Being agile and lean without compromising your core principles is the concept I call ‘Growth Movements’.
The concept of ‘Growth Movements’ is more than just adapting agile or lean startup methodology, though. It requires not only the scientific method of measuring growth, but also encompasses the art of growth. You not only need to connect the dots from the data, but to learn to see the patterns of growth without breaking your core beliefs and principles. Bruce Lee, using a metaphor for resilience, said, “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” That’s what ‘Growth Movements’ means; optimal adaptation and growth within a dynamic environment without the loss of core principles. This is something that you, too, can train yourself to do.