The Cold Start Problem

Andrew Chen

From Shelf: Venture Capital Books

'A true Silicon Valley insider' WiredWhy do some products take off? And what can we learn from them?The hardest part of launching a product is getting started. When you have just an idea and a handful of customers, growth can feel impossible. This is the cold start problem.Now, one of Silicon Valley's most esteemed investors uncovers how any product can surmount the cold start problem - by harnessing the hidden power of network effects. Drawing on interviews with the founders of Uber, LinkedIn, Airbnb and Zoom, Andrew Chen reveals how any start-up can launch, scale and thrive._'Chen walks readers through interviews with 30 world-class teams and founders, including from Twitch, Airbnb and Slack, to paint a picture of what it takes to turn a start-up into a massive brand' TechCrunch'Articulates the stages that every product must go through to be successful . . . and illustrates what companies need to do to achieve them' Forbes