Question
What are some examples of tech startups that cleverly solved the chicken and egg problem?
Answer
Pretty much EVERY startup that is not solving an obvious problem with a customer already signed-on, is solving a chicken and egg problem. The chicken is the customer, the egg is the product.
1. Build a product that's good enough that customers will try it seriously
2. Find the customers to justify spending the money to build a good enough product
The solution, as with any chicken-egg problem, is iteration, and that's why we have the whole minimum-viable-product and product-market-fit theory. It is not a great solution, but it's the best one we have at the moment.
So the best examples are the best successes that create new product categories, and the worst ones are the ones that fail.
The worst case is to build a product that's functional enough in a crappy way that people can use it, but not good enough that will want to. This can easily be misinterpreted as evidence that there isn't a market, when in fact it is evidence that the product isn't good enough to serve it in even a minimal way.
1. Build a product that's good enough that customers will try it seriously
2. Find the customers to justify spending the money to build a good enough product
The solution, as with any chicken-egg problem, is iteration, and that's why we have the whole minimum-viable-product and product-market-fit theory. It is not a great solution, but it's the best one we have at the moment.
So the best examples are the best successes that create new product categories, and the worst ones are the ones that fail.
The worst case is to build a product that's functional enough in a crappy way that people can use it, but not good enough that will want to. This can easily be misinterpreted as evidence that there isn't a market, when in fact it is evidence that the product isn't good enough to serve it in even a minimal way.