The Bad Product Fallacy →

When I talk to people about upcoming ideas that have serious potential, I'm often met with the same skepticism.

Andrew Chen explains why your personal use cases and opinion are a shitty predictor of a product’s future success:

  • If it looks like a toy, what happens if it’s successful with its initial audience and then starts to add a lot more features?
  • If it looks like a luxury, what happens if it becomes much cheaper? Or much better, at the same price?
  • If it’s a marketplace that doesn’t sell anything you’d buy, what happens when it starts stocking products and services you find valuable?
  • If none of your friends use a social product, what happens when they win a niche and ultimately all your friends are using it too?

I've always believed three things:

  • Technology always gets better and cheaper over time.
  • Consumers vote with their wallets.
  • Don't ever underestimate the power of convenience.

Once a technology that provides convenience matures enough and gets cheap enough, that's what the world adopts it.