Dave McClure Rob Fan Graphing Social Patterns: March 2008

10 Million in 10 WeeksWhat Stanford Learned Building Facebook Apps

A Stanford Course during Fall 2007

Dave McClureRob Fan

Graphing Social Patterns: March 2008

Contact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

10 Million in 10 Weeks Total Installed Users: 20M+• 5 apps @ 1M+ users• 10 apps @ 100k users• 20 apps @ 5k users

Total Daily Active Users (DAU): 925k6 apps with ~ 100k DAU10 apps with > 10k DAU19 apps with > 500 DAU

6 Apps in Facebook Top 100

Top Apps (according to Adonomics): ~ $10M



Curriculum (Alpha Version)

3 Apps (!)

1. Virality

2. Engagement

3. Education-focused

Hoping to leverage . . .

• Huge reading list

• Metrics-based grading

• Psychology of technology

Expecting 20-40 students...Contact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

...120 showed upContact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

...So we scared some students off.




7 person teaching team

73 students




Every class was exciting and surprisingContact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

Students drove us forwardContact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

Initial Success!!!Contact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

Success StoriesContact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]


Students come together outside of class...Contact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

10 Million in 10 Weeks Total Installed Users: 20M+• 5 apps @ 1M+ users• 10 apps @ 100k users• 20 apps @ 5k users

Total Daily Active Users (DAU): 925k6 apps with ~ 100k DAU10 apps with > 10k DAU19 apps with > 500 DAU

5 Apps in Facebook Top 100

Top Apps (according to Adonomics): ~ $10M


Final Expo in December 2007

500+ people show up





BayCHI Student PresentationContact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]


Aftermath

• $500,000 - $1,000,000+ revenue generated since September

• At least 3 companies formed

• At least 2 companies acquired

• More job offers than students can handle

• Dan drops out of school to work with Rob and 3 other students from the class

• Teach the class again soon


More SuccessesContact: BJ Fogg - [email protected]

Learnings from Stanford's FB Course

#1. It's never too late to create a winning app

• When we launched course, over 6000 Facebook apps existed.

• 10 weeks later, our students had 6 apps in the top 100



#2. Simplicity & clarity are key to app success

• Apps need to be easily understood (value prop)

• Apps need to be easy to use

The wrong direction:• Clever names• Lots of features



#3. Speed & flexibility in launch & iterations

• Many crummy trials beat deep thinking

• Flexibility beats quality

Deadly: Getting too attached to one app idea.



#4. Community cooperation leads to success

• Students helped others a lot

• Sharing code, tips, insights . . . all were present in course.



#5. Individual opinions about app are worthless

• Don't be swayed by one person's opinion.

• Just get the app out there and see what happens . . .

Despite everyone's supposed "brilliance" . . . • Often what seemed like a killer idea didn't work.

• Sometimes what seemed stupid worked very well.



#6. Copying success is a cheap/fast way to succeed

• Novelty isn't the best approach to apps

• If you're desperate for a win, just copy something that's working

Flipside: If your app is doing well, expect imitators.



#7. Metrics do matter, but today's tools are too weak

• Of course, instrument your apps to track viral aspects

• No one offers a winning metrics package (yet) -- not even GA

Our experience: Students often had to tweak GA and also create their own metrics tools.



#8. You CAN learn to create a winning app

• Success with FB apps isn't luck or magic

• Many Stanford teams succeeded

• Teams who failed at first later created excellent apps (like Oregon Trail)


10 Million in 10 WeeksWhat Stanford Learned Building Facebook Apps

A Stanford Course during Fall 2007

Dave McClureRob Fan


Documents

Dave McClure Rob Fan Graphing Social Patterns: March 2008