Blog (Success Through Psychology)

So Where's The Next WhatsApp & How Did The Tech Cheerleader Press Miss It?

5/9/2014

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

After Facebook's massive $19 billion USD acquisition of WhatsApp, two question have arisen.

The first is my question. How exactly did the Tech Cheerleader Press miss out on WhatsApp? That is, after countless posts over the years pimping Quora as "it", Twitter and others, where was the love for WhatsApp? This is actually a rhetorical question so no reason to answer it.

The second question is now coming from the Tech and even Business Cheerleader Press.

"Where's The Next WhatsApp", they ask.

Take a couple seconds now and do a quick search on that phrase and you'll be greeted by almost a dozen recent articles that are predicting or searching for the next WhatsApp.

You'll also find that these articles specifically target audiences ranging from the tech community to business folk, ad agencies and the general public.

Where is the next WhatsApp? There it is!

That is to be expected, of course, when such large amounts of money such as $19 billion USD are thrown around. I can live with that. In fact, I expect that from the Cheerleader Press. It's just par for the course.

But here's the part that no one or at least very few will tell you.

The next WhatsApp is already out there and it's running fine. It may even be LINE for all I know.

But it doesn't matter, because whatever it is, the Cheerleader Press probably won't find them until they make it and even if they did, they wouldn't understand them due factors such as trait ascription bias.

Further, just like WhatsApp, the future WhatsApp may be running their operation out of a moldy warehouse and they probably aren't or won't be at Launch or Disrupt or any other events.

Why?

First because many of these startups have very little capital reserves and they are more concerned about eating and keeping the lights on. It's prioritizing capital outlays vs expected returns.

Second, even if they have the funds, they are most likely focused on building and refining their product while engaged in customer acquisition, retention and growth, perhaps employing Lifetime Value analysis or a traditional RFM model. Going to conferences takes not only time but energy. It's draining. And what again, is the ROI?

That's just the way it is.

And that's why people are or were like, "Hey, who the hell are the WhatsApp guys?"

Where did you guys come from? How did you build this thing? Why haven't we heard about you?

And now, suddenly they are treated like rock stars, as they should be.

And yet the Cheerleader Press will never get it,because they are victims of drinking the Kool-aid cocktail of social proof, the halo effect and various cognitive biases while subscribing to the standard Myths and Memes.

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Secret Silicon Valley: Deconstructing Silicon Valley While Exploding The Myths & The Memes

1/10/2014

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By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

Business Is Simply Warfare Without The Pleasantries and Veneer of the Geneva Convention

What if most of the accepted truths and official narrative about why certain startups, new ventures or new products have succeeded or "failed" are completely wrong?

Worse, what if these accepted truths and official narratives are not just simply wrong but dangerously destructive?

And worst of all, what if these destructive "truths" have become so accepted and so ingrained that they are now enshrined as series of powerful Myths and Memes?

We'll explore and explode some of Silicon Valley's most accepted truths and purported reasons for success and failure. And while we're at it, we'll explore not just the technology component, but the more important and far less analyzed and understood business and human resources components.

From the structure of investment financing and the design, development and marketing of product to the challenges of hiring, deploying. managing and retaining strong talent, we'll discuss key but often overlooked factors such as government market distortions (e.g., regulatory capture, SEC regulations related to investor accreditation, etc.) and the ubiquitous yet ever destructive office politics.

We'll leave no stone unturned as we propose that today's Silicon Valley (now including San Francisco), is less and less about technology and more and more about psychology, influence, persuasion, Jedi-level business development and sales, talent acquisition, management, retention and deployment along with strategic and tactical execution.

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SiliconEdge™: What We Write About and Why

11/8/2013

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By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

As previously discussed, we focus on both the human and the strategic elements of personal and business success.

We'll dig down deep and explore and unpack the official narratives as well as the myths and memes as to why particular companies, products, people and technologies have succeeded or "failed" and we'll often end up with far different conclusions than are commonly published or discussed within the business and tech communities.

We'll also draw heavily upon some of the following subject matter to help make our points:

1. Evolutionary Psychology
2. Cognitive Science
3. Influence and Persuasion
4. Military History, Tactics and Strategy
5. Economics (primarily regulatory capture by rent-seeking incumbents)
6. Linguistics & Languages
7. Foreign Cultures
8. Seduction and Dating

And a whole lot more... stay tuned!

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Stealth Mode For Startups? What To Do, What To Say, How To Say It (Part 1 of 3)

10/7/2013

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By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

"No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution."
- Niccolo Machiavelli

Stealth Mode For Startups? What say you? Good or bad?

Over the past 12 or 13 years I've done some deep thinking about the value of keeping your startup in stealth mode for as long as possible versus coming out in the open right away and talking or blogging openly about it.

Over the years, I've also read a lot about what others think about this, including what I term the Royalty and Nobility of the Valley think.

Here's the deal.

Most of what the Royalty and Nobility think on this issue and many issues are completely inapplicable to you, the lowly serf. Now I don't mean "serf" in the pejorative sense, but only in the most positive, brutally realistic sense to help further your chances of hard-earned and well-deserved success.

There's absolutely no reason and no value to broadcast your startup unless you have certain things and resources in place (and fit the checklist vetting for each additional step in your startups growth), and worse, to broadcast it before you have these things in place may either destroy your credibility (with various people and parties) or open the doorway for some competitor to eat your lunch.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Let's start with the positives.

What are the benefits of talking openly about your startup before you are ready?

Well, there are some. And the biggest benefit is that by talking openly about your startup you will begin to future pace it internally and externally, analyzing it and considering it from all angles not only from within yourself but ideally in the the feedback and reactions (both negative and positive, constructive and petty) you'll receive from various players such as your (what you assume to be) target customers (or users).

But even in this situation, you should be be very selective in what you say and how you say it for reasons I'll discuss later.

Also, understand that most people, including technical folks cannot abstract. We'll address the inability of people to abstract in a later article.

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So Where's The Next WhatsApp & How Did The Tech Cheerleader Press Miss It?

Secret Silicon Valley: Deconstructing Silicon Valley While Exploding The Myths & The Memes

SiliconEdge™: What We Write About and Why

Stealth Mode For Startups? What To Do, What To Say, How To Say It (Part 1 of 3)

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