“Is [What?] the Next [What??]”
If you found yourself asking the latter of those two questions . . . you’re definitely not the target audience of Web start-up (and high tech rage du jour) “Pinterest.”
So, who is? (Pinterest’s target market, that is).
As best I can tell, it consists of “under 30-something’s” equipped with the latest mobile technology, disposable income, and time on their hands (“disposable time?”); and who are ready to pounce on new and innovative ways to use their iPhones, iPad’s, iPod’s, (Samsung) Galaxies, etc.
In other words, a huge and incredibly lucrative market that happens to be growing exponentially at the moment.
High Tech Supernova’s
Enter Pinterest (and before it Instagram, bought over the Summer by Facebook for $1 billion).
The company defines its app as an “online pinboard” that lets you “organize and share the things you love.”
I think of it as the Cliff’s Notes version of Facebook (hmm, might they be looking for another acquisition??).
Instant Riches
Today’s hyper-accelerated product development cycle reminds me of Gandhi’s famous line about political revolution: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
Here’s my business equivalent: “first, you’ve never heard of the company or its app; then, all your 25 year-old clients are suddenly using it, your friend’s kid is launching a start-up company piggybacking on it (true), and you can’t seem to escape it everywhere you look; finally, Google (or Facebook, or Apple) announces that they’re buying the company for a gazillion dollars.”
Total elapsed time for the foregoing progression?
Six weeks, maybe.
