I have previously written about non-linearity and how it messes with our reasoning. In business non-linearity abounds. One example that has been discussed a lot is the change between going from a price of 2 cents to 1 cent compared to the change with going from 1 cent to free. Twitter wouldn’t be twitter if it had charged just 1 cent per tweet.
One area where this is also true but more subtle and less well understood is product simplicity. Steve Jobs is clearly on to something very powerful by insisting that the iPhone (and now iPad) have exactly one button on the front. The iPhone’s simplicity went beyond that initially by launching with a bare bones version of what could be done on the phone (remember: no copy-paste). The simplicity was at the heart of a huge non-linearity – the iPhone rapidly got many users which attracted developers setting off a self-reinforcing cycle.
The same can be true for something as technical as APIs. The simplicity of Twilio’s API is such that adding previously complicated telephony applications becomes possible in a matter of hours. I already knew that from the due diligence we had done prior to our investment, but when I finally got around to using it in an application (see Preditter or text “Jets” to (585) 466-4919 before the game starts tonight) I was still completely blown away. From the point of hitting the “Get Started” button on the Twilio home page to being to having the functionality live for the world was less than 10 minutes.
The iPhone was not just a simpler Windows Mobile phone. It was so much simpler it was totally different. Twilio is not just a simpler IVR platform, it is something entirely different. In each case, the simplicity of the offering unlocks entirely new set of users and use cases, which results in a hugely non-linear change in adoption.
