What I learnt from the Instagram buyout
"Facebook acquires Instagram for a billion dollars."
That was the big news on Monday. A day later, even local newspapers here in India are talking about.
A few things I learn't from Instagram and it's team:
1. Team size
The Instagram team shattered the popular myth that required startups to have rock solid large teams working on making it's product successful. A small team of approximately 10 people, were not only able to make a successful product, but also make it appear as a threat to the Silicon Valley giant, Facebook.
If that doesn't speak volumes to you, I don't know what will.
2. Wonderful office spaces
The Instagram team located itself in one of the offices the Twitter team used to rent once. Well actually, only a small part of the entire space. I remember reading on a blog that the space was no bigger than an average car garage. Most young entrepreneurs are wowed by the wonderful office spaces certain startups base themselves at. But the Instagram team cleverly prioritized things and invested money in the right places.
I am not saying that a good work space is not a "good thing", but that it should not be of utmost priority. Having a good workspace to instill a good mood, etc. but that's a whole different discussion.
3. Treating designers and developers equally.
It does look like Instagram CEO Kevin S. knew about the advantages of treating the designers and developers equally. Instagram from the beginning had a good and stable backend on it's app. In my opinion, it's initial design wasn't equally good. Enter, Tim Van Damme. He joined Instagram and worked with the designers to change that.
Clearly, that helped Instagram "wow" it's users.
There are various other things I learnt, but I shall speak about those some other day. If there is something you'd like me to add to the list, send me a shout out on twitter. @dezinezync
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