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Suneel Mekala
Full Stack Developer... • 2m
"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 $𝟮𝟳𝗕 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻)" 𝗜𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟮, 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱'𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴. His team had spent 𝟰 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 and $𝟭𝟳𝗠 building Glitch—a whimsical MMORPG that nobody played. Investors were furious. The dream was over. But in the ashes of failure, Butterfield noticed something strange... 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁. It was clunky, but better than email. So they polished it, stripped the gaming elements, and launched it as a standalone product. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 "𝗦𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸." Within 24 hours: → 𝟴,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 → 𝟭𝗠+ 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗥𝗥 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝟲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 → 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝗕 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘁? ➡️ VC Fred Wilson passed on investing (called it "a feature, not a product") ➡️ Microsoft launched competing products 3 times (Teams, Skype, Yammer) ➡️ Butterfield rejected a $12B acquisition offer from Amazon 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗦𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗪𝗼𝗻: 1. 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗨𝗫 → Made work communication fun with emojis, GIFs, and playful copy 2. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺-𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 → Employees demanded it, forcing IT departments to comply 3. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 → More teams = more value (like Facebook for work) 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻: The best ideas often emerge from failed projects. Pay attention to what your team actually uses—even if it wasn't part of the plan.
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