Pinterest Lessons for Web Entrepreneurs

A few weeks ago I was introduced to the social media site Pinterest. I’m a little late arriving at this party, but like many users before me, the more time I spend on this site, the more I love it! As a web developer and entrepreneur, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss lots of web applications with other would-be entrepreneurs and even work on a few. I’ve learned that starting up a new application (especially a social media app) is a risky proposition, and I’ve seen several fail within a few months of launch.

So why do some succeed? To try to find the answer, let’s look at what Pinterest did right:

1. Simplicity – The site is extremely simple. It’s not trying to do everything for everyone, and it can be explained very quickly–users can create virtual bulletin boards of things that they like. (See how easy that was?) I’ve worked with entrepreneurs with hopelessly complex ideas in the past, and trying to get their messages across to users is nearly impossible.
2. Uniqueness – There is no major competitor. The idea is unique, and really cool once you start using it.
3. Clean UI – The user interface is clean and obviously professionally designed, but very minimal. There’s no excessive branding, nothing mucking up your personal experience. It’s also almost completely javascript/ajax driven, so there are few page refreshes to worry about.
4. Viral Marketing – There’s no magic formula to making this happen, but the popularity of the service is completely viral. You can’t even get an account without a referral, and there is no marketing, just word-of-mouth.