Most people think that building a successful app is about creating a great product and coding it up, but often the most crucial aspect becomes getting the first users.
In the cutthroat world of tech startups, the story of how a company acquires its initial user base is often as compelling as the product itself. For Instagram, the photo-sharing behemoth that redefined social media, the journey from a simple idea to a global phenomenon began with a targeted and personal approach. In a revealing account, co-founder Kevin Systrom detailed the scrappy, hands-on strategy he employed to get the app into the hands of its very first users, a strategy that hinged on personal connections, influential friends, and creating an aura of exclusivity.
Systrom’s recollection of the pre-launch hustle offers a candid look into the meticulous effort that went into seeding Instagram’s initial community. It wasn’t about a massive marketing budget, but rather a carefully curated outreach. He explains: “So I wish I could show you. I have a screenshot somewhere in my drafts box in Gmail and I literally had like 30 emails queued up that say ‘hello from Instagram’ in the subject and it’s tailored to everyone in tech, like literally everyone. We had a one-pager and a PDF that explained what we did.”
This targeted email campaign was the first step in building a groundswell of interest within the influential tech community. The goal was to get the app into the hands of people who could not only provide valuable feedback but also act as powerful advocates.
“I emailed each and every one of them thinking maybe we could get them on our beta or something. And surprisingly to us, about half of the people wrote back,” Systrom recalls. The response was overwhelmingly positive. “Once we sent it to them, everyone loved it. They were like, ‘This is awesome. I’m having so much fun.'”
A key component of this early traction was a feature that allowed users to share their filtered photos directly to other social networks, most notably Twitter. This is where a crucial relationship came into play. Systrom reached out to Jack Dorsey, who he knew from his time at Odeo, the company that would eventually pivot to become Twitter.
“The key was, we let you share out to Twitter,” Systrom emphasizes. “So Jack Dorsey, who I knew from Odeo, I was like, ‘Jack, I haven’t talked to you in a while. We’re doing this thing if you want to use it, here you go.’ And he tweeted out and I still remember seeing our waitlist climb every single time.”
This early form of influencer marketing proved to be a masterstroke. Dorsey’s endorsement created a ripple effect, driving a wave of sign-ups to their pre-launch waitlist. “We just had a little ‘put in your email, we’ll send you a note when we launch’ and I think it had maybe 5,000 names on it when we launched. So, not a ton,” Systrom admits. But the quality of these early adopters was paramount.
He continues, “I remember going after people who were big in design and photography on Twitter and saying, ‘here, use this app.’ And it just so happened that they loved the product and would tweet out about it. And it created this tension of everyone who wanted this app that couldn’t get it because it hadn’t launched yet.”
This calculated strategy of building anticipation and leveraging influential voices within specific communities highlights a crucial lesson for entrepreneurs. However, Systrom is quick to add a dose of humility to the narrative, acknowledging the role of fortune in their meteoric rise.
“As much as entrepreneurs want to take credit for each and every little decision and say it made complete sense at the time, I promise you, a lot of it is luck. But you make your own luck by working really hard and trying lots and lots of things,” he concludes.
Systrom’s account of Instagram’s genesis underscores a timeless principle in the digital age: community and credibility are powerful currencies. Long before the term ‘influencer marketing‘ became a ubiquitous buzzword, Instagram’s founders intuitively understood its power. Their approach of personally reaching out to a curated list of tech and design leaders demonstrates a keen understanding of network effects. By getting the right people on board first, they ensured that when the floodgates opened, there was already a vibrant and influential community creating compelling content. This strategy of creating a “fear of missing out” (FOMO) before the product is even widely available is a tactic that has been replicated by countless startups since, from the invite-only launches of Clubhouse to the waitlists for countless new apps. Systrom’s story is a testament to the fact that in the crowded landscape of technology, a personal touch and a well-placed endorsement can be the spark that ignites a global phenomenon.