Invitation Nation: Getting into all the new Web apps, by Jeffrey Veen

Invitation Nation: Getting into all the new Web apps

There was a time, late in 2004, when invitations to Google's Gmail service were selling for $40 on Craig's List. The t-shirt, pictured at left, was a half-serious response to everyone's desire to get the first sneak peak at Odeo. These days, entry into a coveted WordPress.com account comes via a "Golden Ticket." At the TechCrunch party last week, almost every new product demoed came with the caveat that they'd be launching soon, but you can sign up for an invitation now (such as this one, this one, this one, and this one). Why, TailRank's Kevin Burton is even using them to finance servers.

What's the deal with all these invitations?

When we started planning for the launch of Measure Map, we spent a lot of time trying to estimate how it would scale. As a hosted statistics service, we would be offering to track our customer's stats as the traffic happens. In other words, every time you get a visitor, we get one too. Not an impossible task, but one that would require some careful capacity planning. The last thing we wanted was to cripple under an initial wave of popularity. Remember Friendster? It was fun the first few weeks, and virtually unusable when the next wave of new users brought the service to it's proverbial knees.

Invitations seem like a way to control that initial growth. By giving out a few details of the service, a new Web application can garner some interest and build a waiting list of eager early adopters. That service can then do a nice, soft "beta" launch -- the service need not have its complete feature set, the level of service need not be totally rock solid, and the development team can experiment a little on the built-in research subjects. The first few rounds of users are getting an exclusive early look; they can put up with a few inconveniences. Seems like a balanced proposition.

This seems to play well with the lower barrier to entry enjoyed by Web 2.0 apps. As JotSpot founder Joe Krause wrote, "There’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur because it’s never been cheaper to be one." That is, commoditized hardware, free software, and variety of other trends has taken a lot of risk out of turning ideas into shipping code. Using invitations to scale initial growth can scrub away even more risk. It's like playing a few secret club shows before the band hits the stadium tour -- work the kinks out and get your legs under you, then go for the big time.

There's a downside, of course. Invitations can seem like a cheap marketing ploy to generate unwarranted buzz. And frankly, many startups are probably using them as such. Limiting access to something new creates an artificial scarcity that exploits people's natural insecurities - wanting to be part of the in crowd who is "over ever thing you think is cool." A strategy like that will certainly backfire if not handled with openness and, as always, a firm commitment to your users' experience.

So, with all that in mind, we decided to take reservations for Measure Map's controlled, steady launch. And if you're considering doing the same with your nifty new Web app, I'll, uh, trade you for one...

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 25 October 2005 at 9:29 PM. It was filed under Software, Technology. | View blog reactions

Comments

1. On 25 October 2005 at 11:42 PM Kevin Burton wrote:

In my experience they can work AGAINST you. In the past this was a HUGE mistake we made (not going to point fingers). If you're Google you can get away with it because EVERYONE wants you're beta but if you're a small company limiting access while you have buzz can be fatal.

I REALLY wish I didn't have to do it with tailrank but I literally DO need beta users to provide me feedback.

The issue I want to raise is DON'T be afraid of success. If you're servers are overloaded this is a GOOD thing. You can throttle them back. Put up an apology page and give people a %15 discount and apologize. Show them screenshots.. us this to increase your valuation so you can get VCs to finance more hardware.

Don't be afraid of success being the key point I'm trying to make :)

Kevin

2. On 26 October 2005 at 6:36 AM Seth wrote:

It's definitely a strange phenom right now. When I found out about Flock and Odeo, I rushed over to their sites and signed up to be a beta user. I was in on the Gmail craze and now I'm starting wane on them a bit.

They can generate quite the buzz, though, and hopefully it's a worthwhile buzz.

3. On 26 October 2005 at 8:34 AM Tom wrote:

I understand the reasons for doing it but all the invitation only applications are getting annoying, I have signed up to at least 8 of them in the last 4 months and only 1 of them has launched. It's also annoying all these web sites that continue to link to applications that haven't even launched yet (probably because they have been given special beta access), I would rather just know about them when they have actually launched.

On a related note, the constant 'Transferring data from tracker.measuremap.com' really freaks me out!

4. On 26 October 2005 at 9:50 AM Scott Goldblatt wrote:

An invitation is just that, an invitation. In the real world an invitation means only that you are invited, not that you will be attending.

That is the key. You generate the buzz and select a random (or not so random) sample that you feel will best benefit to your product or service. I agree with Tom that many invitations seem to disappear after you are signed up, so the key is making the invitation a promise. Not a promise to involve the person accepting the invitation and giving them beta access, but a promise to contact those who has signed up.

This follow-up will continue the buzz for the simple fact that you took the time to keep in touch with interested parties. Just think of it as customer service for future (possible) customers.

5. On 26 October 2005 at 11:30 AM Rachel wrote:

Interesting to contract Jeff's concept of invitation as a tool during beta with the current invitation-as-marketing tool to create buzz. Maybe the whole social dynamic of who's getting to send the invitations 'launching' these 2.0-type products plays a role - if you're a geek who traditionally didn't get invited to the parties in high school, these pre-launch (in some cases pre beta!) 'invites' could be an attempt at being the cool kind who decides who gets 'in' to test the product and when. Let's just hope the product merits attention, and it's not all about the prelaunch buzz.

Or perhaps I'm just getting too cynical for my own good...

6. On 27 October 2005 at 11:38 PM praetorian wrote:

I'd like to invite everyone to be consistent. "This is a properly-quoted sentence." Wheres, "This is not". You did great with this post, but the one before used the latter, incorrect method. Even Erin "Goddess of Proper Copy" Kissane is guilty, so don't feel too bad.

7. On 28 October 2005 at 4:10 AM Jonathan Hill wrote:

Yeah here is an idea for some invitations take some famouse rock band or rap artist and put them on the front of the invitation maybe people will by them.

8. On 28 October 2005 at 4:59 PM Sam wrote:

"On a related note, the constant 'Transferring data from tracker.measuremap.com' really freaks me out!"

YEAH! (in fact I see it as I'm typing this). Really though, what I love are the completely stealth start-ups that don't even TELL you what they do, but expect you to put in your e-mail address.

9. On 30 October 2005 at 9:50 PM veen wrote:

'Transferring data from tracker.measuremap.com'

We're scratching our heads on this one. It's sporadic and may be browser specific. Doesn't make much sense, really, since all we're doing is loading up a bit of Javascript. Not like we're streaming though an open port or anything...

I'll post an update when we've got it nailed down.

10. On 30 October 2005 at 10:22 PM veen wrote:

That was quick. Just after posting that last comment, Ryan sent this link along:

http://chameleon-tiki.maptools.org/tiki-view_faq.php?faqId=5#q13

Turns out this is a known and documented bug in Firefox...

11. On 2 November 2005 at 12:20 PM Nicole Simon wrote:

I don't mind the invitation mode. As I love to betatest things (well, let's say 'give constructive feedback'), I of course am interested in this field.

But what I will not do is throw my email address at some webpage which says "we are cool! we are web 2.0! we will not tell you what we are about, but did we mention cool? sign up to get an invite!".

This is wasting my time and energy - and leave me very ticked off. Not because I don't get an invitation right away, but because it assumes I would be willing to give my time just based on the fact somebody was able to collect email forms.

12. On 18 November 2005 at 3:01 PM Jessica wrote:

I need to get me a shirt like that made!!