Every few years there is a big step change that shows up. The early engagement community is always IN on novel things. Many novel things might fail, some morph, and even a small minority becomes blockbuster. Everyone’s dream in the 200s and 2010s have been about building million user businesses. For instance, services like the Instagram, Snapchat, etc., built million user bases rapidly. To them all, whatsapp crossed billion user within 6 years. On the platform side, we have Apple and Android ecosystems cross billion user mark. In the 2020s we will see several billion use innovations. In addition there is a quest to build up highly valuable million users within a short timespan. One example is the Clubhouse.
Over the past few weeks, twitter stream is buzzing with clubhouse. It is not easy to get in. It is only on the iOS and is invite driven. Each person gets at most 2-3 invites to give out. That said they had built a steady member base of more than a couple of million users by January. The onboarding experience is Q&A driven with several selections on preferences and interests. There is a quick connect to twitter and instagram (not sure why these choices were made). There is a stronger emphasis on inviting others in your network to grow the network. Definitely I see several people with thousands of followers. That is astounding and only made possible through the repeat loop of surfacing other users to connect with.
In my first two weeks, I had popped in and out of several online meetings. In a couple of them I even saw that some of the founders and CEOs of few of my angel invested companies. We had a quick chat on general sentiment about clubhouse and their market. I discovered a few friends, my neighbors, and a few of my colleagues. The entire experience comes alive only when we participate in rooms. I chose to be a passive participant listening in on the conversations. And then yesterday I formed a room, first with my wife, next with a few acquaintances and then with a few members of the Guindy Alumni Angels. In the coming week, I plan to host a few of the rooms and let some conversations happen.
Definitely clubhouse has some magic going for it. Unlike reading a text book or magazine or blog or tweets, I get to hear voices with the full range of emotions. Voice and oral story telling has always been important vehicle for knowledge transfer. Clubhouse makes it super easy for voice based group conversations. For now, I am in this network. I am eager to learn more in the days ahead.