Instagram: 18 Months + Some Luck = $1 Billion

I came upon an interesting Inc.com article about Instagram and it's rapid rise to success. The start-up, was just over a year and a half old when it sold for $1 Billion to Facebook and here are some interesting highlights:

- Instagram had zero revenue when it was sold
- The app took only eight weeks to build
- After two and a half months, the app was downloaded one million times
- There were 12 employees at the time of sale
- Founder, Kevin Systrom, studied and worked in Silicon Valley (Stanford, Twitter, Google)
- Kevin randomly met his first investors at another start-up company's cocktail party, got $500k and quit his job to focus on Instagram

Here's the part that I like the best. The first interation of Instagram was called "Burbn" and it was similar to what Foursquare is today. There were a ton of features and if there's one thing you should keep in mind in product development it's that if you can't explain what your thing does in one line, it's probably too complicated.

What Is Marketing?

I'd like to shed some light on what many people think marketing is about and what marketing is really about. As someone with a Bachelor of  Commerce (Major in Marketing), an MBA from HEC Montreal and six years of experience in various Product/Brand/Marketing Manager roles, I will try to compare marketing theory with common misconceptions. I'm sure a lot of people in my industry feel the same way so I'd like to explain to those on the outside, the differences and subtleties of the trade.

What Is Marketing?
I remember my interview for a Marketing Intern Position at Schering (now part of Merck Frost) and I was asked by the Director of Marketing what I thought marketing was. My exact words were:

"Marketing is the solving of a customer want or need by offering a solution at a profit". So, you find something that someone needs or wants, figure out how to satisfy them and get paid for the work that you do. It was a win-win situation.

Now ask the same question to someone outside of marketing and you'll get a bunch of answers like marketing is sales or advertising.

From Dilbert.com: Perks of Being in Sales :)