"We believe that time spent learning the important things thoroughly is well invested."

"We believe the most important thing a person can do is help another person know more."

"“If you know how to learn, you know enough”"

"We re-read the same concepts on the same sites, recycled and repackaged to capture our clicks — wasting our time and effort."

"Evergreen organizes the Internet’s information for your personal use."

"“A Library is not a luxury but one of the Necessities of Life”"

"The way we read/watch/listen today is not the best way to earn important knowledge. Too much of our consumption is scattered and disorganized, which gives us the illusion of progress, but doesn’t create genuine understanding over the long-term."

"A product displays positive network effects when more usage of the product by any user increases the product’s value for other users (and sometimes all users)."

"Direct Network Effects:"

"The simplest network effects are direct: increases in usage lead to direct increases in value."

"Indirect Network Effects:"

"Network effects may also be indirect, where increased in usage of the product spawns the production of increasingly valuable complementary goods, and this results in an increase in the value of the original product."

"For instance, while there are some direct network effects associated with Windows, the indirect network effects that arise from the increased quality and availability of complementary applications software are probably much more important."

"Two-sided Network Effects:"

"Network effects can also be two-sided: increases in usage by one set of users increases the value of a complementary product to another distinct set of users, and vice versa. In many cases, one may think of indirect network effects as a one-directional version of two-sided network effects."

"This is the type of Network Effect that defines Marketplaces such as Airbnb, Uber, and Zaarly."

"Local Network Effects:"

"The microstructure of an underlying network of connections often influences how much network effects matter."

"For example, a product displays local network effects when each user is influenced directly by the decisions of only a small subset of other users — those they are “connected” to via an underlying social or business network."

"Network Effects are Not Virality"

"A viral product is one whose rate of adoption increases with each additional user."

"There are products that exhibit virality without exhibiting network effects. A case in point being email and cross-platform communication products. A key feature here is that they are either interoperable across networks (Hotmail) or leverage an underlying network for both the viral transmission as well as delivery of the value proposition"

"There are others that exhibit network effects without exhibiting virality. Products with indirect network effects such as marketplaces may not grow virally. In such cases, network effects are a result of aggregation of the two sides and while each side can be brought on virally through some incentive, it’s very difficult to leverage the indirect network effect to get users on one side to come on through invitations or interactions from the other side."

"Network Effects are Not Economies of Scale"

"Economies of Scale arise (and there’s a whole separate Edition to come on this) when there’s sufficient volume of production to massively reduce the costs, so the largest player can maintain the best margin of profitability."

"Network Effects are distinct from Economies of scale because they produce greater value for the marginal increase in cost. As Networks grow larger, the cost increases, but the value of the product increases faster."

"The fact that Apple sells a lot of iPhones does not mean that it has Network Effects, just Economies of Scale. The fact that people want to buy it so that they can use iMessage with their friends — that’s the Network Effect."

"The heart of the power of Network effects is right here: Value Increases Exponentially — Costs increase Linearly."

"“You can suck at everything and still make money”"

"Another reason that Network Effects are so valuable is that they don’t require a ton of maintenance. Once they’re built, they tend to perpetuate themselves."

"The buyers found efficiencies in using them and so did the sellers. Both sides of the marketplace kept coming, and Monster kept making money."

"Come for the Tool, stay for the Network"

"The idea is to initially attract users with a single-player tool and then, over time, get them to participate in a network. The tool helps get to initial critical mass. The network creates the long term value for users, and defensibility for the company."

"You can’t attract your first user with a network effect (because there is no network, and therefore no value.)"

"Dominating Extremely Tiny Markets"

"Another option is to create Network Effects in minuscule markets. We saw this as Facebook got started at Harvard."

"Product/Market Fit in Network Effect Products"

"If you’re relying on a Network Effect as your competitive advantage, it’s not as easy to test your value proposition and get early feedback from customers."

"This last slide, Priming the pump is code for ‘Fake it till you make it’. If your product relies on Network Effects — you may have to create the illusion of a network for early users."

"Content Networks vs. Connection Networks"

"The Network Effect Playbook, by Sangeet Choudary (which was suggested by Eric Wilson and Itamar Goldminz) proposes that there are two ways to solve the problem of creating a Network — connection and content."

"Traditionally, startups have solved this problem by racing to connect users with each other, essentially providing them the pipes to interact with each other. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have grown big with this connection-first model."

"However, a new breed of networks is gaining ground with the content-first model. They provide users with tools to create a corpus of content, and then enable conversations around that content. Behance, Pinterest, Instagram, Dribble, Scoop.It have all gained traction by building a corpus of content before building a social network."

"Content platforms create Network Effects not through interaction, but through hosting videos, posts, etc. This lets them reach the point where they’re providing more value to new users much more quickly than the connection model, which relies on existing users in a social circle."

"The secret to creating a social product that demonstrates immediate value is to enable content before creating the network."

"Content created on the network is the new source of competitive advantage. The videos on YouTube, the pictures on Instagram, the answers on Quora are the primary source of value for users and the key driver of competitive advantage for these platforms."