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← People and their mental models

Andrew Chen's mental models

4 claims Andrew Chen made fit 4 mental models. Most often: Incentives, Trade-offs, Value moves to what stays scarce. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Incentives

Look at what people are rewarded for; it explains more behaviour than what they say, your own included.

Used by 84 others

Incentive programs act as a selection mechanism that determines what kind of user a product attracts, not just how many it gets.

  1. Andrew Chen General partner at Andreessen Horowitz and author of The Cold Start Problem Incentives are a form of selection and you need to make sure you know what you're selecting for. Why the worst users come from referral programs, free trials, coupons, and gamificationandrewchen.com · 31 Jan 2024All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsIncentives are a form of selection and you need to make sure you know what you're selecting for.

    ↗Why the worst users come from referral programs, free trials, coupons, and gamificationandrewchen.com

    31 Jan 2024

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Trade-offs

Every choice gives something up, so name the cost; and check, because some trade-offs everyone assumes are not real.

Used by 60 others

Lowering friction to sign up increases the number of users but decreases their average quality and intent.

  1. Andrew Chen General partner at Andreessen Horowitz and author of The Cold Start Problem Also, interestingly enough, as you make it easier and easier to sign up to reduce friction the quality and intent of the users also decreases. Every time you ask the user to click you lose halfandrewchen.com · 5 Feb 2024All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsAlso, interestingly enough, as you make it easier and easier to sign up to reduce friction the quality and intent of the users also decreases.

    ↗Every time you ask the user to click you lose halfandrewchen.com

    5 Feb 2024

Value moves to what stays scarce

When something becomes cheap and plentiful, the value moves to whatever is still rare next to it.

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By the time a marketing tactic or channel is well-known enough to have a case study written about it, its edge has been competed away and no longer works.

  1. Andrew Chen General partner at Andreessen Horowitz and author of The Cold Start Problem I often joke that by the time there's a case study about a new marketing tactic or channel, the advantage has already been arbitrage away, and probably no longer works. Startups need dual theories on distribution and product/market fit. One is not enoughandrewchen.com · 6 Feb 2024All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsI often joke that by the time there's a case study about a new marketing tactic or channel, the advantage has already been arbitrage away, and probably no longer works.

    ↗Startups need dual theories on distribution and product/market fit. One is not enoughandrewchen.com

    6 Feb 2024

When a measure becomes a target

Reward a number and people, or machines, will find ways to move the number without the thing it measured (Goodhart's law).

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Some books become bestsellers because their authors buy large numbers of their own copies through anonymous networks to disguise it.

  1. Andrew Chen General partner at Andreessen Horowitz and author of The Cold Start Problem There are tons of books that become best-sellers because people buy many, many copies of their own books - often via anonymous networks of buyers to obscure what's happening How to write a business book — behind the scenes from THE COLD START PROBLEMandrewchen.com · 15 Jan 2024All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsThere are tons of books that become best-sellers because people buy many, many copies of their own books - often via anonymous networks of buyers to obscure what's happening

    ↗How to write a business book — behind the scenes from THE COLD START PROBLEMandrewchen.com

    15 Jan 2024