Instagram DNA Mismatch
by henry hwong
Bloomberg Businessweek just dropped an excerpt from Sarah Frier’s new book, No Filter, which bills itself as the “inside story of Instagram.” The excerpt focuses on the perceived jealousy that Mark Zuckerberg felt over the success of Instagram, which Facebook acquired in 2012.
Mark’s feelings aside, what I found fascinating in the excerpt was the evidence of a classic mismatch between Facebook’s Core DNA and what Instagram’s Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger built and tried to protect under the Facebook aegis. As Frier writes, even though both founders shared “mutual respect” and “[o]n paper they were extremely similar,” the two had different priorities.
For example: “Zuckerberg couldn’t relate to Systrom’s obsession over each contour of Instagram’s design, which slowed product development. Systrom worried that Facebook’s hard-sell approach…might cost Instagram the relative trust it enjoyed as a friendlier-looking social network.”
Interesting.
When we position a company and its brand, a key part of our approach is to evaluate the Core DNA of the organization. After working with hundreds of clients, we realized that there are really just three types of technology companies out there:
Product-centric – Build the best products and sell them to everyone
Customer-oriented – Focus on the customer
Concept-driven – Change the world
Each of these companies, down to their archetypes, operates differently. They focus on different KPIs. They hire different kinds of people. They have different cultures. And so forth.
Why does that matter? Understanding the core of your organization will help determine how best to differentiate your company and its products.
If you are product-centric, you differentiate by features or value
If you are customer-oriented, you differentiate by segmentation or experience
If you are concept-driven, you have a need to change behavior, which often requires an advocate who can build from a cult of personality
DNA shifts can and do happen, but the more mature the organization, the more difficult the shift. You have to change who you hire. You have to change your processes. You have to change how you measure things. Given all that, it’s not surprising that DNA shifts tend to accelerate when a company is in crisis.
Based on the book excerpt, it is apparent that Instagram was built as a customer-oriented company focused on the user experience. Systrom's primary goal was to be a trusted social network that was “friendlier.” Contrast that ideal with the following:
“Zuckerberg thought there was little use doing something unless you were doing it for as many people as possible.”
A classic product-centric company mindset.
When times are good, as they were up until the 2016 presidential election, these differences could be papered over, and Facebook could afford to maintain an arms-length relationship with its acquisitions. However, when things got rough, Facebook’s latent DNA emerged, leading to the reorganization of the apps under Chris Cox, and ultimately resulting in the Instagram founders leaving.
When positioning is done correctly, it should have a material impact downstream from the process. That includes the kinds of companies with whom you merge.