I hate Zero to Ones
At this stage in my product career, I feel safe to say it out loud: I hate “Zero to One.” I hate when people say it. I hate how they say it. And I think it’s a destructive concept that is burning way too much time and money for the companies that use it.
Now that it’s out there, let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?
What is Zero to One, anyway?
I think it was Peter Thiel who coined the term in his 2014 book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. He used it to frame his desire to teach the world how to build startups correctly, and while the book itself received so-so reviews, the term stuck around and infiltrated into product minds around the globe.
When people talk about Zero to One (0to1, or Zero2One, or 021 — all equally silly), they mean that they’re going to create something new. They’re talking about finding a market fit. A big, crispy product that will revolutionize everything. Something that has never been done before, something so absolutely amazing that it’ll warp time and space and construct a one-of-a-a-kind universe.
I’m exaggerating, yes, but only because I’m really sick of hearing product managers talking about Zero to One as if it’s a product savior Jesus Christ. I hear things like, “Well, of course it’s not affecting the numbers, it’s Zero to One” or “Yeah, it’ll take us six months to build it but it’s completely normal because it’s a Zero to One.” But you know what? It’s not OK and it’s not completely normal. Zero to One is not an excuse for building unrealistic products in an unrealistic time frame that change nothing.
Terminology Matters
Fiverr is the world leading marketplace for digital services and its core promise is to make buying digital services as seamless as buying a real-world product (aka SaaP: Service As a Product). When you visit the platform, you’ll notice a side feature called “Buyer Request.” It serves more like a fallback for when buyers can’t find their services; all they do is fill out a form of requirement and wait for sellers to suggest their service and price.
“Buyer Request” is not a very good name, and on a regular customer survey, we found out that lots of the buyers don’t really get what this feature means. For instance, it can mean both “buyer is posting a request” or “seller is requesting for buyers.”
It’s a proven fact that reality is being defined by how people see it. In Fiverr’s case, the confusing definition led to a loss of potential buyers who chose not to start the funnel just because they thought it’s a feature built for sellers; it was also a disappointment for sellers who expected to get more business that way.
On a different note, I know as a parent that if I treat my son as a “bad boy” every time he’s doing something naughty, he’ll start to believe that he is exactly that and grow up accordingly. Entrepreneurs know that choosing the right name for their next product is a crucial moment that will define whether or not their potential users will understand the idea and come with the right expectations. It’s also true when it comes to picking the right label for a button in your UI or having the appropriate text in an alert box.
If you want people to behave in a specific way, you must make sure that you explain it correctly. Every. Word. Counts.
There is no such thing as Zero to One
You would think that most of the products we use every day were, at first, Zero to One. I mean, there was never Facebook before Facebook or an iPhone before the iPhone, right? But were they really a Zero to One? Let’s break down a few examples:
Take Instagram. It was the first (or one of the first) apps on the AppStore to help users take and share photos in a refined experience that was perfectly suited for the small screen. But calling it Zero to One would be a shame, as it didn’t come from a zero state at all — it only took a common behavior of taking and sharing photos and made it simpler.
People used to take photos before Instagram; they just shared them on Facebook, email, or physical albums when guests came to visit. Instagram leveraged this to the new world of smartphones.
What about Facebook? That’s easy. People used to keep in touch with each other over the mail, phone, or face to face (can you imagine?!), but then the big blue came along and made keeping in touch with your friends and family faster.
More? Apple took the mobile phones UX and made it 10x smoother with the iPhone. Cars helped people get to places faster and in a more efficient way than using horses. Even your freaking towel only took what the wind already did and domesticated it.
You see? Real life-changing products are always on a path of solution evolution. They are always based on a real human need. They always come from a problem and pave a better solution to it.
Verdict
I think that at this point you get what I’m trying to say, and if not, let me be clear: The reason I don’t like the concept of Zero to One is because of the fact that it shifts the discussion from “look what I improved” to “look what I’ve built.” The point of everything we do as product managers is not to build new products, but to solve problems and improve the way we live and operate.
So to conclude: put your focus on problems and solutions instead of shiny objects that will only make you feel better about yourself.
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(Oh, and if you insist on big titles, you can start calling it One to One Point One)
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