What does Instagram teach us?

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Facebook announced on Monday, it buyout the United States of America photo sharing application developers Instagram with $1 billion, payment for cash and stock. This is by far the largest buyout of Facebook.

Facebook is currently preparing for IPO, expected to raise up to $10 billion. The company has always been to avoid large-scale mergers and acquisitions. Traditionally, Facebook is usually measured in tens of millions of dollars to buy a small start-up companies, and the value is not technical but talent.

Instagram is a photo sharing application developer, has introduced iOS and Android edition free application. The user can use the iPhone photos, and then use the company's software to modify and share photos, but also to comment on the photo, making the" praise" and evaluation. Some users will be the application described as Twitter video version, the reason is that many users are using Twitter to share photos.

The Instagram, can be acquired by Facebook is lucky undoubtedly, the company in 2010autumn from two Stanford University graduate creation, currently has more than 10 employees, has nearly 30 million subscribers.

For Instagram, it is lucky undoubtedly that can be acquired by Facebook, the company in 2010 autumn from two Stanford University graduate creation, currently has more than 10 employees, has nearly 30 million subscribers.

Rapid growth

Instagram is one of many young start-up companies, these companies produce products around the intelligent mobile phone, and in a short time there has been a rapid growth in be hardly worthy of belief. In March 11th, the founder of Instagram, CEO Kevin systrom in Austen Texas" south by Southwest" Music Festival keynote speech, announced that the iPhone version of Instagram application user amount since last December has been nearly doubled, from 15 million to 27 million.

Last week, Instagram released version Android, users immediate surged. Allegedly, the user number already exceeded 30 million person.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement released today, although he plans to integrate Instagram certain aspects into Facebook, but Instagram will remain as a separate company operation. He said:" we will try to draw lessons from the Instagram experience, and in the other products in similar characteristics. At the same time, we will use the Facebook strong engineering team and infrastructure, help Instagram to grow."

Established only 15 months

Facebook is expected, the deal will be completed later in the quarter. The deal would mean that one has created in only 15 months, the number of employees more than 10 people, only free application and have yet to create revenue company completed a surprising rise trend.

With a lot of rapidly expanding user base in the early technology company, Instagram will also be the commercialization of this problem is placed in a secondary position. Although many large retailers have opened Instagram account to promote its brand, but it is not clear how this company plans to create significant revenue, especially since Instagram completely about intelligent mobile phone market and not available on the website content, thus attracting advertisers have limited ability to.

In early 2011, Instagram from benchmark capital there raised $7 million, this round of financing for the company's valuation of approximately $25 million. Instagram has also already from the Anderson Horowitz fund and Baseline Ventures venture capital firms raised about $500,000 in seed money.

Last week had news sources, Instagram is about to complete a $50 million B round of financing, the financing round led by Sequoia Capital, on the Instagram valuation of 500 million dollars.

Benchmark investment partner Matt Kohler is the deal maker, he served as vice president of Facebook product management, the current members of Instagram's board of directors.

What does Instagram teach us?

1) to explore the new trend: the use of the iPhone platform to make photo + filter. The first success to attract a large number of photography enthusiasts with mobile phone photo sharing, 2) the giant gap may survive: Facebook good social products move insufficiency, and good Twitter mobile products picture insufficiency, find a place to live in. 3) focus: a small team to do just one platform on one thing. 4) the user experience.