It's a beautifully designed app with tons of attention of detail to tiny little things.<p>How the hell you monetize it to turn $8.6m in to an even bigger pile of cash is beyond me though.<p>I guess that's why i'm not an entrepreneur.
The formula is:<p>1. Create a new app that's a slight variation of something popular that already exists.<p>2. Hype it like crazy.<p>3. Find someone clueless to buy, either a large corporation or have an IPO.<p>4. Repeat with the next idea.<p>It's basically the same model for hyping celebrities. Is Lady Gaga popular because she's a great singer, or because the media hypes her all the time? Similarly, is Secret popular because it's good, or because it's being promoted all the time?
Anyone who's used the app can back me up when I say this:<p>It is one of the most beautifully designed apps I've ever seen. Every interaction <i>adds</i> to the functionality. The balance of beautiful and functional is amazing. Sure, many of the interactions may have been done before in other apps, but it's the whole package that blows me away.<p>The whole "LOL THEY AINT GON MAKE THE $$$$" is a tired argument. The more interesting conversation to be had centers around the design.
Here's the company's blog post on how the service works:<p><a href="https://medium.com/secret-den/12ab82fda29f" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/secret-den/12ab82fda29f</a>
I wonder where the future of 'social' is going. If history is any guide, Facebook will soon be out of the 'cool' factor and younger, nimbler startups with take over. It's not clear to me though what kind of experience these will provide, i.e., what features will attract the next generation and form that critical mass. I do like the social app ecosystem to be fragmented though, it makes for good options and interesting new ideas to be tested.
I think investments like these which appear to be the most illogical are the most interesting for venture capital. The more people who thinks <i>that investment seems solid</i> the less likely it is to unearth something entirely new (perhaps a whole market).<p>I agree that hype is a large part of this investment. But remember that hype is about 1000x as difficult to create than a product.
Another win for #firstWorldProblem apps. Hell, you could argue that Secret doesn't even solve any problems, and probably creates more.<p>But damn, that stylish hipster UI and all these cool Silicon Valley cats talking about how they hate Dave Morin....who doesn't want to ride that gravy train?