Setting the Conditions for Virality

footprint on technologies such as 5G, self-driving cars and space components and similar.” (MicroSecond, 10:04)

Not only were they leaders in their local market but they were also worldwide leaders in some of the fields they were evolving in:

“Let's just mention that we have products that are very niche but, in these niches, we are the worldwide leaders in these components and, in some cases, the only component supplier for large scale businesses.” (MicroSecond, 13:10)

Two underlying attributes seemed to be linked to this mechanism. The first was to leverage a credible brand image. Companies with this attribute focused on producing great relationships with their clients and partners through their products, to get them to function as multipliers for their own client acquisition (MicroSecond, 7:26; MyFish, 24:34;

Poweray, 22:06; Spector, 5:12, 10:10). MicroSecond demonstrated how word of mouth applies to business-to-business (B2B) business models:

“And, if you can, for example, have Intel endorsing your products, then it's a good qualifier for many other big companies. And that's how we have worked, in general, to have other company's suppliers - big suppliers - endorsing us.”

(MicroSecond, 7:26)

The second underlying attribute was directed towards business-to-consumer (B2C) business models and leveraged organic growth (MyFish, 3:02; Snackable, 4:54). What connected these specific B2C firms was the existence of a digital platform that created a space for customers and content providers to come together and exchange their values.

During this process, the user took on the role of the customer and value provider simultaneously, turning themselves into ambassadors of their own value, therefore the ambassador of the platform as well. MyFish utilized this attribute, as described in the following:

“It was basically just tapping into people's ego and letting them do work for you.

Because everybody wants to be officially sponsored. You know, in skateboarding and surfing and fishing, especially everybody wants to be sponsored. You're the coolest. You're the cool kid if you know if you have a T-shirt that says that, if you're getting the free gear, you know, and it was such a low-cost thing for us to do. And that's how it took off.” (MyFish, 3:02)

Snackable started getting a lot of traction when they built their first version of their website which set the stage to go viral: “What we did is that we started our own internet site in a very cheap way and, within no time, we were getting 3 million views on the site.”

(Snackable, 4:54). Not only did they get a huge number of views when launching their

platform, but they also acquired a fair amount of paid subscribers: “Then, we have seen exponential growth in that, we have got 200 000 subscribers from 200 countries.”

(Snackable, 4:54). Then, they built a second version of their platform and noticed a continuous growth in the number of subscribers from all around the world:

“Basically, it was building the ATT platform and being able to get it out there with very minimal spend. Once we put it out there we started noticing people were signing up from almost every country in the world.” (Snackable, 7:46)

This viral effect got them to partner with one of the main telecommunication firms and this strategic partnership further set the stage for the right conditions to go viral: “And, then, recently, signed a deal with Huawei to be preloaded onto 100 million handsets globally.” (Snackable, 4:54). In the case of MyFish, its founder chose to build a community around its product with the aim for it to become viral, as described in the following:

“Get those people that fish and this was old Tampa Bay, by the way, which is, you know, it's a little place where everybody fish literally, like you're the weirdo if you don't fish, like everybody fish, that's what they talk about is a fishing town. So basically, we set up, we set up shop there and we basically went around and we found all these people that are already fishing and we're like: ‘Hey, this is the number one fishing app in Florida’ ” (MyFish, 3:02)

More specifically, MyFish tapped into influencer marketing and the ego of its potential customers to create a viral effect around its app:

“But how do you get people to use it? Right? Their hack was that this one influencer started using it. And she started writing about it and it blew up. And then they piggybacked on that and that became the strategy and that there's a strategy around that.” (MyFish, 24:34)

By creating brand ambassadors and sponsoring them with branded merchandising, he managed to kick off a viral effect:

“We would get people like: ‘Hey, you're like an official you know a member of Team MyFish which is the top fishing app’ so there was an ego thing obviously, they would go there and just get people to download it and like there was like all these tears and it was like this whole ego thing and, and it's because we found out that obviously fishing was is all about the ego. It's all About the size of the fish, it's all about proving it.” (MyFish, 3:02)

Tapping in people’s ego and promoting his brand by giving them merchandising was his way of making his product go viral (MyFish, 3:02). Ultimately, MyFish's founder’s

strategy worked successfully. The founder managed to make its product go viral and benefited from the explosive growth of its users:

“You know, it's kind of like the Coronavirus. I mean, if I can get into a classroom and start touching people, it's gonna spread. That's what happened. You get that viral effect one of one out of every five people has heard about you or has downloaded the app. It's done all of a sudden everybody in Florida has it. And that's how we went from 300,000 users to 3 million really, really quickly.” (MyFish, 3:02)

In the case of Spector, it was a great example of when a firm manages to build enough credibility that customers start coming to you instead of you coming to them:

“And at some point, you get a lot of case studies and you show up on various, you know, various lists of who's who in the industry. And in this case, and that is the case where in some parts of the market people will start coming to you, rather than you going to chase them directly.” (Spector, 10:10)

Similarly to Spector, MicroSecond benefited from endorsements from important industry players which allows them, in turn, to get more clients:

“And, if you can, for example, have Intel endorsing your products, then it's a good qualifier for many other big companies. And that's how we have worked, in

general, to have other company's suppliers - big suppliers - endorsing us.”

(MicroSecond, 7:26)

When it comes to AdviceLab, the founder talked about closing a big client which made him a credible player in the field and, ultimately, helped attract other clients:

“And when you get to know we work with major companies such as Disney or the French railway, which are bigger companies. And when you go to another

country, for example, I say okay, I work with the French railway and we and then the trust is really easier to get with your future customer.” (AdviceLab, 15:28)

Similarly to Poweray who closed a deal with an important client which participated greatly in being seen as an established firm, thus, getting them more clients:

“For every time we do a project with success, we get more and accepted as a real company and a reliable company. So that is now spreading the word and it's a bit different than in the last years that we are respected as a real company. We were truly a start-up a few years ago so that's a big difference. I don't know if that is going viral like that but we've had a lot of positive publicity. We had a very huge client in France, the big energy company in France bought a plant from us that has been a very big thing for us and has given us a lot of respect for our job that this big big big professional utility would put a contract with us.” (Poweray, 22:06)

Lastly, Spector talked about how referrals brought them more clients. The founder started by mentioning the positive impact of customer referrals:

“So they could be able to go to the customers and get the solutions and then the customer refers us in turn. So we had, we could have some kind of an

acceleration factor.” (Spector, 5:12)

He went on talking about referrals from their former employees to their new employers and how it impacted them positively, in terms of getting new clients on board: “And they are asked if they can refer to a company that they were working for before. If they had a good experience with us, they will refer us to their next job.” (Spector, 10:10).