Daily Productive Sharing 1232 - Making Uncommon Knowledge Common
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Expedia, Glassdoor, and Zillow are all billion-dollar companies founded by Rich Barton. Kevin Kwok breaks down the business logic behind their success:
- In the notoriously difficult field of consumer tech, repeatable success is crucial. It’s rare enough to consistently invest well in consumer tech—founding multiple successful companies is almost unheard of. This suggests that Barton likely possesses a foundational, structured strategy that remains largely unknown and unreplicated.
- At the core of Barton’s strategy is building a “Data Content Loop” to bypass traditional intermediaries, dominate search engine traffic, and leverage that momentum to control market demand.
- Controlling user demand creates a compounding advantage, but startups must “self-fuel” in the early stages to get the loop running.
- At launch, startups not only lack control over demand—they also face entrenched competitors who already do, putting them at a disadvantage.
- Barton’s companies use the Data Content Loop to create unique content and build online industry indexes—Zillow for real estate, Expedia for hotels and flights, and Glassdoor for company information—thus becoming key entry points for user traffic.
- These companies then rank highly in search results by leveraging their content, creating a steady, powerful stream of free organic traffic, and ultimately taking control of demand.
- His career mantra can be summed up as: “Power to the People.” His businesses shift power from traditional middlemen to everyday consumers.
- He surfaced industry information that was once limited to insider circles. Once exposed, people began questioning why that data was hidden in the first place.
- Barton’s companies become “Schelling Points” in their industries—natural hubs of reference. Using data previously held by middlemen, fragmented public sources, or user-generated content, they build a new form of industry consensus, which in turn fuels network effects.
- All of Barton’s companies acquire users primarily through search engines (and word-of-mouth). It’s a highly cost-effective channel that brings massive traffic with minimal spending.
- Once you rank first in search results, the next best move is to acquire the second- and third-ranking sites to dominate the page.
- Traffic to Barton’s companies mostly comes from search or direct visits, keeping customer acquisition costs far lower than ad-dependent competitors.
- These companies typically operate in low-frequency use markets, so they rely on the Data Content Loop and SEO to attract users at no cost while increasing engagement over time.
- Controlling demand eventually compounds: as brand trust builds and network effects grow, the platform naturally becomes the user’s first choice.
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Expedia、Glassdoor 和 Zillow 这三家公司市值都超过十亿美金，而且都由 Rich Barton 创建。 Kevin Kwok 介绍了这其中的商业逻辑：
- 在消费科技这个极难成功的领域里，可复制的成功至关重要。能稳定成功地投资消费科技公司本就难能可贵，而反复创办成功公司几乎闻所未闻。这说明 Barton 很可能掌握了一套尚未广为人知或被复制的底层结构化策略。
- Rich Barton 的策略核心是通过构建“数据内容飞轮”（Data Content Loop）绕过传统中间商、主导搜索引擎流量，并利用这份势能掌控行业需求。
- 掌控用户需求能带来复利优势，但一开始必须“自我造血”。
- 初创公司起步时，不仅未掌控需求，还要与已掌控需求的巨头竞争，处于劣势。
- Barton 的公司通过“数据内容飞轮”打造独特内容、建立线上行业索引（Zillow 为房产、Expedia 为酒店与航班、Glassdoor 为公司信息），从而建立用户访问的入口。
- 接着，这些公司借助内容占据搜索结果，获取持续、强劲的免费用户流量来源，从而掌控用户需求。
- 他整个职业生涯的核心信条可以归纳为：“把权力还给大众（Power to the People）”。他创立的公司将权力从原有中间商手中转移给普通消费者。
- 他将那些本来只存在于小圈子耳语中的行业信息公之于众。此后，所有人都开始质疑：这些信息当初为何会被隐藏？
- Barton 的公司成为行业中的“谢林点”（Schelling Point），即大家天然聚集的公共参考点。它们用原本只有中间商掌握的数据、难以整合的公开信息，或用户主动提供的信息，创造了行业“共识”。这种共识进一步带来了网络效应。
- Barton 所有公司主要靠搜索引擎（和口碑）进行获客。这是一种极具性价比的流量渠道，能低成本带来巨大访问量。
- 一旦你在搜索结果中占据第一位，接下来的最佳策略就是继续收购其他排名靠前的网站，确保你拥有第二、第三个搜索结果。
- 从流量来源看，Barton 公司的大多数访问都来自搜索或直接访问。这让他们的获客成本远低于依赖付费广告的公司。
- 这些公司所处行业通常是低频使用的，他们利用数据内容飞轮与 SEO 免费获取用户，并提高用户互动频率。
- 掌控需求最终会形成复利效应：随着品牌信任度上升，网络效应增强，平台自然成为用户首选。
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