We see ourselves as the world's digital library. That can be a lot more than books. We do want to expand to other types of content: sheet music, magazines, user-generated content.
From Trip Adler
Readers can read what they want and easily switch to other books, so we're seeing a lot of reading behaviors. Some verticals attract different usage than others. We can spot reading patterns.
Anytime there is a new, interesting space that comes along, there are a bunch of companies that enter the market.
The subscriptions were working so well, and on top of that, we saw the success of Netflix and Spotify and thought, 'We can create a similar kind of experience for books.'
The original idea was to make it easy to publish content on the Web and find an audience. What we learned from publishers is that the thing they want the most is more readers and more revenue.
I learned how important timing is; having a really good idea five years ahead of its time is practically worthless.
If I make a good product and deliver value to users and to the world, the financial gains will come.
I was in the class they made 'The Social Network' about.
We actually determine whether the book is read and make payments to the publisher based on that.
In a startup, in the early days, it can be hard to explain what you do.
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