The hidden pattern behind successful products | Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga)

Episode notes

Mark Pincus founded Zynga - the company behind Words With Friends, FarmVille, and Zynga Poker - and has arguably created more hit consumer products than anyone in history. At Zynga, eight of 10 major game launches became massive hits, reaching over a billion players. Over the past five years, Mark has been synthesizing everything he’s learned about building successful consumer products and turning it into a book, Life at the Speed of Play , which comes out on June 23. This is the first interview he’s done about the book. In our in-depth conversation, we discuss: 1. His “Proven, Better, New” framework: copy what’s proven, make it better so that 10 out of 10 people say “f*ck yes, I’ll use this” - then add something new 2. Why being less ambitious is the path to the most ambitious ideas 3. His rule of thumb that your instincts are right 95% of the time, but your ideas are wrong 75% of the time 4. “Kill hope before hope kills you” 5. How to raise kids in the age of AI -

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