The Tipping Point and How GitHub Did It

How do we apply the principles in "The Tipping Point" to modern startup practice? GitHub sets an example.

Right before GitHub was sold to Microsoft, there were several reports on the company's lavish spending, such as flying employees in super-premium business or first class to attend conferences worldwide.

I thought it was just a "nice problem to have" when you raised $350M. Then I realized it was actually part of plans to grow your superfans community after listening to GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner talk about how to Turning Open Source Developers Into Superfans.

This is a perfect example of applying the principles in the "The Tipping Point". The following is what I get from the podcast about what GitHub did to make the company "tip" over to be the most popular code-hosting organization on the entire planet.

Ideas Behind The Tipping Point

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. — Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's fantastic "The Tipping Point" was first published in 2006. The examples used in the book were mostly from the 1950s to 1990s. Some of these examples are so early before my generation that I literally did not experience any of that.

To start an epidemic, you'll need three types of helpers: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Mavens are the data banks -- they provide the message to spread. Connectors are the social glue, they spread it with credibility. Salesmen use their skills to persuade others.

How do we create or find these exceptional and few people in our entrepreneurial practice? GitHub sets an example.

How GitHub Did It

First of All: an Excellent Product

The core features of GitHub are defined by its name: the Git and the Hub. When GitHub started, it had a few competitors:

1. In terms of version control, there was Subversion and CVS.
2. In terms of hosting services, there was SourceForge and Google Code.

Git itself, invented by Linus Torvalds, is a generation better than Subversion and CVS:

1. easy branching and merging
2. offline
3. superfast

Hub is also super-competitive in terms of ease of use and being user-centric:

1. GitHub was the first to display the README.md file on each project's landing page, perfect for soliciting contribution to open-source software. On the other hand, SourceForge shows a software download page.
2. Google Code was never the primary focus of Google.

On a slightly different note, from the pandemic point of view, COVID-19 is an excellent product: high infection rate while not killing the infected too soon to spread it. Fast global travel spread the product like a wildfire. An excellent product is a prerequisite of starting an epidemic.

Then: Focus on the Few

The Linux inventor Linus Torvalds created Git. Git's Maven was Linus Torvalds. Who can out-maven Linus Torvalds himself when talking about being the ambassador of Git!

Hub's Maven was the Ruby on Rails project. Half a year after GitHub was released, Ruby on Rails moved to GitHub, so did its entire ecosystem. Then language by language, developers quickly adopted GitHub as their main code repository.

GitHub's Connectors are their worldwide conferences and drink-up's. GitHub encourages employees to attend conferences and will sponsor them with the trip if they get a speaking opportunity. In this way, they sent employees everywhere in the world. Remember on each developer's homepage they can specify the city? At each conference, GitHub would gather their users at the conference city for a social "drink-up".

GitHub would send their fans physical stickers and their fans would also give the stickers to other people. Not only did GitHub send out stickers, but they also gave developers an easy github.com/user_name homepage. Back in the days, it would take days for SourceForge to grant a customized project name, let alone a user name as a part of the URL. All of these free gifts, physical or virtual, boosted their super fans' loyalty. In turn, these superfans spread GitHub with word of mouth. Eventually, the superfans became effective Salesmen for the GitHub product.

Finally: It's Not About You, It's About The Customer

GitHub built an amazing product. However, it is never about you, but what you provide for your customers. It’s not about being cool, but how can you help your customers kick ass. Every business should tell their customers: let me help you be better, let me help you be awesome.

Final Words

I bet every community-driven product that went over the tipping point follows this order: product, customer, and marketing. To start an epidemic, first build an awesome product. Then concentrate your resources on your customers, making them succeed. Eventually, your customers will spread your product like wildfire. Additionally, you don't need expensive marketing to make it happen. GitHub sent stickers to its developers -- it's cheaper than T-shirts and more "sticky" than T-shirts. There are many similar stories with grassroots marketing. For instance, the most popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu, started by sending developers a free CD for them to install. A CD only holds 700MB of data and that was around the time when most developers had only 56K modems! The result? The free CD I received from Ubuntu installed to 4 computers in my college dorm room.

GitHub did not invent Git, Linus Torvalds did to develop Linux kernels. Instead, GitHub democratized Git and made it more universally accessible to all developers, by providing the Hub. However, from the very beginning for a long time, GitHub had only linear growth instead of exponential growth, until it reached the Tipping Point. That's where all the magic happens. Be patient with your product and community, don't jump on marketing too quickly yet, magic happens voluntarily when you have done the right thing to build momentum into the company.