Software isn’t the solution. But it’s in all our lives now, and we’re rethinking the opportunity.
A list is vague. A line with your number in it feels like something you have, and something you could lose. So you come back to check it, and you want it to go down.
Robinhood (the stock-trading app) showed everyone their place in line starting in 2014. Close to a million people were waiting before it launched in March 2015.
It’s just software. This is the query that just ran to get your number:
Every friend who gets in through your link moves you ahead of everyone who’s brought fewer.
Friends in through your link: 0
You only move up by bringing someone. So you do the telling, and your friend trusts you more than any ad. Robinhood worked the same way: each friend moved you up.
It’s just software. Your link ends in . When a friend joins through it, their row saves that code. Counting your friends: