[Mahn]

> "It's not the technology that matters, it's the strategy". I don't think that's right. A big talking point that comes up over and over with Instagram was how well-built the app was.

Yet that wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't pivoted from a location based app to photo sharing. Technology/product matters to get your foot in the door, but it's strategy/execution what ultimately makes it or breaks it.

[dasil003]

But strategy/execution are not orthogonal to technology/product. Strategy is about which buckets are important (product, tech, sales, marketing, etc), and execution is about filling those buckets with the right people. Technology/product may matter a lot or not at all at any point in the lifecycle depending on the strategy.

[the_watcher]

That was a product decision, not a business decision. They did what is preached by HN - they built something people wanted, then listened to them when their users told them they didn't care about the rest of it.