"5% problem" that afflicts Evernote becomes a signpost to really light up what to tackle

ByBrooks Duncan

2012, as a non-listed company "Corporate valuation of $ 1 billion(About 79 billion yen at the time at that time) "and the American economic publishing companyDow JonesIt was evaluated as a notebook application that can be used onlineEvernote"is. Evernote is quite versatile, it can also take notes, stock important data, use it as a reminder or collaborate online, but recently he has been enrolled since the beginning of the establishment Vice PresidentResignWe have been suffering from disappointing as well as shutting off several overseas offices. Such slump in Evernote is "5% problemIt is due to IT, it deals with IT related newsVentureBeatIt is a writer ofChris O'BrienThinks.

Evernote's 5% problem offers a cautionary lesson to tech companies | VentureBeat | Business | by Chris O'Brien
http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/05/evernotes-5-problem-offers-a-cautionary-lesson-to-tech-companies/

Assessed as worth $ 1 billion, Evernote was considered one of the fastest-growing IT companies. However, "Looking at the current decline of Evernote, I will be Phil Libin, then CEO of August 2013interviewIt is obvious that the company had problems since it was done, "O'Brien says.

When O'Brien interviewed Mr. Libin of Evernote, Mr. Libin told me a vision to grow into a company that will continue for the next 100 years. Although the interview itself seems to have progressed quite gently, Mr. Libin told the word which I feel very fun looking back at this time. It seems that it was such a word as to indicate the fundamental part that will continue to plague Evernote after that.

ByCory M. Grenier

Libin says "Evernote has more and more features" when he interviewed when referring to Evernote's often referred to as cloud storage services like Dropbox and Box, which is different from cloud storage I appealed that it has features. At this time, Mr. Libin admitted that Evernote had so many functions, but it led to the contraction of Evernote as a whole.

The current Evernote has too many functions, so trying to explain that feature to new users is in such a condition that you do not know what to teach. In fact, former CEO Libin also told the user at Evernote's conference "I've used Evernote for many years, I love it very much, but recently I only use 5% of what Evernote can do I noticed something I did not know. "

Also, Mr. Libin himself understands the problem that Evernote has because it is too many functions at the time of the interview, "The problem is that this 5% is different for each user. If all users have the same 5% If you are using, if you cut off the other 95% function, you can drastically cut a lot of development money. "

However, Evernote continued to advance multifunction little by little. Measures of Evernote did not fundamentally solve the problem by continuing to add new functions and features to the product. And in 2015, Mr. Libin resigned from CEO of Evernote and became a venture capitalist, Evernote is supposed to cut 18% of the staff. Chris O'Neill, who became the new CEO of Evernote after Mr. Libin, says "to screen the service and function", and the problem of the company is known to many people.

By[email protected]

The "5% problem" that Evernote faced is a good example of how important it is to create new functions and new services while maintaining the core of the service. In Silicon Valley, the idea of ​​"keep making new ones" is common, and this seems to be because there is an idea that "if you stop hands, new entrants may easily overtake them". This "5% problem" also includes the fact that engineers and developers tend to lose sight of the majority if they are crazy about development.

However, adding new features can also be a training for engineers. For example, "photo sharing application"Snapchat"Succeeded by adding thoughtful new functions based on feedback to the core part of the service. Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat, revealed that the team developed and discarded a lot of what he developed, "We have probably released about 1% of what the team is developing" And comments. It is difficult to put "no" on it after the team has developed, but companies should keep thinking about "Snapchat (corporate core service) to friends is easy to explain" And O'Brien.

In addition, when considering Apple as an example, Apple released many products and services in 2015. However, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Apple Music, etc. do not seem to be so successful at the moment. However, all of them extend the core of Apple 's core "iPhone and iOS" more conveniently, and there is a big difference from Evernote, where the core of the company has gotten too loud.

ByMichael (tm) Smith

"5% problem" seems to be a problem that all companies face, regardless of IT companies. When hesitating as to what he is currently working on is in doubt, once stopped thinking about the idea again from a flat perspective, thinking whether it can easily answer "what is your company doing" several years later It may be able to judge whether the idea is really important or unnecessary.