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Dan Romero
@dwr.eth
1/ The toothbrush test A helpful heuristic I use to evaluate consumer apps is the toothbrush test. I first learned about it in 2014 in a NY Times article. "When deciding whether Google should spend millions or even billions of dollars in acquiring a new company, its chief executive, Larry Page, asks whether the acquisition passes the toothbrush test: Is it something you will use once or twice a day, and does it make your life better? The esoteric criterion shuns traditional measures of valuing a company like earnings, discounted cash flow or even sales. Instead, Mr. Page is looking for usefulness above profitability, and long-term potential over near-term financial gain. Google’s toothbrush test highlights the increasing autonomy of Silicon Valley’s biggest corporate acquirers — and the marginalized role that investment banks are playing in the latest boom in technology deals."
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Dan Romero
@dwr.eth
2/ Surprisingly, the toothbrush test is not very popular in 2020 Silicon Valley jargon. It might be that Larry Page doesn’t have a social media presence (cf. Elon Musk). Another reason may be there are fewer people working on new consumer apps vis-à-vis enterprise SaaS. But if you think of most successful consumer apps they satisfy the test: search, email, messaging, social media, streaming media. Toothbrush test products usually are free, ad-supported services or subscriptions. One exception to this are ridesharing and delivery apps like Uber and DoorDash—they are usually used a few times a week and charge a fee. Of course, there are successful consumer apps that don’t satisfy the toothbrush test: many marketplaces (e.g. Airbnb) have semi-monthly or semi-yearly cadence. To make up for the lower frequency of use, these marketplaces tend to charge a relatively large fee. For example, Airbnb charges consumers approximately 14% (in addition to a 3% fee for hosts).
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Penguin
@sleepypenguin.eth
I've heard of this concept but only learned what it's called today. This was taught by a speaker in a business seminar before
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azimandias
@azimandias
There are also many great consumer products that don't have daily usage. Think Zillow, OpenTable, Amazon, etc. I also think an anti-pattern here are apps that try to force daily use but don't have a natural daily usage frequency, and just end up annoying their user base with overly aggressive notifications.
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alisha
@alisha
lol when I first read "the toothbrush test" I thought it was going to be whether an app is something that people use/check before they reach for their toothbrush
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baubergo
@baubergo-
Then, how do toothbrush companies apply this concept by comparing themselves? 😂
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seraphim
@seraphimty
You've got a winning way
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Lysander
@lysanders
remarkable
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plutarch
@plutarch
glorious
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atClnoy
@atclnoy
Truly a class apart!
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L3MBDA
@l3mbda
does it pass the morning breath test too?
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Emily 🐹🎩🃏✨➰
@mahla
Always use toothbrush Dan 🪥
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