Instagram has doubled the length of Reels: - **The allotted time for Instagram Reels has jumped** from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. Here's how social media platforms are transforming into discovery platforms. - **$150 billion has been raised in startup
Instagram has doubled the length of Reels:
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The allotted time for Instagram Reels has jumped from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. Here's how social media platforms are transforming into discovery platforms.
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$150 billion has been raised in startup funding in the first half of 2021 alone. These tips will get you on the road to finding a reputable investor in no time.
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Founder Hiten Shah has launched 3 SaaS companies and invested in over 200 startups. His top piece of advice? Get to a yes or no quickly, but especially a no.
Want to share something with nearly 85,000 indie hackers? Submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing
📹 Instagram Now Gives You More Time
from the Growth & Acquisition Channels newsletter by Darko
Instagram has now doubled the length of Reels, changing the allotted time from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. This comes on the heels of TikTok extending the allotted time for its videos to three minutes. As social media platforms continue their evolution to discovery platforms, new ways are emerging for founders to utilize these powerful acquisition channels.
A brief history of time(lines)
Before TikTok, social media was about discovering content from people you follow. Since the advent of TikTok, social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube are turning into discovery platforms, allowing users to discover interesting, engaging content from anyone.
Let's explore the timeline on how all of this got started:
Instagram:
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August 5, 2020: Instagram announced Reels, its TikTok clone. This was the first feature where the social network was showing users content primarily from people that they didn't follow.
Now, almost a year later, things are starting to speed up. Instagram is considering doing the same thing for its main feed.
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June 25, 2021: Instagram is testing putting suggested posts ahead of posts from friends. In other words, posts that the algorithm chooses would not include as many posts from people that you follow.
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June 30, 2021: The Head of Instagram confirmed that the platform is testing this new algorithm. Users will see more "recommended" content in their feeds from people that they don't follow.
What's likely to follow: Will users see "suggested stories" from people that they don't follow as well? Time will tell.
YouTube:
In the same fashion as Instagram, one year later, new features were announced.
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July 8, 2021: YouTube announced a "New For You" tab. YouTube now wants to show users more random content, just like TikTok.
Why this is good news for indie hackers
Simply put, this creates major organic reach. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have given very little exposure to new creators. When TikTok exploded, many creators migrated there. They quickly found that it was possible to actually achieve millions of views in a way that wasn't previously accessible. Now, the veteran platforms seem to be reversing course and trying to give new creators more exposure, in an effort to correct their past mistakes.
I've already been seeing anecdotal evidence of how people are getting hundreds of thousands of views on their YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels. If things continue this way, we'll start hearing stories about the same results for regular YouTube videos and Instagram posts.
2021 is an amazing year to be a creator.
Do you use Reels or Shorts? Share your experience below.
Discuss this story, or subscribe to Growth & Acquisition Channels for more.
📰 In the News
from the Volv newsletter by Priyanka Vazirani
🕶 Facebook's next launch will be its long-awaited Ray-Ban smart glasses.
🧲 This experimental birth control involves magnets heating up your testicles.
🏦 Retail investors say that stocks are in a bubble, but are now happy to buy.
💲 LA County has approved a guaranteed income pilot program for 150 people.
💨 Renewables overtook coal and nuclear power generation in the US in 2020.
Check out Volv for more 9-second news digests.
💡 Startup Ideas on Kernal
from Startup Ideas on Kernal by Joel Hansen
$150B has been raised in startup funding in the first half of 2021 alone. In comparison, $164B was raised in 2020, up from $142B in 2019. Here's a quick tip sheet on how to find reputable investors, and the latest top startup ideas to build on Kernal.
Finding angel investors
Need to find smart investors to pitch your idea to? No sweat. Stop digging through AngelList profiles that have never updated their projects and try these tips:
- Keyword search for reputable investors: Try browsing the posters or commenters behind the top ideas on Kernal. If you have a niche, narrow down on keywords like "podcasts, SaaS, or marketing."
- Review users' latest projects: By checking out someone's profile, you can review their ideas, follower count, and profile link as a way of researching their background. You can leave your first comment or send a message showing that you’ve done your homework.
- Help others with their startup ideas: Are you a natural storyteller, clever product-builder, or no-code guru? Reach out to offer your skills as a way of building a value-aligned relationship with your next potential investor or cofounder.
Now, lets get into this week's featured startup ideas to build.
Shopping without the spam
With the explosion of Shopify and the creator economy, we feel that there will be an even greater need to help merchants connect with shoppers that isn't email-dependent. Enter Nimble Shopping.
This Chrome extension will manage all sign-ups and marketing emails (i.e. 'Join to Save 20%!') when shopping online. Users get the deals, but not the spam. This declutters users' personal inboxes since all shopping and marketing emails go to the browser extension, protects privacy, and organizes marketing emails so that it's easier to find the promotion or new product. Plus, it is in extensions; no need to manage another inbox!
Help build this idea.
Crypto LinkedIn
There’s a lot of noise on LinkedIn, and it’s hard to connect with the right opportunities. Imagine using LinkedIn with a crypto spin, similar to BitClout. Instead of following people, you could buy their coin to support their work. Instead of inMailing people (paying LinkedIn to message CEOs), you could buy their time to get their help (consulting, advising, 30 min chat, etc.). You could also build transparency and high-signal activities for the professional network if it was decentralized on the blockchain.
Help build this idea.
Speed dating for startup partners
Networking and relationship-building in the startup world is challenging for new founders, builders, and growers, especially in locations other than San Francisco, New York, etc. This app would match potential partners, engineers, marketers, and designers with users that have an idea or available funding.
You could have no obligation small-group "speed-dating" chats to brainstorm and see if personalities, ideas, and goals line up.
When users agree to work together, it would be for a short period of time (30-60 days) to validate the idea, build a prototype, and consider further options.
Help build this idea.
Accountability groups for developers
This is for developers who want to make progress towards something in 30 days, while having a small community to support them. We put users in small groups of 6-8 people in a private chat on Telegram. The only rule is that you must post at least one update per day, and the groups run for 30 days.
Help build this idea.
Job aggregator for all-things Blockchain
A simple daily aggregator that lists Blockchain roles from top employers across tech and non-tech. Grow an email list and have sponsored listings from employers, then set a fee to post a job on the site.
Help build this idea.
Want to test out Kernal, or share a startup idea to get featured in next week’s issue? Sign up here or drop me a line at hello@joelhansen.com.
Discuss this story, or subscribe to Startup Ideas on Kernal for more ideas.
🌐 Best Around the Web: Posts Submitted to Indie Hackers This Week
📈 We bootstrapped to $50K MRR with no employees. Posted by Davis Baer.
😫 When building, what do you struggle with the most? Posted by Victor Ribero Guasch.
🛠 Favorite productivity hacks? Posted by Joumana.
🗓 12 founders, 12 products, 12 weeks. Posted by Migren Almjnoni.
🎻 Do you play a musical instrument? Posted by Marty Lindsay.
🌞 Growing over summer vacation. Posted by Daniel Koprowski.
Want a shout-out in next week's Best of Indie Hackers? Submit an article or link post on Indie Hackers whenever you come across something you think other indie hackers will enjoy.
📓 Founder Hiten Shah's Lessons From 200+ Startup Investments
by Hiten Shah
I'm Hiten Shah! I signed up for Twitter in 2006, and was lucky to be in the first batch of 5K users. I tweet about growing startups into businesses, and share the occasional gif or meme.
I've founded three SaaS businesses: Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and now Nira. In the early 2000s, I lost $1M trying to start a web hosting company that never ended up launching. Over 200 startup investments, countless failed products, and 18 years later, ask me literally anything about startups!
If you were building today, what would you build?
I'm unreasonably into software ideas where the product has potential to spread because of its usage. Messaging and social media products are two consumer categories where this is the case. In B2B, Typeform, Calendly, and MailChimp are at the top of my head. That's where I would skew the problems I'm looking to solve if I were starting something new today.
Top three pieces of advice for new investors?
- Follow up after meetings.
- Be thoughtful when you say no.
- Get to a yes or no quickly, but especially a no.
What are your best practices for email content?
Think like the reader. Make sure it's super valuable or very entertaining. Make sure it flows. Don't overthink the first version, just start writing. Don't choose the subject until the end, or it'll make writing harder (and the end results won't be as great). Ruthlessly edit until it sings. Simply put, do the work. Put in the effort for the sake of your readers.
What's your advice for someone wanting to help tech founders?
If you want to help tech founders, I would go do some customer development and figure out what they really need. What are their biggest challenges?
Do this with a very open mind, and really dig into what you hear. Get some detailed stories about founders' most challenging problems, find the patterns in what you heard, and then start thinking about how best to solve these problems.
What do you do when a project fails?
Write a post-mortem, learn the lessons, and do better next time.
What's the most common product mistake you've seen?
A lot of founders don't identify, or at least have a hypothesis on, who their ideal user is. Furthermore, they haven't identified the specific job to be done.
What's the hardest thing about building a profitable tech product?
The hardest aspect is the fact that your software needs to evolve quickly and stay competitive (if not innovative). This is a requirement in order to meet, and exceed, customer demand and expectations.
VC funding or bootstrapping?
You do not need to raise money. Self-funding is great too. I've done both. Every endeavor that can be launched self-funded should ideally be launched self-funded, unless the founders have super easy access to capital. The key is to start de-risking the business as soon as possible; not for investors, but for yourself.
Discuss this story.
🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick
by Tweetmaster Flex
I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:
🏁 Enjoy This Newsletter?
Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.
Also, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter.
Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Nathalie Zwimpfer for the illustrations, and to Darko, Priyanka Vazirani, Joel Hansen, and Hiten Shah for contributing posts. —Channing
