How Instagram Found a Billion Dollar Company Under a Failed App

Ever heard of Burbn?

No? That's the point.

In 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched Burbn—a confusing app that was part Foursquare clone, part Mafia Wars knockoff, with a dash of everything else thrown in.

It was a mess. Users were overwhelmed. Engagement was dismal.

Then they did something most founders never do: they admitted their baby was ugly.

Digging into their user data, they noticed something fascinating. While most features were collecting digital dust, people were obsessively using one specific feature: photo sharing.

So they made a radical decision.

They killed everything else. Ruthlessly.

They stripped away check-ins, gaming elements, and all the other bloat. What remained was a dead-simple photo app with filters.

They renamed it Instagram.

The result? The app that nobody used became the app everyone used. Within hours of launching in October 2010, they had thousands of downloads. Two months later: 1 million users.

Eighteen months after that: Facebook bought them for $1 billion.

Let that sink in. The billion-dollar company wasn't the one they initially built. It was hiding inside, covered in layers of unnecessary features.

Two lessons here:

1. The best products often come from radical simplification, not feature addition
2. What users actually do > what users say they want

Next time your product isn't getting traction, don't add more stuff. Look at what tiny part people actually use—then cut everything else.

What can you ruthlessly eliminate from your product today?