Influx

The success of Flickr and Youtube has everyone either scratching their heads and wondering why or thinking how they can replicate that success.

In the last few days, the founders of both companies have been interviewed.

On Friday, Charlie Rose interviewed You Tube?s founders and on Thursday, the “CNBC of the Web2.0 world”, Beet TV has an interview with Stewart Butterfield, one of the founders of Flickr.

When you see these interviews back-to-back, both companies are strikingly similar, not in just what they are do for people, but in also in how they act and what they believe in, They are almost cut from the same cloth.

So what exactly are these similarities and what lessons that can be learned from these two icon brands?

1. Do Something Better: Find a way or a better way for people to do something they want to do- in both these cases- it’s sharing digital assets

2. Believe in What You Do: It’s not about a money making/get rich quick scheme. You believe there’s a better way and you are going to work it out. Success is a by-product of doing good.

3. Community is Everything: Listen to your community. This is not a one way conversation- there’s on-going dialog relating to “policing”, standards and ideas

4. Be Soulful: Even if you sell, like Flickr, don’t sell your soul. The honest, no frills approach is right. Interestingly, while many thought the Yahoo purchase would lead to the the demise of Flickr, instead, they turned out to be much more of an influence on Yahoo than could have ever been predicted.

5. Be Authentic: These companies look like they have banned or never even heard of the phrases “brand strategy” and “marketing plan?. The lack of corporate polish adds to the feeling that there are real people behind the idea.

Some of these values could have applied to Google a few years ago, but money, size and shareholders do force companies to change.

It’s essential for the venture capitalists that invest in these young companies to think about them early on as brands and encourage them to remain true to themselves despite the external pressures, because ultimately it’s really the only thing that makes them unique.