World 2.0 Startups

The first TV shows were cameras pointed at radio shows. The first mobile phones looked like miniature desktops. When new paradigms come online, we have a tendency to first clone the old before making something transformative, like Westworld or the iPhone.

Take encyclopedias for example. We went from books (1.0), to Britannica CDs (1.5), and only then to Wikipedia, a truly World 2.0 product. Internet-first. Design is another example of an evolution from easels (1.0), to Photoshop (1.5), to Figma (2.0).

1 -> 1.5 -> 2.0. Once you realize this pattern, you cannot unsee it:

Before we transition in to the truly native format, we often first make a transitional product that’s halfway in-between worlds. In 2020 parlance, we’ll call these “World 1.5” products.