David Sacks: If you’re going to have a breakout startup, you need to innovate on distribution

If you're going to have a breakout startup, you've really got to think about how you're going to innovate on distribution, not just product. The biggest mistake I see these days that I see brilliant startup founders who are brilliant product people and they've really thought about their product, but they haven't really thought about how they're going to make it grow. And then they launch their product and it's like crickets chirping. No one's using it and they're flummoxed as to what to do because they've never really spent time thinking about it. And they just assume that, hey, if you build a good product, everyone's going to find it. And the reality is it's a big web out there and that's not necessarily true. All the products that I've been part of creating, whether it's PayPal, Genie or Yammer, all had a viral dimension to them. There has to be something in it for the inviter or the recommender. So thinking about their motivation and why they would do this, why they would invite a friend or business colleague or something like that, is critical.