Product Journeys: Youtube

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When it was launched in 2005, according to co-founder Steve Chen, Youtube was designed as a way for people to upload videos of themselves talking about the partner of their dreams. Co-founder Jawed Karim also talked about YouTube’s romantic origins. “We even had a slogan for it: Tune in, Hook up.”

Despite offering to pay women $20 to upload videos of themselves to YouTube, nobody came forward, forcing Chen, Karim and co-founder Chad Hurley to adopt a different strategy.

Today we explore the epic pivot Youtube took just ten days after launching, that set it on course to be the backbone of video on the internet that it is today.

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