Masters of Scale Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales: To scale, find the right values
Oct 13, 2020
Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia and pioneer of the free online encyclopedia, discusses the crucial concept of product-value fit versus product-market fit. He shares how foundational values like openness and neutrality guided Wikipedia's growth from a niche idea to a global resource. Wales reflects on his journey of trial and error that shaped these values. The conversation also touches on the challenges facing journalism today and the innovative ways to appreciate employees, highlighting how core values can drive success in both nonprofit and for-profit ventures.
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Nupedia's Slow Growth
- Jimmy Wales's Nupedia, focused on academic rigor, only published 24 articles in two years.
- This slow progress, despite volunteer interest, highlighted the limitations of excessive review processes.
Rigor as a Barrier
- Academic rigor, initially seen as essential for Nupedia's credibility, became a barrier to contribution.
- The cumbersome review process stifled enthusiasm and hindered progress.
Wiki's Rapid Progress
- Switching to a wiki system, allowing anyone to edit, drastically accelerated content creation on Wikipedia.
- Wikipedia produced more content in two weeks than Nupedia did in two years.