JULY 1, 2020|TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE
How a Fake App Raised $200k in 48 Hours From Silicon Valley Techies With FOMO
No one likes to miss out on the next big thing, but when you're in Silicon Valley, that fear seems to hit an extreme.
A small group of techies launched a mysterious meme with the emoji combination 👁👄👁. When asked what it was, they only said: “It is what it is.” There was a cryptic website and an invitation to donate to several #BlackLivesMatter related charities. Which people did, in a desperate bid to get higher on the waitlist to get into the “app.”
Then the team behind the initiative (mostly “young people of color in tech”) revealed that there was no app. So, in 24 hours they created hysteria, raised nearly half a million dollars and shined a spotlight on the inherent insecurity of the tech elite in Silicon Valley. Not bad for a day's work.
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A Short Backstory Of This Blog
This is a blog about non-obvious ideas. Originally launched on the Typepad platform in 2005 as the Influential Marketing blog, the stories at first focused mainly on digital marketing while Rohit worked at Ogilvy Advertising. In 2015 Rohit officially rebranded to the Non-Obvious Insights Blog and published his WSJ bestseller Non-Obvious. For the past twenty one years, this blog has coined new terms, introduced future marketing practices and inspired the next generation of non-obvious thinkers and marketers.
