Fast · Patrick Collison

Douyin, precursor to ByteDance's TikTok, was designed and developed in 200 days. Within 500 days, it would become China's top video app. TikTok has been downloaded more than one billion times in less than two years.

The app is designed for speed. Videos play instantly and sequentially without pause. Content creation tools include pre-generated sounds and pre-rendered effects. Sharing and curation at scale is near instantaneous.

The ecosystem itself is mind-boggling. With top TikTok stars enjoying more reach than Ariana Grande. And direct monetization in the pipeline.

https://technode.com/2018/06/15/8-lessons-douyin/

https://blog.ycombinator.com/the-hidden-forces-behind-toutia...

While I do see this as inspiring in a sense, I do think this page was really made to jab San Francisco at it's nonsense construction.

* Unix. Ken Thompson wrote the first version in three weeks. Source: UNIX: A History and a Memoir.

* JavaScript. Brendan Eich implemented the first prototype for JavaScript in 10 days, in May 1995. It shipped in beta in September of that year. Source: Brendan Eich's history of the language.

Regarding the Pentagon: Then-Colonel Leslie Groves ran the construction project from the Army side. Once complete, he was put in charge if the Manhattan Project, primarily for procurement and logistics.

He went from Captain to General in 27 months.

I love how this ends with how ridiculously dysfunctional SF city governance is.