When friends who are not in tech (luckily that’s many of mine) ask what it’s like building a startup like Beme, here’s how I explain it:

“We’re playing a game. In order to make it beyond the first level, we need to build a product that holds the focused attention of at minimum 100 million people. We have 3–4 years to do it, maybe. If we do not stay on a trajectory toward that goal, we will quickly cease to exist.”

“That’s insane!” is the usual reply.

It is insane. It is a game which we play knowing we will most likely fail. It is a game we are absurdly privileged to even be able to play. It is also the game Casey Neistat and I signed up for.

(In fact, Casey was very clear-eyed about this harsh reality when he first told me about the idea that would become Beme. I didn’t hesitate to join up with him in part because he is one of a handful of people in the world with a stomach for those odds.)

Whether they admit it or not, most of the startups whose products you use every day are playing a version of this game. The best (among which I hope we count) do it because they believe it’s their shot at materially changing reality for the better on a global scale. This is not the only way to build a company. Less than 10% percent of all companies are VC-backed startups, playing this exponential-growth-or-bust game. But if your fundamental goal is rapidly connecting millions, there are few better ways.

A social product requires a critical mass of humans to be useful. The early days of the mobile app stores, like the early oughts on the web, were an all-you-can-eat buffet of excitement for new apps from the few companies who were talented enough to make them well.

We learned the hard way that in 2016, a rich, polished, nearly complete app on two platforms, and the ability to instantly garner the attention of millions of people are table stakes for any new product. Gone are the days of slowly iterating on ideas in public. The door for products like ours is in the process of closing with a resounding slam. We may not make it through, but with this team and purpose, we have a chance.

On the attention front, there are few tools: Significant cash for Facebook ads is one option, growth hacks like invite-all-my-friends-with-one-accidental-tap anti-patterns are another. More aboveboard, you can ride on the shoulders of a giant like Periscope smartly did with Twitter.

For us, that not-so-secret attention rocket is Casey, fueled by his honest belief that the highest calling for a creative person is to build something that enables creativity in others.