In our world of excess everything, savvy innovators realize that less is actually best. They know that delivering a memorable and meaningful experience hinges on user engagement, which is best achieved through a subtractive approach. Anything excessive, confusing, or wasteful is intelligently and cleverly removed, or never added in the first place.

During the past six years, I've looked at more than 2,000 ideas—products, services, processes, and strategies. Those that achieved the maximum effect with an elegant, minimalist approach all had a few common characteristics.

Lean features. Most people aren’t aware that the first iteration of Instagram, the simple and fun photo-sharing mobile app, was a bloated and feature-laden app called Burbn. It lacked a clear value proposition and thus had few users.

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