EPISODE

9. Daily Active Users

Upon discovering surprising stats, Richard attempts to bridge the gap between Pied Piper and its users, leading Jared to take drastic measures to hold everything together. Gavin learns secrets about the competition and decides to bring in a new face to reclaim his former glory.

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Plot summary

Laurie hosts a cocktail party to celebrate 500,000 downloads of Pied Piper's platform. Richard reveals to Monica that the number of daily active users (DAU) is actually very poor, something that only he and Jared know. Realizing that their beta version was only reviewed by fellow engineers and tech-savvy users, Richard proposes introducing a series of seminars and tutorials about how to use the platform, which, ironically, is too advanced for regular users. Confronted with this, all of Pied Piper's recently employed staff quits, including a customer service rep who heads for an interview at Hooli.

Sensing an opportunity, Belson interviews him and learns about Pied Piper's low number of DAUs. Later, he summons the board to announce that his intention was never to develop a platform, introducing Jack Barker as Hooli Endframe's new director and their new product: a box just like the one Barker planned for Pied Piper. The board reinstates Belson as CEO. Facing Pied Piper's apparent downfall, Richard tells Jared that he will dissolve the company. The following morning, however, the number of DAUs has risen sharply. Jared secretly paid for a click farm in Bangladesh to provide DAUs to the platform.

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Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Silicon Valley season 3. HTML formatting and reference markers removed.

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