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So what I want to try to do is tell a quick story

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about a 404 page and a lesson that was learned as a result of it.

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But to start it probably helps to have an understanding

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of what a 404 page actually is.

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The 404 page is that.

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It's that broken experience on the Web.

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It's effectively the default page

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when you ask a website for something and it can't find it.

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And it serves you the 404 page.

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It's inherently a feeling of being broken when you go through it.

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And I just want you to think a little bit about, remember for yourself,

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it's annoying when you hit this thing.

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Because it's the feeling of a broken relationship.

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And that's where it's actually also interesting to think about,

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where does 404 come from?

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It's from a family of errors actually --

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a whole set of relationship errors,

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which, when I started digging into them,

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it looks almost like a checklist
for a sex therapist or a couples counselor.

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You sort of get down there to the bottom and things get really dicey.

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(Laughter)

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Yes.

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But these things are everywhere.

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They're on sites big, they're on sites small.

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This is a global experience.

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What a 404 page tells you

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is that you fell through the cracks.

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And that's not a good experience

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when you're used to experiences like this.

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You can get on your Kinect

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and you can have unicorns dancing

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and rainbows spraying out of your mobile phone.

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A 404 page is not what you're looking for.

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You get that, and it's like a slap in the face.

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Trying to think about how a 404 felt,

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and it would be like if you went to Starbucks

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and there's the guy behind the counter

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and you're over there and there's no skim milk.

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And you say, "Hey, could you bring the skim milk?"

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And they walk out from behind the counter and they've got no pants on.

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And you're like, "Oh, I didn't want to see that."

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That's the 404 feeling.

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(Laughter)

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I mean, I've heard about that.

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So where this comes into play and why this is important

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is I head up a technology incubator,

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and we had eight startups sitting around there.

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And those startups are focused on what they are, not what they're not,

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until one day Athletepath,

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which is a website that focuses on services for extreme athletes,

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found this video.

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(Video) Guy: Joey!

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Crowd: Whoa!

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Renny Gleeson: You just ... no, he's not okay.

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They took that video and they embedded it in their 404 page

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and it was like a light bulb went off for everybody in the place.

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Because finally there was a page

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that actually felt like what it felt like to hit a 404.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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So this turned into a contest.

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Dailypath that offers inspiration

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put inspiration on their 404 page.

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Stayhound, which helps you find pet sitters through your social network,

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commiserated with your pet.

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Each one of them found this.

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It turned into a 24-hour contest.

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At 4:04 the next day, we gave out $404 in cash.

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And what they learned

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was that those little things, done right, actually matter,

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and that well-designed moments can build brands.

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So you take a look out in the real world,

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and the fun thing is you can actually hack these yourself.

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You can type in an URL and put in a 404 and these will pop.

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This is one that commiserates with you.

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This is one that blames you.

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This is one that I loved.

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This is an error page,

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but what if this error page was also an opportunity?

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So it was a moment in time

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where all of these startups had to sit and think

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and got really excited about what they could be.

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Because back to the whole relationship issue,

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what they figured out through this exercise

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was that a simple mistake can tell me what you're not,

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or it can remind me of why I should love you.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)