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Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

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Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#241

Post by theuttick »

sandGorgon wrote: post #188
theuttick wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your concerns and they are legitimate. Full fledged browser based CAD systems already exist in things like Onshape. Our algorithms will run partially on the server and mostly in the browser. However, CADWOLF isn't really about CAD in the browser but rather altering the way engineering is done. Instead of doing design, CAD, FE, and documentation separately, everything is done together. This drastically al…

with all due respect - I understand what you are claiming. I am having doubts on how you are claiming you will do it. Unless you have a demo already - which would be awesome. The github analogy is not very accurate because github was built on git and ruby-git bindings. Its a product play that was clearly understood. What I'm not able to understand is how you are planning to execute your product. Please understand why…

I understand what you are saying. There is already a web based CAD system called onShape that I will likely use in my initial phase as the CAD system. They have APIs but I haven't delved too deeply into it. I will be writing most of the software myself and a great deal of it is already done.

If you want to get more into the details of how I make it work, it's mostly in how I store and process the data. Instead of storing files on a server and then calling them down, I store each equation/text block/plot/table/etc as a separate entry in a database. When the user loads a web page I pull down and order all of the items in that document.

This is what lets me connect all of the pieces. A user can pull in one equation from another document into any other document and use it as a variable. When the original variable is changed, I can parse through the database and find files/equations that use that equation and update them accordingly.

The MVP for the documents and for the part tree is already done and there are videos on the website.

I often hear people compare CADWOLF to Jupyter notebook. They are somewhat alike but vastly different in execution. Jupyter lets user create a web page using a programming language. This requires knowledge of programming as well as several other things like installing the software on a server. In CADWOLF, users simply interact with a gui to create a new document and add equations, text, etc. There is no "programming" and all you need to know are the commands for the built in function (sin,cos,FFT, etc).

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#242

Post by david927 »

david927 wrote: post #74
bcoates wrote: post #66

Edit: This may have come across as too terse to pass the not-just-civil-but-nice test so I've added more explanation to my choices I wasn't following the initial wave of submissions so here's my fresh-eyes take on the finalists. I'd particularly like to see other people's assessments of the whole field (vs individual submissions) Not Ambitious Enough: These are in competitive spaces -- even if they delivered on their…

Too Ambitious: Brodlist Just for clarification, Brodlist is finishing its Alpha version. The money would get it into Beta, and the YCF advice would get it out of Beta. It would be too ambitious if it was just starting, but it's finishing.

Thanks for clarifying your reasoning but remember, a 1998 Google would have also fallen under Too Ambitious. At the time, search was one of the toughest markets on both tech and marketing grounds. What they found was that by being significantly better, a lot of those challenges, such as marketing, melted away. We would like to prove that Brodlist is significantly better, and this seed round would let us do that.

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#243

Post by theuttick »

fuzzythinker wrote: post #194

Cadwolf: Very interesting. Want to sign up, but your create account button disappears whenever I go to the password confirm field (tried Chrome and FF).

It will disappear until all of the items are appropriately filled in. There should be a message telling you what needs to be changed. Since this is web based the user name can contain only letters and numbers since it is used in the URL. If there are no errors showing, let me know.

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#244

Post by vishalkgupta »

jecoulom wrote: post #232

I love the WedWell concept - saying I've been a bridesmaid in five weddings and a guest at countless others, I saw firsthand the laborious process that close friends go through when planning their wedding. So many details, so many vendors to choose from. I like how this process helps to streamline the overwhelming and time consuming process of planning a wedding from the very beginning. There's also great incentive f…

Thanks for the comment. We really do think its less about finding the cheapest vendor and helping streamline the process. Elsewhere here it was coined as "vendor dating", which is something I really like. On top of the fact that vendors can start to see what other vendors are doing, allow for collaboration earlier in the process.

We started with the week long bidding contest, but for now are keeping it open to allow as many vendors in as possible. That may change over time.

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#245

Post by david927 »

Suncho wrote: post #77
bcoates wrote: post #66

Edit: This may have come across as too terse to pass the not-just-civil-but-nice test so I've added more explanation to my choices I wasn't following the initial wave of submissions so here's my fresh-eyes take on the finalists. I'd particularly like to see other people's assessments of the whole field (vs individual submissions) Not Ambitious Enough: These are in competitive spaces -- even if they delivered on their…

Edit: Fair enough. My competition does have an army and a navy. But I still think we can do it. Unless they start providing a basic income in their own currency, I'm confident that my currency will disrupt theirs. The two I voted for were Brodlist and Gresham Dollar (my own). Why do you feel that they're too ambitious?

I voted for the Gresham Dollar.

For all the platitudes you see on Facebook and LinkedIn about being innovative, it's surprisingly rare. Everyone is scared. They only dream of moon shots when they already know the happy ending.

When people actually stand up and try ideas like the Gresham Dollar, they're attacked instead of supported. When they say "too ambitious" they just mean "ambitious in any way". They'll be scared until it works, and then they'll love it and swear that they supported it all along, and post some platitude about it on LinkedIn.

They'll get in your way, maybe even try to stop you, Suncho. Don't let them. Keep going.

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#246

Post by ig1 »

tomplace wrote: post #234
ig1 wrote: post #228

I didn't get a chance to read all of them but this was my reasoning on the ones I read: (note I'm excluding founder background from evaluation as almost none of the posts mention it; but it's generally considered a key factor for angels) WedWell: Large market, hacking it with initial customers, however no unique insight, no clear customer acquisition strategy in an expensive market, lots of dead startups in this spac…

Ig1. Absolutely it is enough to build a sustainable business. Lets look at NY as an example. Over 7.2MM households and at our low end price point and a 0.5% penetration (36K customers) that’s over $1MM annual recurring revenue for electric alone. That's a drop in the bucket when you look at how we scale. 1) 15 deregulated states + DC: well over 50MM households with the ability to switch suppliers 2) commercial - over…

I don't disagree on the size of market, but you need to do a bottom up analysis and not just a top down one.

Very few businesses which aren't inherently social/viral manage to make social media, referral, etc. channels scale without significant cost. Unless you've got a strong expertise in making such marketing channels work you'll be likely to struggle (and investors will know this and won't take you seriously if you make this pitch).

I'd recommend you look at other businesses in this space (ComparetheMarket, uSwitch) in other countries. Generally they make a brand play and then amortise the cost of customer acquisition by up-selling price comparison on everything (insurance, mobile contracts, etc.) so they have a much higher revenue per-customer.

I wouldn't assume attrition is going to be low either, especially if you require user effort (photographing bills) and presumably your cohorts will decrease in value organically over time (i.e. if you keep switching to cheaper providers approximately each switch is going to be a smaller saving than the previous).

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#247

Post by dzink »

vishalkgupta wrote: post #221
dzink wrote: post #190

Voting based on what can go right with these ideas + feedback. We can’t evaluate the team with this much information, but that’s what YC interviews are for - they can get grilled by the partners. YES Eat my Dust - there us a huge gap in the mindset of consumers here that can be filled lucratively. Products that keep my home and family safe from bad air, water, or particles in my house. If this team can execute, great…

RE:WedWell - no good vendor would put themselves through his - they’d be too busy making money. >Not what we're seeing. Were initially focused on the NYC area. There are a huge amount of great vendors who are constantly battling for each wedding here. Plenty are excited to extend their reach. Each market is different, but it makes sense right now in bigger cities. Also RE: the RFP process. Initially vendors are using…

Wedwell sounds like a reverse waitlist - a try me too tool for vendors. They might do it to get first customers but it sounds like too much work for good vendors who already have a waitlist for their booking time.

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#248

Post by sandGorgon »

theuttick wrote: post #241
sandGorgon wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

with all due respect - I understand what you are claiming. I am having doubts on how you are claiming you will do it. Unless you have a demo already - which would be awesome. The github analogy is not very accurate because github was built on git and ruby-git bindings. Its a product play that was clearly understood. What I'm not able to understand is how you are planning to execute your product. Please understand why…

I understand what you are saying. There is already a web based CAD system called onShape that I will likely use in my initial phase as the CAD system. They have APIs but I haven't delved too deeply into it. I will be writing most of the software myself and a great deal of it is already done. If you want to get more into the details of how I make it work, it's mostly in how I store and process the data. Instead of sto…

Just one question - and that's the part that you are skipping over.

Are you building your own symbolic solver ? If you are "pulling" equations ... Are you also solving them or are you displaying equations?

I'm getting the feeling that you have built a document and reference management system for CAD users (kind of like latex) rather than a CAD software that solves the equations, right?

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#249

Post by theuttick »

sandGorgon wrote: post #248
theuttick wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you are saying. There is already a web based CAD system called onShape that I will likely use in my initial phase as the CAD system. They have APIs but I haven't delved too deeply into it. I will be writing most of the software myself and a great deal of it is already done. If you want to get more into the details of how I make it work, it's mostly in how I store and process the data. Instead of sto…

Just one question - and that's the part that you are skipping over. Are you building your own symbolic solver ? If you are "pulling" equations ... Are you also solving them or are you displaying equations? I'm getting the feeling that you have built a document and reference management system for CAD users (kind of like latex) rather than a CAD software that solves the equations, right?

No, I have built a system that solves the equations and then displays them in the mathematically correct format. (Yes, it took forever)

Each equation can be thought of as a line of code. Each web page is both a document like Word and a program. The user adds an equation to the document via a gui and then double clicks on it to edit it. You can enter something like a=1+sin(0.5)/1 and then hit enter. My code parses this text out, finds the "sin" function, solves it, then solves the remaining equation, and then displays it as you would expect to see it on a formal document and gives that equation the name "a". Users can then reference the result of this using the name "a" in a later equation. When an equation changes, its dependents update as well.

I have a number of built in functions. There is everything from an FFT to a differential equation solver to an integral. It also tracks units like "mm" and "in" and does all the necessary math for this.

The code to do this in javascript was as painful and fun as it sounds. With the fellowship time/money I will build a python server side to solve large datasets and start the process of placing a CAD layer on top of it.

Re: Poll: Apply HN Runoff – Which two startups should YCF fund?

#250

Post by YuriNiyazov »

cperciva wrote: post #213
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went back and reviewed the YC Fellowship thread and sama's AMA thread because I got curious about this. I would like to understand why you are reluctant to take investment. As I see it, there are two possible paths: 1) You take investment from YC, you become part of the community, you get advice, but your desire to remain King is respected. It seems to me that if this were the outcome, moving to the Bay Area for th…

It's partly the king-not-rich bit; but it's also partly that I'm an irrationally patriotic Canadian. Canada is my home, and Canada is Tarsnap's home; my notion of success includes providing an example of a Canadian startup which was successful without moving to the bay area -- because Canada is sorely lacking such examples.

That looks like a strangely self-limiting argument.

No one in their right mind would argue that Canada can't produce a company that has global reach, but that consists of a founder that lives in Canada, and a UI programmer that lives in Romania. It doesn't seem to me that those are the examples that Canada is lacking.

It seems perfectly reasonable, however, to argue that Canada doesn't have the investment ecosystem that is capable of creating a on the same scale as the Bay Area - but it doesn't seem like that's the example you are trying to set anyway.

Edit: remove Spotify example, as it's Swedish.

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