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Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

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Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#51
post #2

I'll take the contrarian stance and say I'm not really impressed with the list. There are some that may be good, but there's not much new. Mostly me too products. Perhaps my expectations are too high.

I initially had a similar reaction, but now I'm not sure that's quite fair. I think the innovations aren't so much technological, they're more like business model innovations. They have the potential to generate value for customers regardless.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#52
post #29
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One example: "Our goal is to do what Gmail did to Outlook: replace a popular desktop application with a better online version." is badly begging the question. I'd be surprised if gmail + Google calendar had more active users than Outlook.

I think the popularity of Gmail is overestimated by a lot of techies. Campaign Monitor posted user stats for over 300 million people last summer: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/2839/email-client-p... Gmail came in at only 5.5%.

That's clients, not providers. I use Gmail and have for years, but I don't have an @gmail.com address that I use or access my mail from the web interface. My mail client is typically Mail.app or the Mail iPhone app.

They are tracking these based on loaded images, which means Gmail users by default aren't counted. Some versions of Outlook (at least 2000) autoload images. Lots of mobile devices don't load images, which makes BlackBerry users undercounted.

Not to mention sample bias--I also don't sign up for email newsletters.

tl;dr those stats are a hot steaming pile

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#53
post #26

There are a few gems in there that I'd like to see more of (etacts for instance), but overall I'm dismayed by the sheer volume of SV navel-gazing produced twitter junk. I'd love to see more ideas around PG's list of things he'd like to fund being presented instead of yet another "social collaboration because what else is there?" startup.

Yes, indeed. Spot the buzzword: We make social games. a social data request and fulfillment system adding social data leveraging social media identify active social networkers Infoharmoni visualizes the real-time social web social sports (and soon pop culture) betting applications

Quoting JWZ:

"How will this software get my users laid" should be on the minds of anyone writing social software (and these days, almost all software is social software).

They're not using "social" as a buzzword indicating a passing fad. They're using it because, as JWZ points out, that's part of what software is today.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#54

Maybe it's time for those interested in privacy to exit stage left. I'd like to see a start-up find a way to monetize my lack of desire to have my digital information monetized, maybe by obfuscating or deleting my information, and then I buy from their partners to say thanks.

Yeah, I'd love a "Tarsnap for email". GMail is good, but I do worry about it. But encrypting everything as soon as it arrives would push the burden of searching and filtering back out to the client. Haven't figured out an optimal solution.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#55
post #33
post #2

I'll take the contrarian stance and say I'm not really impressed with the list. There are some that may be good, but there's not much new. Mostly me too products. Perhaps my expectations are too high.

Yeah, me-too products are never really interesting. I mean, does the world really need another search engine? There's already Lycos and Altavista. Calling an internet startup's idea "me-too" is a pretty lame criticism. Most of the most successful startups had "me-too" ideas on paper. The proof is in the eating.

It's 2010 - there should be things in this list that are more awesome, even at first reading, than 'embedly' and 'embedster'.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#57

Zenedy is taking the opposite approach by first determining algorithmically what content people are searching for, then identifying what portion of that content could effectively be monetized through targeted advertising Sounds like MFA spam. So much for make something that people want.

It's demand media with a different name.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#58
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, me-too products are never really interesting. I mean, does the world really need another search engine? There's already Lycos and Altavista. Calling an internet startup's idea "me-too" is a pretty lame criticism. Most of the most successful startups had "me-too" ideas on paper. The proof is in the eating.

It's 2010 - there should be things in this list that are more awesome, even at first reading, than 'embedly' and 'embedster'.

Says the guy who created a Delicious clone in 2009! http://pinboard.in/about/

(I admit it's a bit ad hominem, but putting other people's stuff down for being derivative when your thing is the epitome of that seems lame to me.)

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#60
post #2

I'll take the contrarian stance and say I'm not really impressed with the list. There are some that may be good, but there's not much new. Mostly me too products. Perhaps my expectations are too high.

NewsLabs sounds cool. There may be a lot of journalists out there frustrated with the constraints of working with a big media organization and want to do their own thing. NewsLabs could create the next Arianna Huffingtons.

Data Marketplace is promising: market research firms charge ridiculous fees for their reports which are usually overkill for what you are looking for. Data Marketplace could solve this problem.

Greplin sounds cool. 500Friends sounds like it'll generate revenue straight off the bat.

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