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Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

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Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#61

Post by zaidf »

fnid2 wrote: 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.

Mostly me too products.

like...

"Google.com: A search engine that looks at link popularity to find the best search results. It's going to revolutionize search."

Talk to investors from the starting days of Google, and they'll cite you a dozen examples of similar sounding pitches. It's hard to tell from few liners about the future of a company.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#62

Post by borism »

Notifo - Creating a mobile phone push notification platform which allows any service/business/app/website/anyone to send instant notifications to their users’ mobile phones without the need to develop applications for specific hardware models.

SMS?

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#63

Post by nailer »

imp wrote: post #20
nailer wrote: 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 bet they have more happy users.

I think they'd be about the same. But Outlook users certainly aren't rushing to replace a PIM with a badly integrated and badly UI-designed equivalent, web based or not.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#64

Post by borism »

pmjordan wrote: post #54
euroclydon wrote: post #14

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.

Why would it be pushed to the client?

Seems to me you can do this just as well on server side, and work more on ensuring ServerClient interface security. Crypto tokens would be a start.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#65

Post by bmelton »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #43
wtallis wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have definitely been more people who've chosen to use GMail and GCal than have chosen to use Outlook. Most Outlook users have it forced on them by their employers. (They don't necessarily object, but they weren't given a choice.) If you include Outlook Express, then you have to consider that it had the same tying advantages that IE had over other browsers. Even so, it's been months since I ran across someone wh…

You don't need to be downvoted, but my experience so far completely contradicts what you're saying (with around 50 active clients at the moment, including some businesses, and currently accruing one new client a week for the last 6 weeks). Outlook is pretty much the de facto mail client amongst my clients, even those that aren't in business environments. My largest business client is email-program-agnostic, and still…

Only commenting on the last line, that doesn't really put it in perspective at all.

A user could, if he so chose, have email addresses at their own domain, on Gmail, AND use Outlook to access it. There's a VERY blurry line between the usage patterns of the average mail user.

That said, I agree with you in thinking the parent was underestimating Outlook's prevalence.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#66

Post by axod »

abstractbill wrote: post #53
dadkins wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Software has been 'social' for 10-15 years at least though. We just didn't call it 'social' until the last couple of years. I think that's why it's an irritating buzzword. It suggests there's something new and revolutionary, when it's actually just more of the same.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#67

Post by iamwil »

richcollins wrote: post #44

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.

In this case, 'people' would be writers, not readers.

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#68

Post by [deleted] »

staunch wrote: post #58
idlewords wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

[deleted]

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#69

Post by iamwil »

lukev wrote: post #31

Kind of sad to see so many products that are derivative, either directly (we scrape twitter!) or indirectly (We're going to do what X did, only for Y!) Of course it probably all makes good business sense and I wish them all luck and to be happily bought out. I just wish there was something original - X because it's a good idea and will bring great good, rather than X because Y...

Chances are, you wouldn't recognize something original if you saw it. You'd probably say, "that sounds useless" or "why would anyone want to do that"?

Re: Y Combinator presents 26 new startups

#70

Post by tlb »

nailer wrote: post #17
fnid2 wrote: 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.

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 don't think they'll be bumming if they get to be as big as Gmail.
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