A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y • Hacker News Board

Re: A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y

#11

Post by grackle » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:20 AM UTC

mrtron wrote: post #5

I think the Quora example does give off a bad vibe. a) We are a Quora for the enterprise b) We are Youtube for audio Quora for the enterprise sounds like a superset. Quora, plus enterprisey features. Quora could compete, their core competency is in that set. Youtube for audio sounds like disjoint sets. OK, I know what Youtube does. They do video well. I could see a good audio site that does it similarly, allows user…

Indeed. The key here is recognizing that the "model" approach is fundamentally different than the "superset" approach. Too often these get blended together.

Portraying your idea as the sum of several individual models can be a very effective technique. Saying something like "you can send your friends fake gifts, just like you can on Facebook" and "you have a live chat window like JustinTV" is more likely to promote understanding and less likely to raise questions than saying "Imagine if Facebook was better..."

(Yesterday, I actually saw a presenter get grilled for 20 minutes about features completely unrelated to their program, due largely to the fact that they took this "Imagine If.." approach.)

Re: A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y

#12

Post by minalecs » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 4:28 AM UTC

Any one know how they answered the question ?

Re: A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y

#13

Post by joshu » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:00 AM UTC

sometimes "we're x for y" is an easy summary. sometimes it's a thought process.

the first is ok, the second is usually bad.

i see a lot of startups like this. "we're foursquare for lipstick! women's cosmetics is a $47 billion industry, if we could get just 1% of the market we'd be huge. we're two stanford MBAs, our development is outsourced, and we have no actual women on our team."

Re: A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y

#14

Post by DevX101 » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:22 AM UTC

I don't have a problem with this description. Us humans think in symbols, and this is a high compression method to convey a complex idea.

Besides, even if they described it another way, astute observers would be asking the same question: Why won't Quora, or [include social platform] compete with you? This is a good question for the founders to know the answer to, regardless of how they want to frame the description of their company.

Re: A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y

#15

Post by dstein » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 5:33 AM UTC

jkincaid wrote: post #10

Strongly disagree with this (and I've seen my fair share of pitches). I'd much rather hear you're the "x of y" followed by an explanation of your key differences than listen to you reinvent the wheel.

You just described the exact difference between innovation, and following a trend. People generally do not like to hear about innovation (new ideas), they want buzz.

Re: A Huge Mistake Startups Make - we are the x of/for the y

#16

Post by kirvyteo » Fri, Oct 01, 2010, 6:08 AM UTC

It depends on the X and Y. If you say - You are the "successful company" of X industry for the Y industry, then there is no issue of X overlapping Y, since X and Y are distinct enough. For Opzi, they are just targeting another segment in the same industry, and that is too close for comfort.