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My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#61

Post by gallerytungsten »

citizenkeys wrote: post #23

I think many of you are missing the forest for the trees. If the idea were profitable, I wouldn't be looking for seed money. If the implementation of my idea were very refined, then it would be a mature product and not a working prototype. The idea now is a working prototype of a site where users can create lists of videos. That's all the idea is supposed to be. Right now, it's very rough around the edges with lots o…

How does a band get signed to a contract with a major label?

Most often, they play shows. They tour. They put out their own releases. They make money. Success attracts attention.

When they have demonstrated value, the big money is attracted. So far, I don't see any value in your site. I think you need to articulate this better, and, you know, actually make some money.

If you can't make any money, why should anyone invest?

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#63

Post by davidamcclain »

citizenkeys wrote: post #16
timelinex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, what is it sustainable competitive advantage? How do you plan on getting traction? What are the legal implications? How much have you personally invested both in terms of time and money into this project? What previous projects have you completed? Can you get a friend to co-found this with you? Show us something that would indicate you punch above your weight class, eg Academics, Social, Hacking.

Sustainable competitive advantage is that we don't incur the costs of bandwidth or storage. Videos are stored on any other site on the Internet. Another advantage involves some API possibilities. Traction is people creating lists. Yes, the ycombinator list got 3000 uniques a day. But ANYBODY can create a very particular list of videos that draws that many uniques or more. More traffic equals more traction. I have inv…

Is making a site or a business around other people's data (YouTube's, Vimeo's etc) a bit risky in the sense that if YouTube changed their policy or terms, or just got arsey, and blocked your access you might be left high and dry?

If I were an investor (which I'm not - no experience or skills in that area) I would be interested to hear your answer on that. What would plan "B" be if something like that were to happen?

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#64

Post by hkuo »

Did a quick google search for the term "lists of videos". This link came up second: http://superl8tive.com/

Seems similar to what you're going for, and they appear to have been around for a while.

Checked their compete.com stats to get a rough idea on their traffic, and it doesn't look good. From 1600 uniques about a year ago down to 467 a couple months ago.

And their execution is not that bad.

So given their traffic, similar idea, and length of existence, it doesn't give much confidence that this idea can have a large audience.

Not raining on your parade. Just want to offer this little bit of research and my take on it. I think you may want to push the idea even further given the non-success of this similar execution.

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#65

Post by BTBurke »

citizenkeys wrote: post #16
timelinex wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, what is it sustainable competitive advantage? How do you plan on getting traction? What are the legal implications? How much have you personally invested both in terms of time and money into this project? What previous projects have you completed? Can you get a friend to co-found this with you? Show us something that would indicate you punch above your weight class, eg Academics, Social, Hacking.

Sustainable competitive advantage is that we don't incur the costs of bandwidth or storage. Videos are stored on any other site on the Internet. Another advantage involves some API possibilities. Traction is people creating lists. Yes, the ycombinator list got 3000 uniques a day. But ANYBODY can create a very particular list of videos that draws that many uniques or more. More traffic equals more traction. I have inv…

Did any one of those 3000 spend the time to actually make a list? If not, maybe you should think about why they didn't.

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#67

Post by zackattack »

i don't know why everyone's giving you so much shit. ignore them and proceed with your idea. like you said, you OBVIOUSLY have talent. who cares what a bunch of nerds think. are they your taret market?? serve them with the ycombinator videos. then find MORE markets. HN is just a fraction of the internet

p.s. i feel like you could use a free awesomenessreminder, contact via email and i'll hook you up

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#68

Post by arvcpl »

citizenkeys wrote: post #48
cheald wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but unless you're working 3 jobs to cover food and rent, you can work hard on an idea without seed money. Stop watching TV (seriously, unplug it and put it in a closet). Stop playing video games (same deal). Stop going out barhopping. Devote your evenings and lunch breaks to working on your idea. You have plenty of time that you're not utilizing. You'll find that most startup founders - especially new ent…

I don't watch tv, don't play video games, nor do I drink or go "barhopping". To paraphrase paul graham (yet again), you can't realistically run a start-up and work a day job. If you do, then you're not really running a start-up. And if you don't work a day-job, then eventually you're likely to run out of money until the start-up gets profitable.

That's not really true. I am doing consulting to support me, my wife & and my 3 years child for 4h a day and the rest time is for my startup. So yeah, it's really possible, just you have to be very committed to it.

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#69

Post by _b8r0 »

I stopped reading through the comments and went to your site. Two things:

1. You're being abrasive, defensive and confrontational in your comment responses. This is partly why you're getting downvoted and you're not being taken seriously. It's difficult to take someone seriously when the help being given (in some cases from people who've done a lot more than you have) is being flung back in their face.

2. Nobody knows whether your idea would work or not, but your execution needs a lot of work. Have you researched the market? What's the market for a list of downloadable videos? How will you monetise? What separates you from other torrent or video list sites? How will you stop the MPAA from shutting you down? Why is it that when I go to the front page I get a blog and not the top videos? Why should I stump up money to support this?

Now for number 2, instead of being defensive (and I can tell you're angry about your YC rejection, but it's not all of us that are trying to help you that rejected you) look to answer those questions. You need to work out not just if this is viable but how viable this is and what type of return an investor should expect based on investing X (where X is a range of different amounts of cash that you need) and how that money will be spent.

You have what appears to be an MVP, I'd suggest you work on pitching for investment in order to grow traffic and improve usability and organic SEO.

You need to go out and find investors, they're not going to come to you. Be pushy, be tenacious, ring everyone up in the valley if you have to. Someone will invest in your idea if it has legs. You just have to work on putting your idea into a structure that sells well to an investor.

Re: My Start-Up: 3000 unique users a day, only 3 offers?

#70

Post by agaton »

citizenkeys wrote: post #48
cheald wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense, but unless you're working 3 jobs to cover food and rent, you can work hard on an idea without seed money. Stop watching TV (seriously, unplug it and put it in a closet). Stop playing video games (same deal). Stop going out barhopping. Devote your evenings and lunch breaks to working on your idea. You have plenty of time that you're not utilizing. You'll find that most startup founders - especially new ent…

I don't watch tv, don't play video games, nor do I drink or go "barhopping". To paraphrase paul graham (yet again), you can't realistically run a start-up and work a day job. If you do, then you're not really running a start-up. And if you don't work a day-job, then eventually you're likely to run out of money until the start-up gets profitable.

Sorry if I sounds rude but have you ever tried to get a job in this market? To get a job, or seed capital, you need to work. A lot.

It's a full-time job itself to get a job. Call people. Start blogging and be active in forums like HN so people see how smart you are. Search every little possible job you ever can get. If you're not famous noone will ever GIVE you a job. It's something you need to work for.

If you don't have neither a job neither seed capital for your startup, you have some serious work to do. Search 5 or 10 jobs a day minimum, every single day. Call every angel in the Valley and see if they are interested in meeting you. Go to free parties and events to meet more interesting people. Ask your existing network for tips, help and recommendations. A comment on your own site was a start but don't think it solves your problem. Hard work do.

Be awesome. Work hard. Don't give up.

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