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Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

ycombinator.com

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Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#61

Post by omouse »

aston wrote: post #59
antidaily wrote: post #9

Motivation re:dating site - the very simple (and quite ugly) dating site, Plenty of Fish, earns $10M a year.

If anything, that's demotivation, at least for real hackers. Plenty of Fish is popular because of marketing/SEO techniques and throwing successively larger iron at traffic, not because Markus Frind was a technical genius with a clever idea. Very different path to profitability than most of us want to take, I think.

I'm torn...It's nice to have that much money because then you can take it and create other better things. But you first have to build something sleazy :-/

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#63

Post by brentr »

dood wrote: post #46

I'm passionate about online learning. I like James Burke's knowledge web idea [ http://www.k-web.org/ ], but I'm not terribly optimistic about their approach/implementation. The idea is to make a network of knowledge which enables self-directed learning. Could incorporate tests/games, dependencies (to learn x, you need to learn y, or even complete a subgame), external references for further reading, and possibly a lo…

I think the open source textbook projects in the works might be something that could propel an idea like this forward.

Personally, I find the lack of high quality videos about physics, mathematics, and computer science quite irritating. When I do manage to have some free time, I like to watch videos, such as those from Nova. Unfortunately, one can't find many free versions on the internet.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#64

Post by thaumaturgy »

swombat wrote: post #44
mechanical_fish wrote: post #6

Help. Help. I feel like that guy in the Sandman comics who gets cursed to have nothing but original ideas, as rapidly as possible, day and night, forever. Seriously, this list is exhausting to read. It's like the topic sentence for an entire century. I'm going to have to take it a little piece at a time.

There's no such thing as an original idea. Every idea worth having has been had thousands of times already. There is such a thing as being the first to give a real physical (or commercial) form to an idea, though.

That's true, but I hear what mechanical_fish is saying, too. I suffer from much the same problem: many elements on the list are things which I have thought about to an extent that I've worked out every single step needed to make them work. The problem is, I haven't the time to pursue everything I would like to.

Let's take the "simplified browsing" problem, for example. I worked phone technical support for an internet service provider for a while, and it wasn't long before I saw the need for exactly such a thing. But, it runs deeper than just web browsing and email: there is a huge, absolutely massive number of people out there that need a simpler computer. They don't understand things like firewalls and security, and aren't inclined to ever understand them.

The solution? Take a Linux distribution and hack it heavily; simplify the desktop layout, hide all the settings, and set it up so that immediately after booting, a full-screen web browser appears. The web browser defaults to a very simplified portal page; the user logs in to their "computer" exactly once (on the portal page), and from there they have access to simplified email (which, for example, doesn't have things called "Reply to All"), chat, word processing, and other services.

Thing is, the previous services that have tried to create such a thing have done it wrong; they tried to release their own computer, hardware and all. That doesn't work, at least not now. This would work though because you could sell a CD which would make the installation process a breeze. You wouldn't have a huge initial development cost for the operating system; a good Linux hacker could probably make the necessary changes very quickly.

After, say, 6 months of development by a few people, and with the aid of a crack marketing team, you could start distributing copies of this thing for around $75. You'd be tapping in to an under-served market not just of senior citizens but of every average family that's frustrated at using their computer.

You could even build in a secure remote desktop protocol for the operating system, and make tech support -- if you wanted to offer it -- the easiest it's ever been.

So, there ya go. Probably a hundred-million-dollar idea, with most of the framework. Lots more details, too many to list here.

Got time to build it?

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#65

Post by pg »

Giorgi wrote: post #62

Search engine that concentrates on design? What that supposed to mean?

I don't know. I was just saying that if you want to beat Google, that's their weak spot. Or at least a big one.

Most people who read that one will think "huh?" But if someone reads it and thinks "Damn, how did he hear about what we're working on?" that's someone we'd really love to hear from.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#66

Post by tokipin »

swombat wrote: post #44
mechanical_fish wrote: post #6

Help. Help. I feel like that guy in the Sandman comics who gets cursed to have nothing but original ideas, as rapidly as possible, day and night, forever. Seriously, this list is exhausting to read. It's like the topic sentence for an entire century. I'm going to have to take it a little piece at a time.

There's no such thing as an original idea. Every idea worth having has been had thousands of times already. There is such a thing as being the first to give a real physical (or commercial) form to an idea, though.

tell that to einstein

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#67

Post by pg »

swombat wrote: post #44
mechanical_fish wrote: post #6

Help. Help. I feel like that guy in the Sandman comics who gets cursed to have nothing but original ideas, as rapidly as possible, day and night, forever. Seriously, this list is exhausting to read. It's like the topic sentence for an entire century. I'm going to have to take it a little piece at a time.

There's no such thing as an original idea. Every idea worth having has been had thousands of times already. There is such a thing as being the first to give a real physical (or commercial) form to an idea, though.

Every idea worth having has been had thousands of times already.

Even if this were true (which seems extremely unlikely) someone had to think of it first. So there would have been a point when it was possible to have new ideas. How can you be sure the present is not such a point, when we know there were such points in the past?

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#69

Post by rw »

bluishgreen wrote: post #21

Reminds me of Hilbert's list ( http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/95/hilb.list ). I wish this list also has the same effect and influence as that one. edit: wikilink - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_problems

Hilbert's list was a little harder :)

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#70

Post by altano »

Regarding #22, "A web-based Excel/database hybrid," have you ever seen dabbledb.com? It's pretty much fits your description completely and I've really liked it the few times I've had a need for it.
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