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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

#271

Post by [deleted] »

gaika wrote: post #235
dood wrote: post #54

An idea for new news: Start with the reddit concept: users submit and vote on links to articles, blog posts and so forth. Then, allow users to tag each link (or otherwise add metadata), and vote on the relevence of the story to the tag. Also allow users to vote on the trustworthiness of each link and/or each source or author. Could also allow users to vote on other users, to get networks of trust. Then you just take…

Already implemented a few times, we have an implementation that is below critical mass after months of running. Some key aspect of it is still missing :(

[deleted]

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#272

Post by LarryV »

greyman wrote: post #107
thaumaturgy wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

"there is a huge, absolutely massive number of people out there that need a simpler computer" This is a good observation. Anyway, the issue here is, whether that massive number will have some common notion of what the simpler computer actually is.

I think the problem with 'simpler' computers is similar to the problem with WYSIWYG development and database platforms: they are too simple for anyone whose job or interest it is to create a webpage or database and too complex for the ocassional user. This is why MySpace took off where all the many DIY webpage creation tools did not. MySpace redefined the goal with tools that leveraged the hidden desires of people to have a webpage. In the case of MySpace is was to socialize. Most people don't think of MySpace and Facebook as a web development tool but if you look at what the end result is, you'll see that people are creating online content using these social networks.

So the problem of "simpler browsers" will likely only be solved by solutions that redefine the experience and goal and it will likely be very close to what we now call a smartphone.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#273

Post by pg »

3putt wrote: post #255
pg wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see three red flags just in this brief message: high burn, lack of focus, and overemphasis on patents. The high burn is the most urgent problem. That will severely constrain your options.

We have 11 people working with us (5 of which are compensated),and expenses related to music data contribute to the burn rate. The search company and the music company are separate corporations and operate accordingly. Our CEO is Rich Marino (former President of CNet Networks) and he feels the patents provide value to IP as an asset. Still interested in options.

I think your best option under the circumstances is to raise money from a VC fund.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#274

Post by [deleted] »

gaika wrote: post #235
dood wrote: post #54

An idea for new news: Start with the reddit concept: users submit and vote on links to articles, blog posts and so forth. Then, allow users to tag each link (or otherwise add metadata), and vote on the relevence of the story to the tag. Also allow users to vote on the trustworthiness of each link and/or each source or author. Could also allow users to vote on other users, to get networks of trust. Then you just take…

Already implemented a few times, we have an implementation that is below critical mass after months of running. Some key aspect of it is still missing :(

[deleted]

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#275

Post by dood »

gaika wrote: post #235
dood wrote: post #54

An idea for new news: Start with the reddit concept: users submit and vote on links to articles, blog posts and so forth. Then, allow users to tag each link (or otherwise add metadata), and vote on the relevence of the story to the tag. Also allow users to vote on the trustworthiness of each link and/or each source or author. Could also allow users to vote on other users, to get networks of trust. Then you just take…

Already implemented a few times, we have an implementation that is below critical mass after months of running. Some key aspect of it is still missing :(

Jaanix isn't really what I have in mind, though it is hard to explain why. The problem I think may be a combination of interface, the basic conceptual decisions, and the chicken-and-egg problem. To get a site like this to work may require a big initial splash of publicity, as well as a very strong, subtle design.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#276

Post by dcurtis »

ra wrote: post #214
vaksel wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

# of .com websites making at least $1mm/yr? 9999999999999999 # of .us/.info/.me/.biz sites making at least $1mm/yr? 8 Yes its marketing, but that's because consumers pretty much got taught that one of the major ways to see if a business is legitimate is to see if it has the .com extension. Blame all the affiliate spammers who put up the crappy sites on the .info etc domain names to try to make a few bucks by using th…

put simply, .com is a brand

No, the thing you put before .com is part of the brand. The .com just adds legitimacy.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#277

Post by LarryV »

jerry5 wrote: post #185
voidfiles wrote: post #28

I totally agree with the outsourcing of IT. My father owns a minor distribution company. That deals with spa, pool, and bath parts. No piece of software has ever come to make their life easier. I have been involved with every major software purchase and I am constantly thinking to myself, I know these people I could probably make something that would work. The biggest problem I see is that hosted apps are great, but…

I've sometimes wondered whether IT isn't becoming the 'core' part of a business. I.e. the one that's most complex and drives the competitive edge and success of a business. I have worked in IT in many different industries and often enough found the 'business' part of the business to be easy to pick up while it sometimes took ages and a lot of brainpower to get on top of the technology. In other words, IT people can u…

I don't think IT will ever become that important. IT will just take its rightful place next to Law Firms and Accounting Firms as a necessary part of the business but not the core.

It is kind of surprising that IT, with its self references as fast-paced and innovative has taken so long to realize its own inefficiencies. IT (in the sense of internal computer systems for businesses) was greatly over invested starting in the 90s because the executives of the time were so scared. I remember stories of Hollywood executives who would ask their assistants to surf websites they were going to invest in and videotape it. They would take these video tapes home for 'research' the same way they would research actors, directors and movies to invest in. They completely didn't get it. So what did they do? They did what most people do when they are scared, they try to buy insurance. This insurance came in over-investment in all things technology both externally and internally, leading to huge IT departments that then used their bulk to buy more technology and increase their internal political might until all this over investment corrected itself in the legendary bubble pop.

I think when all is said and done, IT will be just like Payroll. When was the last time you met a person who works 40 hours a week processing payroll? They used to exist at every company - now everyone's checks come from ADP or PayChex. IT will be done by an outside company and will part of the budget for each person on the payroll. But of course I am a little biased...

Hmm, payroll - There is an industry to be disrupted...

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#279

Post by LarryV »

newton wrote: post #103
altano wrote: post #70

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.

See also http://www.blist.com , similar to dabbledb and pretty cool.

These tools are great and I love DabbleDB. But I think the powerful version of these same concepts is a 'Data Repository and Reporting' service. A service that lets you suck in data from many sources (csv, Web Feeds, Database Queries, Emailed Reports, SMS, mailing lists, etc). It would not be scared to hold all this data for me and keep it secure (and would charge me for usage so that people with lots of data pay their due). It would then give me a very flexible "Crystal Reports 2.0" meets DabbleDB interface to relate, dedupe, create conflict rules and schedule data refreshes. It would then let me create beautiful reports that can be embedded in a CMS, emailed, published like a Google Doc and versioned. If anyone is working on something like this, I have lots of ideas of how it should work that I would be happy to share.

Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund

#280

Post by chrisdone »

tigerthink wrote: post #137
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…

>With a bit of thought it may be possible to make a framework into which volunteers add a lot of the content, though editors/quality control would likely be necessary. I like the idea of students up or downvoting stuff based on how clear it is. Even a diagram or a one-sentence description could have up and down votes associated with it.

I think that is a very good idea.

We would have to take two factors into account, I think, those are; (1) clarity (2) accuracy. An “entry” can be very easy to understand but completely inaccurate, or completely accurate and horribly difficult to understand, and so forth. So one could vote on clarity and/or accuracy, depending on whether you are competent or incompetent.

I envisage going onto this site and thinking “I want to learn something new about the Fibonacci sequence”, or: “how does Quicksort work?” and so: “show me results tagged ‘quicksort’”.

One could shrug this idea off as a “Wikipedia clone-- with voting”, but Wikipedia is just an encyclopaedia; it does not aim to teach you things. But, we can take some ideas from Wikipedia...

If entries -- which would essentially be factoids, as I am hypothesising -- contain a few paragraphs and cover one very narrow topic, that would necessitate cross-linking of entries. Just as you read Wikipedia and follow hundreds of links because you just “have to!” know more about this topic, this could be applied to entries. Perhaps even “related entries” or “series” (an ordered set of related entries) could be created.

This is a very exciting idea to me. Does anyone know of anything like it? I may implement it if I see nothing like it. Let me condense the criteria:

1) A web site for learning things, however popular or esoteric 2) Learning is done by reading entries, submitted anonymously or otherwise. 3) Entries are short, to the point, and very narrow. (“What is polymorphism?”, “How do I implement RAII in C++?”) 4) Entries are voted upon by two factors indicating overall quality; (1) clarity (2) accuray. 5) Cross-linking, like a wiki.

Damn you, Hacker News!

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