Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#1

Post by dbul » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 8:11 PM UTC

Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups
allthingsd.com

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#2

Post by benmlang » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 8:30 PM UTC

Impressive list of startups!

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#3

Post by jonmc12 » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 8:56 PM UTC

Curious, only 32 of 63 are on the record. Seems like ratio was higher in previous classes. Any ideas why?

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#4

Post by vaksel » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:00 PM UTC

jonmc12 wrote: post #3

Curious, only 32 of 63 are on the record. Seems like ratio was higher in previous classes. Any ideas why?

my guess is that people don't want to get lost in a sea of startups. Hard to cut through the noise...especially if something big launches the same day(i.e. mint etc)

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#5

Post by vaksel » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:03 PM UTC

codecademy really needs to buy codeacademy.com...every time I type their name I end up there. Do it fast(by offering to buy the forum), before the guy figures out there is an actual company vying for the name and jacks up the price to 6 figures.

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#6

Post by bh42222 » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:15 PM UTC

I know this is a silly thing to do, but based just on the descriptions my favorites are:

1. Quartzy this sounds trivial but could in fact be huge. Also, think about the trend of personalized medicine...

2. Munch On Me, I just like food :)

3. MarketBrief, this is exactly the kind of automation we need more of.

4. Stypi might be better as Google+ done right!

5. Science Exchange if this works, it could speed up R&D tremendously.

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#7

Post by callmeed » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:23 PM UTC

Ok, hold on. This page totally just got updated and some links/listings were removed. I printed it to read at lunch 45 mins ago ... I came back and refreshed and a certain listing was gone (wanted to hit the link).

What's up with that?

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#8

Post by revorad » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:30 PM UTC

vaksel wrote: post #5

codecademy really needs to buy codeacademy.com...every time I type their name I end up there. Do it fast(by offering to buy the forum), before the guy figures out there is an actual company vying for the name and jacks up the price to 6 figures.

I didn't notice that until just now! That is a naming blunder, but I reckon they were busy making an awesome product in a really short time.

It might be best to think of a completely new name. There are still good domain names available. It just takes some patience and creative thinking.

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#9

Post by shiven » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:34 PM UTC

I guess I am late to the party, but I feel I must voice this opinion since Quartzy is listed. Also, comments on the original Quartzy submission are closed (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2744408).

Must've escaped my notice, being busy defending my doctoral thesis and all.

---

Working in an exceptionally well-organized lab (in terms of ordering etc.) and still having iLab shoved down our collective throats (http://www.ilabsolutions.com/) here's what in my experience is the biggest barrier to adoption amongst all fancy-shmancy lab organizing/ordering e-solutions:

NONE of the systems allow for direct ordering from the vendor.

What I mean by that is the lab manager (or the person with appropriate authority) cannot just click "Place order" and have the item automatically ordered from the vendor's website. This makes all such solutions the most brain-dead, needlessly repetitive method of ordering lab goods. This completely defeats the very purpose of having such a system in place. How is this really any better than an excel spreadsheet? In my experience, this is the single biggest hurdle to adoption of such systems by many (better-organized) academic labs.

I will be way more than happy to talk with anyone from Quartzy to explain the above in more detail (I am ranting and may not be clear in articulating these things here). Therefore, please do feel free to contact me, a real-world user.

So what is needed?

Anyone who comes up with a method/system to connect direct ordering from within your e-solution software/portal to the outside vendor will win this competition. Now this may well be the proverbial can of worms. Each vendor website will have their own idiosyncrasies and will require serious effort to make things work, but if you can make it work, I guarantee you will be the chosen solution amongst the many out there.

Of course, having all vendors agree to a unified ordering API would be the ideal solution. You could come up with such a solution that may be licensed to multiple vendors (and supported by you), hopefully the vendors will also see value in using/supporting such an API (orders placed via your portal) and the entire system will be of mutual benefit to you, the vendor and most importantly, end users like me.

Fin.

Re: Y Combinator Unloads Massive New Batch of Start-Ups

#10

Post by ig1 » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 9:37 PM UTC

vaksel wrote: post #5

codecademy really needs to buy codeacademy.com...every time I type their name I end up there. Do it fast(by offering to buy the forum), before the guy figures out there is an actual company vying for the name and jacks up the price to 6 figures.

I think they need to change names completely, not only do they not own codeacademy.com, but the name "Code Academy" appears to be trademark of codeacademy.org (which appears to be run by HN user "nealsales")