Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day • Hacker News Board

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#41

Post by LogicHoleFlaw » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 4:28 PM UTC

il wrote: post #17

old-gregg wrote: post #7

Am I the only pessimist here? After being bombarded with "ideas are cheap" nonsense all I can see is the same old "share, sync, discover, publish" stuff re-packaged and re-wrapped with different version of rounded corners, peppered with the same old&boring punches like "groundbreaking", "easy to use" and "disruptive" over and over again? I mean come on, does anyone really believe that sharing a photo on the net is an…

Finally, some sanity within the Web 2.0 circlejerk. There's only so many apps you can aim at "early adopters" before they say "enough, i'm tired of signing up for yet another gimmick app!". Where's the next innovation aimed at the mainstream? Where are the startups with a business plan, and a product customers will want to pay for? The deluge of "we will fund it with ad revenue and then get bought by Google" has got…

What we need is an environment in which it is possible to actually IPO. Until then flipping for a buyout is the only exit that is feasible. Depending on if you need an exit due to being VC funded, anyway.

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#42

Post by lutorm » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 4:50 PM UTC

gojomo wrote: post #9

lutorm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wattvision sounds cool, but I'd be worried about their business model since PG&E are replacing their meters with digital ones that report back to PG&E. I seem to remember hearing that they are rolling out a similar service, too.

Any startup should consider itself blessed to compete with PG&E. (And if Wattvision's tech is superior, the big utilities are far more likely to become customers than competitors.)

Why would that be a blessing? If PG&E comes and puts in a digital meter for which their little gadget doesn't work, they're back to page 0.

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#43

Post by inrev » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 4:52 PM UTC

breck wrote: post #12

old-gregg wrote: post #7

Am I the only pessimist here? After being bombarded with "ideas are cheap" nonsense all I can see is the same old "share, sync, discover, publish" stuff re-packaged and re-wrapped with different version of rounded corners, peppered with the same old&boring punches like "groundbreaking", "easy to use" and "disruptive" over and over again? I mean come on, does anyone really believe that sharing a photo on the net is an…

>> Come on, I am a computer-savvy, technology-loving, ad-blocking geek with a huge PC-per-capita ratio and a hefty tech gadget/software monthly budget, how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question? Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for. Also keep in mind that these startups are 10 weeks old a…

> how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question?

Count me in. :)

> Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for.

Not really... It is not so hard to setup SVN, Apache, WebDAV, and NetDrive, and you got your own Dropbox...

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#44

Post by cedsav » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 5:24 PM UTC

inrev wrote: post #43

breck wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Come on, I am a computer-savvy, technology-loving, ad-blocking geek with a huge PC-per-capita ratio and a hefty tech gadget/software monthly budget, how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question? Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for. Also keep in mind that these startups are 10 weeks old a…

> how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question? Count me in. :) > Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for. Not really... It is not so hard to setup SVN, Apache, WebDAV, and NetDrive, and you got your own Dropbox...

That would still count as solving a very hard problem for 99% of people.

It's even a hard problem for me, not because I can't set up svn/apache/webdav and whatever, but because I need to actively avoid doing this kind of things and focus on higher order issues.

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#45

Post by joanou » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 5:57 PM UTC

That's a sad bunch of start ups. Nothing excites me and it has all been done already. If implemented, they'll just add to the noise of little apps that I'd have to invest time in. Oh yea...how are they going to acquire customers and make a profit?

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#46

Post by jonknee » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 6:16 PM UTC

inrev wrote: post #43

breck wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Come on, I am a computer-savvy, technology-loving, ad-blocking geek with a huge PC-per-capita ratio and a hefty tech gadget/software monthly budget, how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question? Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for. Also keep in mind that these startups are 10 weeks old a…

> how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question? Count me in. :) > Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for. Not really... It is not so hard to setup SVN, Apache, WebDAV, and NetDrive, and you got your own Dropbox...

> Not really... It is not so hard to setup SVN, Apache, WebDAV, and NetDrive, and you got your own Dropbox...

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. The dominant player for an industry isn't always who gets the first implementation (though that's sometimes the case, like eBay), it's often who does it for the masses. Digital music players were common before the iPod, but the iPod made it easy. That's why Rios don't even exist anymore and iPods consistently outsell the bible. Dropbox is easy like the iPod is easy. My mom sees its value.

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#47

Post by jonknee » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 6:23 PM UTC

KWD wrote: post #35

ibsulon wrote: post #2

The one thing I'm not sure about foodoro is... I understand paying one shipping price if I'm buying from a food catalog. However, buying six things from six vendors gets expensive pretty quickly. (Ten dollars of shipping for three fairly lightweight items?)

Not everyone gets the Amazon shipping rates. Shipping is actually one of the toughest areas to try and compete in for a small ecommerce site, and it's probably the number one complaint received since people have come to expect free or extremely low cost shipping. If using UPS/Fedex, you get the fuel surcharges, residential charges, and rural charges that can make a small profitable order become unprofitable (and cuts…

> Not everyone gets the Amazon shipping rates.

No, but almost everyone can take advantage of Amazon's discounted rates.

http://www.amazonservices.com/content/fulfillment-by-amazon....

It won't work for shipping food, but it can be a real money saver for non-perishable items. You don't even have to pay shipping costs if you sell the items on Amazon.com, just pay the fulfillment fee and the customer can use Prime or Super Saving shipping.

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#48

Post by mynameishere » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 6:49 PM UTC

old-gregg wrote: post #7

Am I the only pessimist here? After being bombarded with "ideas are cheap" nonsense all I can see is the same old "share, sync, discover, publish" stuff re-packaged and re-wrapped with different version of rounded corners, peppered with the same old&boring punches like "groundbreaking", "easy to use" and "disruptive" over and over again? I mean come on, does anyone really believe that sharing a photo on the net is an…

Wow, for all your ability to rant, your two ideas are so humdrum I can barely believe you offered them as "unsolved" examples. Microsoft Passport and 1000 different anti-malware programs have been around for a long time. The first one failed because no sane person would ever trust such a thing.

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#49

Post by gojomo » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 7:13 PM UTC

lutorm wrote: post #42

gojomo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any startup should consider itself blessed to compete with PG&E. (And if Wattvision's tech is superior, the big utilities are far more likely to become customers than competitors.)

Why would that be a blessing? If PG&E comes and puts in a digital meter for which their little gadget doesn't work, they're back to page 0.

PG&E is a big, slow, regulated utility unlikely to rush in executing anything. And even if PG&E did rush to digitize, that would only mean more pressure on other utilities (even in other markets) to adopt a cheap ready-to-go solution, and more opportunities for software innovations that can take the data from any source (digicam or utilityco meter).

Re: Six best start-ups from Y Combinator demo day

#50

Post by galactus » Thu, Mar 19, 2009, 8:06 PM UTC

apwalker wrote: post #18

breck wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Come on, I am a computer-savvy, technology-loving, ad-blocking geek with a huge PC-per-capita ratio and a hefty tech gadget/software monthly budget, how come none of these startups managed to get a single dollar out of me? Am I alone asking myself this question? Dropbox is one that immediately comes to mind that has solved a very hard problem that I pay for. Also keep in mind that these startups are 10 weeks old a…

To me, photo sharing isn't a solved problem. But honestly, who cares if it is? When Google came on the scene, a lot of people said search was a solved problem. So what did they do? Made search better/easier/faster/insert adjective here. The same thing can happen with any startup. You don't necessarily have to identify an unsolved problem -- you just have to solve the problem better than anyone else. Ideas evolve over…

"When Google came on the scene, a lot of people said search was a solved problem."

That's true, but I think one big advantage of google was that for anyone used to the existing search engines it would only take like 3 seconds to notice google was better. It wouldnt be the same thing today for, say, a better flickr.