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Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

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Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#61

Post by Fixnum »

stephengillie wrote: post #24
lquist wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure that your example proves that YC is no longer interested in RFS #5. I think RFS# 5 covers companies that could be huge, but I'm not convinced that I would ever want to code on a tablet.

I could see it with a graphical programming language -- one where a FOR loop is a large box into which you'd drag other commands, where each variable and equation is an icon you drag out from the side. Almost like a physics flash game.

Something like http://scratch.mit.edu/ ?

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#62

Post by tb303 »

drumdance wrote: post #57
Charos wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mint is now owned by Intuit. Are the original founders still with the project? If not, I'd be surprised to see them take such a precient direction.

I believe the founder is still head of product development for all of Intuit.

Not the case. And we are all gone. None of the original team remains.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#63

Post by sharemywin »

lquist wrote: post #17
TheMakeA wrote: post #12

From personal experience, it seems like YC may no longer have an interest in funding RFS #5. Our entire interview was spent trying to explain why someone would possibly want to code on a handheld. Full disclosure: Our demo and Altair BASIC was a way to develop native iPhone apps in the cloud, from a tablet or other device. We wanted to expand to Android apps, and eventually be a general cloud compile/debug/run servic…

Not sure that your example proves that YC is no longer interested in RFS #5. I think RFS# 5 covers companies that could be huge, but I'm not convinced that I would ever want to code on a tablet.

What if the tablet was as big as a desk? or I saw a demo of some microsoft tech where the monitor level was transparent and you could reach behind it and interact with 3d objects.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#64

Post by sharemywin »

larrys wrote: post #50

I haven't read the 2008 list but just went there based on some of the comments here. This #29 stood out: "What's the best way to make a web site if you're a real estate agent, or a restaurant, or a lawyer? There still don't seem to be canonical answers. " There is a huge opportunity here not for a site builder so much as a way for those types of businesses (and other businesses) to keep their site current and fresh o…

Too me this space is about lead generation. Something like channel advisor for services.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#65

Post by kamakazizuru »

scott_s wrote: post #56
kamakazizuru wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im referring to the fact that on most dating sites you'll find "n" male profiles - and something like 0.5n to 0.7n female profiles. Dating for LGBT works brilliantly - and the only location based dating/hookup apps that I know of that actually took off are targetted at LGBTs. The heterosexual space on the other hand still suffers from the same old - problem as high school.

How do you know this is true? Your own experience, or data? I live in a big area, so perhaps I can't see the effect even if its there.

I run a consultancy that helps companies do stuff in big data.. one of our recent clients was one of the largest dating portals in europe :)

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#66

Post by lifeisstillgood »

dvt wrote: post #28
lquist wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure that your example proves that YC is no longer interested in RFS #5. I think RFS# 5 covers companies that could be huge, but I'm not convinced that I would ever want to code on a tablet.

RFS #5 has nothing to do with the essay linked. See http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html for all the "Request for Startups" bullet points. Personally, I think it's a dumb RFS to begin with. From a professional standpoint, I couldn't handle developing on anything else but two 24+ inch monitors (if not three) and a mechanical keyboard. Not that I couldn't do it on a laptop or tablet, it just makes me about 300x more product…

I don't think thats the point.

It should be possible to code on a tablet because thats the device most kids will have access to as their first computer.

My first (and most people on HN) computer I turned it on and the OS simply waited for me to give it an instruction.

That is important in lots of ways, not just in the IPO in two years ways.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#67

Post by Charos »

mgirdley wrote: post #44
Charos wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I've been thinking about recently. If you boil down the 'news problem,' the dominant solutions are traditional news channels (TV networks, newspapers) and sites like Reddit and Digg. I would categorize bloggers as very small-scale traditional news sources, and RSS feeds as a way to combine these traditional and nontraditional sources. The strength of traditional news is partly cultural, but also due…

Is this what medium.com is doing?

I'm not sure. Sounds like I'll have to check it out, though, because I'd love to use a news service like that.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#68

Post by taylorbuley »

dfc wrote: post #13
taylorbuley wrote: post #5

News will morph significantly in the more competitive environment of the web. So called "blogs" (because the old media call everything published online a "blog") like PerezHilton and TechCrunch are one sign of the future. News sites like Reddit and Digg are another. But these are just the beginning. I'll make the bold claim that we haven't yet seen this "morph" in media. The blog concept is now staid yet Buzzfeed is…

"Buzzfeed is the most innovative publisher we have" Strong disagree. I am not sure I would call the New Yorker the most innovative and yet buzzfeed has nothing comparable to strongbox[1]. Vice? Quartz? Medium? Its possible that I am letting my opinion of Buzzfeed's "content" cloud my judgement of their innovation. What do you think BF is doing that is innovative? [1] http://www.newyorker.com/strongbox/

I see Buzzfeed's innovation as largely around the continued development of the "Contributor Model" for content, which drives down the per-unit cost of content by turning to non-fulltime outsiders to help create content along side full-time staffers. Medium taps into this, as did Quora before it.

Vice is pretty innovative around web content but no new formats that I know of and a typical "stringer" model with high editorial touch. Quartz is visually different (super slick JS based webapp) but the underlying news is the same that you get elsewhere.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#69

Post by Havoc »

jarek wrote: post #43
Havoc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm not convinced that I would ever want to code on a tablet. Well when I type on a on a 10 inch tab - two thoughts cross my head A) This is not working B) This could work given a bit more size and refinement. So I would not discount tablets as dev devices. Perhaps not as a hardcore workstation, but as a starbucks dev station sure - soon.

> Well when I type on a on a 10 inch tab - two thoughts cross my head A) This is not working B) This could work given a bit more size and refinement. A bit more size and refinement, a nice keyboard, and a stand gets you a 11-12" laptop.

>gets you a 11-12" laptop.

No it doesn't. No hinge & typing space is also display space under some conditions e.g. browsing.

Re: Ask PG: Will you post an update to "Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund"?

#70

Post by Havoc »

diminoten wrote: post #48
Havoc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm not convinced that I would ever want to code on a tablet. Well when I type on a on a 10 inch tab - two thoughts cross my head A) This is not working B) This could work given a bit more size and refinement. So I would not discount tablets as dev devices. Perhaps not as a hardcore workstation, but as a starbucks dev station sure - soon.

You shouldn't have to use a QWERTY-like keyboard to enter text into a tablet. The very idea of a flat space with a list of letters which has you individually selecting letters (or moving your finger around on a full list of letters) is a huge waste of space on an already small screen.

>You shouldn't have to use a QWERTY-like keyboard to enter text into a tablet

Why not - If I can smoothly transfer touch typing skills then thats a pretty big win.

> huge waste of space on an already small screen.

Hence my comment about slightly larger screen. I can almost touch type on a 10 inch...bit more and it could work. The capacitative aspect might even work better than a physical keyboard for "touch" typing.

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