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Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think?

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Re: Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think?

#31

Post by Radix »

terpua wrote: post #27
Radix wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever heard of candy? My cousin has a big zip lock completely filled with brightly colored beads. She and my brother would sit and make herself, him, or their friends bracelets. This can be time consuming, but she clearly enjoyed it. My point is that making can be more social than shopping. ps: That paper cutting slide show it great. I'm sure I'll imitate the style next time I need to create one.

Making something together physically is fun but online? Not so sure.

Oh, I see your point now. I hadn't viewed that slide show yet and thought it was more like the paper cutting pitch. I think it could work, but more likely licensed and sold to a store like Claire's.

Re: Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think?

#33

Post by tezza »

Hi. I'm formerly of both startups and Artwork Automation tech. Your idea sounds great & good luck with finding a co-founder.

@YC W10 I have a few comments

1. CutBots :: Installed base of cutting machines

Can you offer a service to post the results to your customers who don't have a cutter? Frequent or On Demand customers may still want a discreet device but experimenters may be prepared to wait for the post.

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2. Established Competition

Shapeways.com and others. Their big trade is vanity bracelets.

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3. Suggested Reading

Crossing the Chasm - Moore. Specifically this book details the difficulty of going from the Hackers who search for your "Hack CriCut" to the Early Majority who do scrap-books. The Early Majority will need specialist tactics and Moore's Whole Product solution.

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4. Business to Business

My Artwork Automation tech was B2B rather than your B2C focus. I would say that you should consider refocussing away from customer facing to White Label provision.

Consider that anyone can now have Nike shoes made with your own name on them[1], and lots of people have heard of Nike versus whoever did their implementation for them.

Try to imagine selling your tech to say a Crafts Magazine where the magazine can promote their cutter tool and you provide the technology & delivery and take a cut of any transactions.

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[1] http://missgeeky.com/2008/04/03/nike-id-design-your-own-shoe...

Re: Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think?

#34

Post by YCW10 »

joez wrote: post #25
YCW10 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

joez, re: back of envelope math, I concur, but I showed it to some people who were fairly bright and they commented that the rev potential wasn't called out, when it actually was more modestly. People tend to flip though these quickly so its spelled out a bit pedantically. re: name - just wanted something generic that also referenced the goal. Happy to change it if pg or anyone else has a problem. No pretensions inte…

Just got home, took a deeper look and had a few more thoughts. I think the greatest part about these products is the "viral" (for lack of a better word) ability. Someone with a new necklace will have all their friends asking about it... show their 10 BFFs. Same goes for cutbot and name tags. (See: http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/07/seth-godins-talk-... ) This is something that will be worth noting to people.…

Joez, Good point about the social nature of the product. It is referenced obliquely on the Joolme slide, but also stands true for the other two. I'll work on that.

I would certainly consider someone with Supply chain experience. I have some knowledge by virtue of my job, but it would be a welcome addition.

Kickstarter is a great idea! It would be cool to "Syndicate" that and a YC round:)

Re: Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think?

#35

Post by YCW10 »

Radix wrote: post #26
terpua wrote: post #16

I love your Joolme idea (great name, too). Teenage girls are an underserved market (online, at least) and I can see its potential. I have 2 sisters that used to buy costume jewelry all the time. Even as adults, they still do. The potential problem I see is the social aspect of trying on the jewelry physically and "chatting / giggling / discussing" it. You alluded to some aspect of social design but will it be enough?…

Ever heard of candy? My cousin has a big zip lock completely filled with brightly colored beads. She and my brother would sit and make herself, him, or their friends bracelets. This can be time consuming, but she clearly enjoyed it. My point is that making can be more social than shopping. ps: That paper cutting slide show it great. I'm sure I'll imitate the style next time I need to create one.

Beading is another HUGE hobby worth billions of dollars per year. Go to a Michael's craft store and you will see hundreds of square feet devoted to it. Part of the thought with the jewelry was that you could order the whole thing complete OR get components and assemble it yourself.

Re: Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think?

#36

Post by pchristensen »

patio11 wrote: post #10

I am going to pull this out because I feel it might not get seen otherwise: http://www.slideshare.net/YCW10/cutbots-presentation-1946585 Read this presentation. It is, far and away, the best pitch I have ever seen. I have sold to, approximately, these customers for the last 3 years. Once a little blog none of you have ever heard of got the notion "Hey, gals, lets have a scrapbooking competition with a bingo theme, he…

I'd throw my hypothetical $25K on top of that, if I had it, for all the reasons you just said.
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