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Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

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Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#61

Post by jadence »

jlees wrote: post #52
jadence wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Along those lines I know there is a very lucrative black (maybe more gray) market in which people will pay big money to find out flight plans of important decision makers. People paid that money so they could try to buy a ticket in the seat next to said decision maker. You've then got X hours to work a pitch. I know this happens to execs in pro sports a lot (people trying to get sponsorship, get the leagues using the…

Why limit it to flights? You could create a whole new stalking service! 1. Aggregate location info and travel plans of key celebrities from Twitter 2. ??? 3. Profit

I know you're joking around but I thought I'd answer anyway. The key aspect of flights is that your "victim" isn't going anywhere. He's stuck in that seat and can't escape nearly as easily as he could if you approached him in a cafe, museum, etc.

EG - Got a startup that'll need buy in from a major wireless carrier (you're gon' change the industry like the iPhone did!) but can't get attention from any of them? Imagine what you could work if you were sitting next to the CEO of Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile on a 6 hour flight. How much would you pay for the information to get you that seat?

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#62

Post by ABrandt »

adatta02 wrote: post #33

walmart style inventory management / analytics for mom n pop size stores

I agree that most small stores could benefit from a "just-in-time" inventory system, but I'm not sure it could be styled after Walmart's. The key to their success is the massive quantities they move, as well as their network of delivery trucks. Essentially each semi is treated as a mobile warehouse stocked with a variety of carefully picked products. So instead of having cash tied up in inventory that may or may not sell, any one store can pull items from a truck as soon as they are sold off the retail floor.

As an example, I work at a "mom n pop" style mattress store that has 19 locations throughout the Midwest. We essentially have one main warehouse and two delivery trucks to cover the entire state of Illinois. Wednesday is the only day of the week that I can get any kind of inventory, and even then I'm unlikely to get everything I requested.

With that being said, I do believe that a simple web interface that could track the flow of our inventory through our network of stores could greatly improve efficiency. Even though every individual item is carefully tracked manually, I still have no easy way of identifying where I could potentially pull a particular model or size from to serve my customers. To find that information, I have to literally get on the phone and call each store individually to inquire about what they have. An automated system would certainly be welcomed, the question is only how. Could be a hard sell to a company that still relys on dial-up and fax machines...

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#63

Post by pie »

petesalty wrote: post #49
steveeq1 wrote: post #2

An online dating site that uses collaborative filtering on large datasets of people (perhaps Facebook as a dataset). Then inform potential couples when they are physically close to each other via cell phone/geolocation.

I've been thinking about something like this for the last few months. I think the mobile element is a great idea, and a very nice ice breaker - "Hey there, I'm Trent415 and superdate.com said you and I have a lot in common." Plus, you could determine if there was a mutual friend close by to introduce you. I also think there needs to be a wed based version that isn't location based, but I do like the mobile idea a lot…

The concept of monitoring social site streams for dating/authenticity purposes reminds me of a site I heard about recently, http://ge.la.to/

There are many sites struggling to gain traction in mobile aspects of dating, and the problem is likely that it's difficult to get a critical mass of users set up before using the feature is appealing.

Regardless, I'm not aware of anyone who has put all this together successfully. Dating (in many aspects, but surely online) has shown itself to be a tough nut to crack.

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#65

Post by riffer »

trafficlight wrote: post #43
jadence wrote: post #31

... a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different conclusions written on it that you could jump to .

That's the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, Tom.

Yes, this is horrible, this idea.

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#67

Post by akkartik »

A recommendation-based feedreader.

This may be the answer to RFS1: what will replace the newspaper industry? People won't pay for content anymore, but perhaps they'll pay for a personalized service to sift through content.

I know reading recommendations have been tried several times, like at reddit. But perhaps you can get a leg up if you get more data on the user - twitter, delicious, etc.

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#68

Post by mlapeter »

How about a news site that actually helps reporters/ photographers/ editors collaborate to create news, instead of just aggregating/ ranking already written articles?

The basic blocks of the news stories is source material: photos, quotes, observations that can be submitted by anyone.

Every contributor (sources submitting photos/ quotes/ etc, writers, editors) and every component (the photos, the source material, the finished article) are rated, and feedback goes both ways.

So, the best sources/ writers/ editors eventually float to the top:

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/FPFC5tEoeQIKX5

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#69

Post by steveodom »

pie wrote: post #63
petesalty wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been thinking about something like this for the last few months. I think the mobile element is a great idea, and a very nice ice breaker - "Hey there, I'm Trent415 and superdate.com said you and I have a lot in common." Plus, you could determine if there was a mutual friend close by to introduce you. I also think there needs to be a wed based version that isn't location based, but I do like the mobile idea a lot…

The concept of monitoring social site streams for dating/authenticity purposes reminds me of a site I heard about recently, http://ge.la.to/ There are many sites struggling to gain traction in mobile aspects of dating, and the problem is likely that it's difficult to get a critical mass of users set up before using the feature is appealing. Regardless, I'm not aware of anyone who has put all this together successfull…

yes, this is the premise of http://ge.la.to. Wait until you see our recommendation/compatibility engine. It's going to be awesome.

Re: Ask HN - What's your best startup idea?

#70

Post by josefresco »

mrfish wrote: post #19

Elance for local people only. So no overseas professionals allowed. Wouldn't make any money though. I suck at ideas.

This is the best idea of the bunch. Instead of playing up the whole "American" angle it could be based on proximity (thereby working for the world). I'm sure the big boys have tools like this (zip code search), but as you suggested it would be a requirement and the whole push of the site would be to find someone local.

I like it.

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