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What do you think of my startup idea?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#11

Post by dcurtis »

anamax wrote: post #8
steffon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"groups of content" are collections of content that users create themselves (the social bookmarking aspect of the site). Users that want to build a reputation for being in the know and influential are incentivized to make these collections relevant. The groups also become lists users can form to bookmark content they find around the web and want to save it one spot. Based on what you have put into your collection of…

In other words, I make a "group of content" that I call "movies" and it gets compared with other peoples' "group of content" that they called "movies". Why isn't the netflix recommendation system useful for generating recommendations from "groups of content" labelled "movies"? If it works for movies, why can't it combine "groups of content" labelled "science fiction"?

The point of having groups of content is to combine traditionally dissimilar types of content-- movies, music, housewares, etc...

For example I can make a group of content called "new living room" and add all of the things that go into my new living room. This includes the music and movies that I have stored there, the type of TV I bought, the type of couch, stereo receiver, speakers, or even the paint on the wall. When someone searches for something within that collection, the system knows that someone else, somewhere, has combined that "thing" with the other "things" in the collection, so they get rated higher as being compatible.

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#12

Post by rms »

menloparkbum wrote: post #10

Description is too long, doesn't make sense. However it also sounds like the plan of no fewer than 10 already existing startups with tons of venture money that are already doomed to failure ... Except for Ning.

It made sense to me. It's a great idea but implementation is going to be incredibly challenging. It's only doomed if the founders don't have the skills to actually implement a better recommendation everything.

I think an uber-short pitch here is "A better recommendation engine for everything" which of course only makes sense if you know what a recommendation engine is.

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#13

Post by anamax »

dcurtis wrote: post #11
anamax wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, I make a "group of content" that I call "movies" and it gets compared with other peoples' "group of content" that they called "movies". Why isn't the netflix recommendation system useful for generating recommendations from "groups of content" labelled "movies"? If it works for movies, why can't it combine "groups of content" labelled "science fiction"?

The point of having groups of content is to combine traditionally dissimilar types of content-- movies, music, housewares, etc... For example I can make a group of content called "new living room" and add all of the things that go into my new living room. This includes the music and movies that I have stored there, the type of TV I bought, the type of couch, stereo receiver, speakers, or even the paint on the wall. W…

Why do you think that the netflix system won't do the right thing if we both put some music in our "groups of content" labelled "movies"?

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#14

Post by steffon »

anamax wrote: post #13
dcurtis wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of having groups of content is to combine traditionally dissimilar types of content-- movies, music, housewares, etc... For example I can make a group of content called "new living room" and add all of the things that go into my new living room. This includes the music and movies that I have stored there, the type of TV I bought, the type of couch, stereo receiver, speakers, or even the paint on the wall. W…

Why do you think that the netflix system won't do the right thing if we both put some music in our "groups of content" labelled "movies"?

This page explains many of netflix's limitations well: http://harry.hchen1.com/2006/10/03/391. But more importantly, look at these limitations in light of how the discovery engine is organizing its preference data and how it's collecting preference data.

The critical difference with the discovery engine is the idea of a group of content that users fill themselves with content based on criteria they see as relevant. Yes, a users aggregate preference composition is important, but what is more important is their set of preferences regarding a specific collection of content. This way, a user can be really into classical music, horror movies, and modern furniture, and get relevant recommendations for each interest, connecting with people who are most in the know regarding each interest.

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#15

Post by dcurtis »

anamax wrote: post #13
dcurtis wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of having groups of content is to combine traditionally dissimilar types of content-- movies, music, housewares, etc... For example I can make a group of content called "new living room" and add all of the things that go into my new living room. This includes the music and movies that I have stored there, the type of TV I bought, the type of couch, stereo receiver, speakers, or even the paint on the wall. W…

Why do you think that the netflix system won't do the right thing if we both put some music in our "groups of content" labelled "movies"?

I'm not sure what you're asking here-- Netflix doesn't care about anything but movies, and it probably wouldn't be able to recommend movies any better if it knew your musical tastes, or even how your tastes compare to mine.

The idea is that if you search for "sony SSK70ED," on the "discovery engine," it will show you what other people have paired with those speakers, such as receivers, furniture, and televisions. In a way those things are "similar" to the speakers because they complement them. Of course, the system shows you similar speakers first, but the complementing items are interesting results to have when you're searching for a specific item.

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#18

Post by steffon »

bootload wrote: post #16

"... I'm putting together a Y combinator funding proposal based on this basic idea and am looking for feedback ..." demonstrate the idea by showing ... build an app... Show me the demo

That was my thought too so I have a demo under development. Unfortunately, it won't be ready by Oct.11, and of course, it's all about the right team anyway which is what I'm really interested in. The main reason for posting this idea is to find like-mided entrepreneurs interested in the idea so we can build a team and, as you said, "demonstrate the idea by showing...build an app".

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#19

Post by bootload »

steffon wrote: post #18
bootload wrote: post #16

"... I'm putting together a Y combinator funding proposal based on this basic idea and am looking for feedback ..." demonstrate the idea by showing ... build an app... Show me the demo

That was my thought too so I have a demo under development. Unfortunately, it won't be ready by Oct.11, and of course, it's all about the right team anyway which is what I'm really interested in. The main reason for posting this idea is to find like-mided entrepreneurs interested in the idea so we can build a team and, as you said, "demonstrate the idea by showing...build an app".

"... The main reason for posting this idea is to find like-mided entrepreneurs interested in the idea ..."

Now I see. Even a mocked up static demo is better than nothing. The Oct 11 date is plenty of time. Now I get what "your going to have to work real hard" comment means especially when you come up against fixed dates.

Re: What do you think of my startup idea?

#20

Post by dcurtis »

alaskamiller wrote: post #17

sounds like it can be taken care of by mahalo. machine learning or... i might have said that because i want to discourage you from using this great idea and save it for myself... hmm...

Mahalo is trying to reinvent search by letting people chose the results, and that's not going to work. Using Google, I can manipulate the "machine" to give me precise results.

This idea is about finding new things based on things you already know. It's not possible to manipulate the Google "machine" to discover things that are similar to what you know you like.

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