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Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

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Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#111

Post by oblique63 »

vecter wrote: post #56
Estragon wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the best-case endgame for dropbox? I like it, but I don't understand why everyone's so excited about its potential.

They can become the file system for the internet. If they're successful, many futures apps (mobile or desktop) will sit on top of Dropbox software to sync files and app state for their users. That is an incredibly powerful vision.

> If they're successful, many futures apps (mobile or desktop) will sit on top of Dropbox

This sounds like a great vision for Dropbox to follow, but I just can't shake the feeling that the future is going to ultimately look a lot more like what Google is doing with docs, and eliminate the need for most offline/native apps at all. And if in the best case, Dropbox is still going to be dependent on offline apps, I guess it just feels a bit limiting.

I'll admit as much as the next person that the current wave of web/browser-based things (games, operating systems, phone apps, etc) feel seriously lacking, but given enough time, I just can't imagine how this isn't the direction the future is heading. Dropbox makes it amazingly easy to backup, version, and share files right now, but if all the apps you use would already be doing that for you, what would be the point? Or rather, how would Dropbox pivot to account for this?

I think Dropbox is awesome, and that vision you're describing is great, but I would imagine that there is a very specific window of opportunity for when they would have to take action if they want to see this type of 'endgame' have any real impact.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#112

Post by lominming »

Let's just imagine the one-liner of the big companies today: - Google: Yahoo with PageRank - Facebook: Friendster for colleges - Dropbox: Files sharing made easy - Yelp: User reviews for restaurants

All ideas seem small and narrow at the start. It is true that you should recognize the possible direction the startup could go, but as PG said before, it is important to first make something that a group of users really really love. From there, you start growing into something bigger. The main point is that you may not know what it will grow and evolve to when you first start the company.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#113

Post by justin »

tlogan wrote: post #108
pg wrote: post #81

"If I were Paul Graham, these types of companies simply would not satisfy me (despite what look to be very lucrative payoffs)." That's hilarious, because I'm the one who wrote all the summaries of the startups that she's judging them by. I deliberately express startup ideas as x for y whenever possible because that's the most efficient way to describe a startup in a few words. Airbnb, for example, was in its day "eBa…

I will explain what I think from the point of view of an engineer: none of the companies inspired me to apply for a job to work for them. Probably the problem is that I'm not smart enough to see the grand vision: the vision of these companies is just not clear for mortals like me. For example, I was hoping to see something like Word Lens on iPhone: I can see how they can rule the world. That is something frighteningl…

How has Word Lens taken over the world? It is an awesome technology, but there are many awesome technologies, and not many of them become amazing businesses. (However, that said, there are awesome technologies like the Word Lens in this class of YC).

When Facebook started off people just said it was MySpace for college students. Those with imagination that joined early now reap the benefits of vision.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#115

Post by Schwolop »

tptacek wrote: post #95
Schwolop wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can empathise with your situation, but I think you're right about some things and wrong about others. You're right that its difficult for a mortgaged family breadwinner to give up the stable income. You're right that YC's contribution of $20k or even the $150k convertible note from Conway and Milner isn't going to cut it when spread amongst multiple founders. You're right that a typical startup salary is far below…

the terms aren't set because $20k is a lifeline, they're set because just-above-starvation is the impetus for you to work your arse off getting to profitability Respectfully (I don't know you): this is bullshit. The terms are set this way because that's what the market will bear in this specific instance. The idea that the terms of VC deals are structured to align the incentives of founders with VCs is a negotiating…

I agree with what you say for later rounds of VC funding (and this is valuable advice for naïve founders!), but I'm talking about YC and other seed rounds/incubators. The idea of this seed stage is to validate the business, getting it to the point where the founders can get more funding from elsewhere. If YC paid much more than $20k then the three months of hacking around might start to look like quite an attractive job. By keeping the funding fairly low, they ensure the ideas aren't overvalued straight away, and that the incentives are aligned. Only founders who back their ideas/team enough to walk away from their jobs for three months, splitting a mere $20k between the team and product, will apply.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#116

Post by pg »

tlogan wrote: post #108
pg wrote: post #81

"If I were Paul Graham, these types of companies simply would not satisfy me (despite what look to be very lucrative payoffs)." That's hilarious, because I'm the one who wrote all the summaries of the startups that she's judging them by. I deliberately express startup ideas as x for y whenever possible because that's the most efficient way to describe a startup in a few words. Airbnb, for example, was in its day "eBa…

I will explain what I think from the point of view of an engineer: none of the companies inspired me to apply for a job to work for them. Probably the problem is that I'm not smart enough to see the grand vision: the vision of these companies is just not clear for mortals like me. For example, I was hoping to see something like Word Lens on iPhone: I can see how they can rule the world. That is something frighteningl…

Like I keep saying, the descriptions she's writing about were not meant to sell people on the company's vision, but simply to help investors remember which was which.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#117

Post by [deleted] »

justin wrote: post #113
tlogan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will explain what I think from the point of view of an engineer: none of the companies inspired me to apply for a job to work for them. Probably the problem is that I'm not smart enough to see the grand vision: the vision of these companies is just not clear for mortals like me. For example, I was hoping to see something like Word Lens on iPhone: I can see how they can rule the world. That is something frighteningl…

How has Word Lens taken over the world? It is an awesome technology, but there are many awesome technologies, and not many of them become amazing businesses. (However, that said, there are awesome technologies like the Word Lens in this class of YC). When Facebook started off people just said it was MySpace for college students. Those with imagination that joined early now reap the benefits of vision.

[deleted]

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#118

Post by tptacek »

Schwolop wrote: post #115
tptacek wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the terms aren't set because $20k is a lifeline, they're set because just-above-starvation is the impetus for you to work your arse off getting to profitability Respectfully (I don't know you): this is bullshit. The terms are set this way because that's what the market will bear in this specific instance. The idea that the terms of VC deals are structured to align the incentives of founders with VCs is a negotiating…

I agree with what you say for later rounds of VC funding (and this is valuable advice for naïve founders!), but I'm talking about YC and other seed rounds/incubators. The idea of this seed stage is to validate the business, getting it to the point where the founders can get more funding from elsewhere. If YC paid much more than $20k then the three months of hacking around might start to look like quite an attractive…

Strong disagree. As evidence for my argument: the extremely short duration of YC sessions, and the fact that so many YC companies immediately proceed to grab follow-on funding and market salaries.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#119

Post by evgen »

pbreit wrote: post #102
waterlesscloud wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what it is about Your Mechanic that will make the process any less opaque for the end user? Ok, so they arrange for the "best" mechanics to come to you to fix your car. The coming to you is cool, and certainly improves convenience. But lessens opaqueness? Not seeing it. What guarantee is there that the whole thing won't just turn into something like the big car repair chains are now? "Looks like you got a…

1) They are probably going to try and address most or all of your questions. 2) If they are successful in one industry, they might be able to apply the model to many/all industries.

If they are even mildly successful in this one niche they are going to see four me-too startups in three months (one of which will be bought by a national auto parts chain before the year is out) and see the core idea applied to five other niches before they close an A round.

Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas

#120

Post by RuggeroAltair »

tlogan wrote: post #108
pg wrote: post #81

"If I were Paul Graham, these types of companies simply would not satisfy me (despite what look to be very lucrative payoffs)." That's hilarious, because I'm the one who wrote all the summaries of the startups that she's judging them by. I deliberately express startup ideas as x for y whenever possible because that's the most efficient way to describe a startup in a few words. Airbnb, for example, was in its day "eBa…

I will explain what I think from the point of view of an engineer: none of the companies inspired me to apply for a job to work for them. Probably the problem is that I'm not smart enough to see the grand vision: the vision of these companies is just not clear for mortals like me. For example, I was hoping to see something like Word Lens on iPhone: I can see how they can rule the world. That is something frighteningl…

Although I don't mean that the other ones aren't worth working for, I'd say I'm surprised that you don't think Flutter is an interesting company to work for.

It seems like it could be a very exciting playground for an engineer.

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