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Startup idea list

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Startup idea list

#171

Post by arafalov »

arafalov wrote: post #160

I have a whole (Google) Drive of ideas, each with a hook, strategy, and business plan. Some of them, I have seen startups to independently try. I will post a bunch as individual sub-comments, see if anybody wants to make a startup of them. If somebody does, I will be happy to share most of the rest of details, in exchange for free accounts, recognition, etc. Ok, I posted about 10% of what I have (most here, one was s…

Contest tracking

Track the developer contents, list the APIs allowed, deadlines, countries, prizes. Allow people to comment around the tasks Allow people to provide training around the tasks (sell the e-Book versions of the training, give part of money to the original contributor) Allow people to subscribe by programming language Setup landing sites by keywords, etc.

Re: Startup idea list

#172

Post by sdcooke »

tocomment wrote: post #21

Here's a simple idea I've been kicking around. I might just build it for fun. I call it notifyme.when. Users put in things they want to be notified about e.g., new book by Steven King released, Sequel to District 9 announced, Mortgage rates fall below 3.5%, etc. Then other users log in and review the requests and post updates to any of the event they know have happened. You get points (like Stack Overflow) if you leg…

I've been thinking about something similar to this - particularly for me in relation to when bands bring out new albums or new TV series come out. I was thinking I'd probably tackle it a vertical at a time and find a source for the information (e.g. last.fm for albums, IMDB for movies/TV series) that can be put to use automatically. I reckon the simplest way to monetize this would be affiliate links in the alerts - the click through is obviously going to be pretty high (people have actively said they're interested in something) but I've never seen affiliates as a great source of revenue.

Re: Startup idea list

#173

Post by saraid216 »

georgespencer wrote: post #17
Void_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple still requires developers from outside US to fax them form with their credit card number on it. (!) On the other hand, there are services that will fax PDF for you, even for free.

The difficulty with faxing something is that it's even more out of date than printing something. I don't have a printer, but at least I know a store where I can buy one. I've got no idea where the fuck I'd go to buy a fax machine.

There is such a thing as an e-fax (you send an email and it magically turns into a fax on the other side). I have only seen it from one side and do not have any details, though.

When I was doing Lots Of Paperwork for something, I'd often print out reams at the office and fax reams back. I consider myself rather fortunate that no one ever complained; being friends with the receptionist (who sits next to the fax and was thus ideally suited to calling me out on excessive usage of office equipment for personal use) probably helped.

Re: Startup idea list

#174

Post by arafalov »

arafalov wrote: post #160

I have a whole (Google) Drive of ideas, each with a hook, strategy, and business plan. Some of them, I have seen startups to independently try. I will post a bunch as individual sub-comments, see if anybody wants to make a startup of them. If somebody does, I will be happy to share most of the rest of details, in exchange for free accounts, recognition, etc. Ok, I posted about 10% of what I have (most here, one was s…

Find me an app

App to do social voting for iPhone/iPad app to find apps for X Make it free to watch (viral aspect)

Pay $0.99 to vote for questions/ideas $5 for 10 votes (or some similar scaling) If not winning, keep (all, half?) the votes The most voted proposal - somebody at the company does the search, review of requirements Allow to tag, tweet, share to get followers, maybe even track source Also can be leveraged into contacting the original develops and asking them to add specific features (maybe with committed funds - Mini kickstarter)

Something like this? https://openspacestore.com/ http://allthingsd.com/20111213/an-honest-to-goodness-app-sto... (service since dead though, don't follow links from article)

Re: Startup idea list

#175

Post by crisnoble »

krallja wrote: post #131
tocomment wrote: post #117

Problem: Customers ask for a cup for water in restaurants with selve serve soda fountains and proceed to fill the cup with soda. (Is this a big problem?) Solution: QR codes (or something else) printed on the inside bottom of each cup intended for soda. (water cups would be normal cups.) Then the machine would only dispense soda if it sees the QR code. (Or same idea with RFID)

The QR codes could also be used to gather data about your customers - what's their favorite drink? How much do they drink per visit? What size drink do they prefer?

I think you could get this data by tracking (1) How many people came in, potentially via number of meals sold (2) How many times you have to re-order each type of drink. It wouldn't be real time but the data presumably already exists. Plus nowadays I see those fancy electronic dispensers with touch screens and would be very surprised if they didn't have built in metrics.

Re: Startup idea list

#176

Post by arafalov »

arafalov wrote: post #160

I have a whole (Google) Drive of ideas, each with a hook, strategy, and business plan. Some of them, I have seen startups to independently try. I will post a bunch as individual sub-comments, see if anybody wants to make a startup of them. If somebody does, I will be happy to share most of the rest of details, in exchange for free accounts, recognition, etc. Ok, I posted about 10% of what I have (most here, one was s…

Kids' checklist

For pre-reading kids, activities with big-pretty icons for things like: putting toys away brushing teeth etc.

Allows them to check items off to give kids good habits. Gamify the achievements. This exists for the fridge, but doing it on mobile devices makes it look cooler.

Re: Startup idea list

#177

Post by joeshaw »

jemka wrote: post #150
mtoddh wrote: post #79

A service that syncs your resume with companies' Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The problem: you're applying for jobs at three different companies. Each company uses their own Applicant Tracking System (eg. Taleo, Kenexa, PeopleAdmin). That means you get to fill out your resume three different times, which is tedious and error prone. It would be nice to have a service where you input your resume once and then it j…

100% agree. I'd love to be a part of this solution. A centralized point where people can store different versions of resumes, cover letters, and application information. This point also can parse and pre-fill out any application of your choice for any company. It presents the user only with questions it can't answer from the information it has on file. A summary is given to the user for review before submission. I've…

You might be interested in this job posting from the "Who's hiring" thread from August:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4323765

TalentDrive is essentially working on this. (Note: I am affiliated with the company in that my employer shares the same parent company as TalentDrive.)

Re: Startup idea list

#178

Post by arafalov »

arafalov wrote: post #160

I have a whole (Google) Drive of ideas, each with a hook, strategy, and business plan. Some of them, I have seen startups to independently try. I will post a bunch as individual sub-comments, see if anybody wants to make a startup of them. If somebody does, I will be happy to share most of the rest of details, in exchange for free accounts, recognition, etc. Ok, I posted about 10% of what I have (most here, one was s…

Photo Shoot - everybody has a camera, but does not have time to really learn it

Basic Idea: Setup a big room/maze with multiple rooms/shooting range where people can practice their skills with their (or borrowed camera).

The twist: do it in the busy airport where people are forced to have time to kill. As there is no stock to sell, the amount of space required is probably not too high, a bit like the mini-massage rooms.

Make money on: * Sell the cameras they practice with (possibly with Amazon delivery to where they are going) * Sell photography DVDs and/or online services * Sell ebooks * Allow travelling professional photographers do a mini-training when they are passing through airport anyway. Sell their product when they do.

Advertise on tripit based on people's itineraries passing through that airport with more than X hours wait.

Use CameraSim * as pre-workshop training * run it on the computers next to the training while people wait * give it away (branded) as part of the training

Franchise!!!

And a whole lot of other tie-ins/money making. I have 3 page write up around it.

Re: Startup idea list

#179

Post by joeshaw »

mtoddh wrote: post #101

It would be nice to have a dumb computer for your kitchen that is basically just for displaying recipes from the internet (eg allrecipes.com). It would be thin like an ipad and I could hang it on the wall/fridge/cupboard/above the counter while I am preparing food. It would be easy to clean and sturdy and would keep working even I spilled sauce on it, dropped it on the counter, etc.

In a related vein, I would love an e-ink screen that was essentially just a high-resolution informational display. Recipes would be good for this, but also things like the weather, news headlines, what's on my calendar for the day, etc. It could sync up once an hour or so, and the layout and content would be controlled by me via a web UI.

Re: Startup idea list

#180

Post by MadQA »

gadders wrote: post #168

Take the fuzzy logic and intelligence in commercial-grade data cleansing programs, and create a version that will fit on a mobile and de-dupe my contacts. It shouldn't just present them as one contact on the phone, but actually update the record on Google Contacts or wherever to reflect the "merged" identity.

Something similar was offered by connex.io but unfortunately they've closed recently.
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