it's be good if somebody with powers could change the link to the permalink instead of the base blog url: http://ardenthoughts.tumblr.com/post/20053064127/frightening...
Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
21–30 of 133 posts
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#22the only problem with this post is that Google was like Yahoo but that search actually worked, Microsoft was like IBM (the software bits) but software for the masses. There are a lot of counterexamples where starting with something existing provides a beachhead for the ambitious.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#23The problem is press coverage. The press needs to be able to write a story. In order to write that story, they have to understand (quickly) what they are writing about and deliver it to readers in a way they can understand (quickly). So if someone demo's a way for doctors to track medical records and an algorithm that uses all of this data to improve point of care diagnostics, what do you call that in a headline? Google for Doctors?
The reason why I bring the medical example up is because there is a team here that has a frighteningly ambitious start up (not idea yet). Medigram is a stacked team that is going after the medical industry in a way that no one else wants to. Starting with a messaging app that complies with regulators, they are planting the seed of trust with the medical industry. When they move up to records, they get data. When they get data, they use that math heavy team to solve the ambitious idea of making diagnosis more accurate. Then who knows? A tiny pill that you can swallow that transmits blood test data back to a central server and diagnose your issues instantly? I don't know, but they had to start somewhere.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#24Unambitious startup ideas can be conjured up by a small team and sold to a big company later with hardly any up front dollars. If you want ambitious you should look outside the realm of 100% tech startups. Specifically, you should look in the food/tech realm - but don't look at the worthless calorie counters.
Disclaimer: I work for a struggling startup in the food/tech realm.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#25I fail to see why companies that make money would fail to satisfy an investor?
Is there something about the YC model that makes companies that go on to turn modest profits not generate returns for the investor?
A business like Wal-Mart wouldn't satisfy you as an investor? I wouldn't have any problems taking 8% of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart didn't invent anything new, they just did it a little bit better than their competitors. Techcrunch 1969: "Wal-Mart: Sears for people who like to pay less"
Impressive algorithms don't make money, businesses that satisfy customers do. You're not going to 'change the world' unless your customers are happy.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#26Paul Graham said don't attack the problem head on. Make a beachhead. Supposedly these seemingly dull ideas are beachheads. That was covered in a previous HN discussion about a similar article questioning YC startup ideas in practice. But something like Dropbox seems to have a hard time scaling out, exploring other ideas, and that's with a founder who wants to build a big company like Apple. Even if you start with a b…
Something I've seen clearly is that if you haven't talked quietly with the founders of a startup, you might not know what they're doing.
I'm building a company right now that intends to have three major Acts in it's lifetime, the first of which is unimpressive but designed to get us customers and base knowledge for use while executing Act II, which we then intend to apply to additional verticals as part of Act III.
But Act I will likely look like something that two guys could put together in their garage in a year. And that's exactly what it is.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#27X for Y, where X = "Airbnb" and Y = "Large existing market poorly served by technology", is in fact a good shorthand for "frighteningly ambitious".
Literally. Airbnb is a frighteningly ambitious company. It is explosively generating value and we don't know how it's going to play out long term. It could end up with us living in caves with dogs watching out for the Terminators.
It is hard for me to take the rest of the article seriously after it suggests that "Airbnbing" auto mechanics is unambitious. It's possible that most Americans have routine car service done at dealerships where they're being routinely fleeced, and that the current crappy system of servicing vehicles is driving talent either out of the businesses or to those giant dealership shops. Have you ever tried to find a reliable mechanic? I drive an old Audi. It's painful.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#28Even Twitter wouldn't sound ambitious if you say "we are group SMS for the world".
To better understand how ambitious a startup is, assume that its adoption is 100%. If everyone is using it, does it change lives? If everyone chats on Twitter, does it impact politics? If everyone is on Facebook, do you reconnect with old friends? Etc. Dropbox is in that category too.
With used cars purchases, I can see how everyone would use the site, and still not have any meaningful impact. Cheaper cars. More efficient market. But still, in the end, cheaper cars. Am I missing something?
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#29Don't forget that Airbnb once pitched themselves as "EBay for space", just as Your Mechanic now dub themselves the "Airbnb for car repair"
What once seemed like a niche, unambitious company now is frighteningly ambitious.
Re: Frighteningly Unambitious Startup Ideas
#30Myspace for Harvard students.