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Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

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Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#251

Post by smoldesu »

llaolleh wrote: post #220
andreilys wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Investing in a calendar widget is not a “crazy idea nobody will bet on” This is something that’s easily bootstrapped and which can be run as a lifestyle business at best.

I don't understand why people hate on calendar apps so much. They are also not there yet. My definition of an ideal calendar app is it would set the meetings I need for the right amount of time with the right people. It will obtain theoretical correct schedule S that maximizes my happiness and satisfaction on earth. The design space is huge. Maybe cutting edge tech can help us get closer to the scheduler that we all…

None of this is germane to the question at hand though.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#252

Post by jeffreyrogers »

ryanSrich wrote: post #168
vbezhenar wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$10/month is not a cheap tool. I'm paying $90/year for Intellij Idea which is my main development tool. IMO that cost is extremely prohibitive for most users and it's definitely not a way to get plenty of people on board to monetize it later.

I don't get when people say $X/month is too much. Too much for you maybe. But for me, if I can save 1 hour per month, that's worth $500. That's the top of what I've charged per hour for some consulting gigs. So $10/m is literally nothing for me if I can save time. Time is your most valuable asset. Money is nothing. Focus on time.

I don't get it either when you consider most people drop $10/month on plenty of other things. I'm pretty sure I spend a decent multiple of that on coffee.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#253

Post by alex_g »

bombcar wrote: post #61
2cb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Monthly payments forever for standalone apps is a big no no in my book. I get annoyed even just writing about it. Same. I often see good software then see they run on a subscription model and nope right out of there. If it was a one-off reasonable price I'd pay. Sometimes I am happy to pay a small yearly fee if it's real nice software and I wanna support the dev. But monthly subscriptions is stupid to me.

A subscription has to provide SOMETHING that I consider “ongoing” to be of value to me - 1Password syncing for example, or email - before I’ll consider it. Otherwise I’m looking for another option as I can’t be five and dimed to death by little subscriptions.

Do you consider "ongoing" to be synonymous with "server costs"? As someone trying to figure out a pricing model for a currently-local-only app, I'm genuinely curious.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#254

Post by csomar »

vbezhenar wrote: post #146
onion2k wrote: post #13

Literally every time you see a startup release a product that seems trivial it's because that's not the full story. You're judging without complete information. For example, the public face might be a simple Mac calendar widget, but that could be the gateway to calendar sharing, native office apps, meeting booking, event management, ticket sales, corporate flight sales etc. Building an audience with a cheap tool that…

$10/month is not a cheap tool. I'm paying $90/year for Intellij Idea which is my main development tool. IMO that cost is extremely prohibitive for most users and it's definitely not a way to get plenty of people on board to monetize it later.

Even in the poorest of countries, $90/year is not too much for any serious (heck, even amateur) software developer. A coffee costs around $1 (in poor countries), that's $365/year and most people drink more than a cup per day.

Now that's a tool to actually work, not increase your productivity (or mess with it). So $90 is pretty affordable.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#255

Post by jeffreyrogers »

This is like asking if Toyota has lost its way because they make a crappy car one year. Except even sillier because the whole model of YC is to fund speculative things knowing that most won't be that valuable.

Also, tough to judge a company by its earliest incarnation. I thought Facebook was pretty dumb when I first heard about it, but they turned out fine.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#256

Post by newusertoday »

Because they are betting on founders not the product, product will change based on market response to it remember segment?what it was when it was initially funded and what it became after pivot. In a way it is similar to asking why do you want to hire developer who does not have experience with xyz tech? this doesn't looks outrageous as we know experienced developer will eventually be able to learn and that is why we are hiring him/her. This is similar essentially we are betting on person not product/technology.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#258

Post by dormento »

TomAnthony wrote: post #128

Offtopic: I despair that a calendar widget for my Mac is now a pay monthly thing. It is becoming widespread that things that were previously just a piece of software you could buy (then optionally upgrade in the future) are now a monthly cost. It makes sense for high ticket pieces of software (Office, Photoshop), where it makes it more accessible for regular users. However, for a calendar widget or many similar examp…

This is not offtopic at all. Remember when a certain company wanted to make us pay monthly for... _squeezing fruit juice packs_ ? The startup/invest world follows some weird-ass rules, to be honest.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#259

Post by the_cat_kittles »

pietrovismara wrote: post #38
the_cat_kittles wrote: post #19

did y combinator ever find its way to begin with? besides making money, have any really useful things been funded by them? airbnb is the only one i can think of that is something im actually glad exists

> airbnb is the only one i can think of that is something im actually glad exists If you leave aside the fact that it destroyed housing in many cities, like the one I live in. A handful of landlords got richer, turists could travel cheaper (not necessarily a good thing overall), but an entire class of citizens got kicked out of the city as now no landlord wants to regularly rent their flat. If you ask for disruption,…

that is true and bad. i was mostly just thinking superficially selfish perspective of things i like using.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#260

Post by Sebb767 »

emdowling wrote: post #49
MattGaiser wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they build a unified notification inbox, I will pay for that. I had one of those when I used a Blackberry and I miss it as I now have to check 10 sites periodically to stay on top of things.

Wasn't a unified place for communications, with connections and feeds from all the services you and your company used, the original goal of Slack?

Obligatory: https://xkcd.com/927/
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