31–40 of 41 posts
Xendit — Venmo for Southeast Asia Xfers — PayPal for Southeast Asia Seems like a direct conflict?
The big difference: PayPal is for the computer, Venmo is for the smartphone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was quite surprised to see the tea-making and sandwich-making robots. I met a startup in Hong Kong, CafeX, who were working on a coffee-making robot, and my first reaction was that they were using cutting-edge technology to solve a trivial problem. I do like good coffee though, so I thought through the business case. It seemed to fit into an awkward gap between "cheap coffee vending machine" and "cafe kiosk with tr…
> People who like quality coffee will usually prefer a trained barista if one is available, unless they want to try the novelty of a robot. I seem to recall (and I can't remember where I saw it) that Heston Blumenthal uses a very expensive automated coffee machine to remove the variance inherent in human baristas.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no evidence that data motivates people to start doing anything. There's plenty that shows data helps you continue once you've started (if you're succeeding, otherwise data works as a negative reinforcer), but if you haven't started yet, additional data won't help.
There's plenty of evidence that shows those signs on highways that show you your speed cause you to slow down.
Xendit — Venmo for Southeast Asia Xfers — PayPal for Southeast Asia Seems like a direct conflict?
Fun fact: PayPal owns Venmo. They've tried to keep it quiet because the Venmo brand is much stronger independent from the various screw-ups and annoyances of PayPal. The big difference: PayPal is for the computer, Venmo is for the smartphone.
>The garden consists of “smart capsules” that contain seeds, nutrients and soil that’s geared toward the specific plant. (It’s kind of like a Keurig capsule, but for plants.) REALLY?
I think this could work. There could be a decent aftermarket sales opportunity, too. The ability to sell 'prettier' planters/etc.
A lot more health, bio, and food related startups in this batch.
Tea and sandwich making robots makes me think that one day YC will open its own automated coffeeshop or restaurant. Theoretically lower operating costs, making the business much higher margin. Call9 and Circle Medical look very interesting in the medical space.
And of course, gotta cheer for onboardiq. Their users really love them. They're bringing on clients so quickly and are some of the hardest and smartest workers I've met.
Perhaps I am nit-picking but.... ROSS "is a digital legal expert" that managed not to attribute its landing page's photo legally. The photo is from here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stuttgart_Bibliothek... And according to the licence ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ), attribution credit as well as link to the cc license should be provided. I think the idea is very cool by the way -- just…
I believe that's the attribution. As it says in the license section below:
"attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor"
So you can't really say if its not attributed properly.
Circle Medical is "Uber for doctors". That's going to be interesting. The tea-making robot seems to come with overoptimistic numbers. The sandwich-making robot is a good idea, but it will need a complete redesign to make it cleanable. All stainless and Teflon, no food trap points, machine-washable, steam-cleanable. Whether it's cost effective is another issue. That idea has been tried many times. Here's AMFare, from…
I was quite surprised to see the tea-making and sandwich-making robots. I met a startup in Hong Kong, CafeX, who were working on a coffee-making robot, and my first reaction was that they were using cutting-edge technology to solve a trivial problem. I do like good coffee though, so I thought through the business case. It seemed to fit into an awkward gap between "cheap coffee vending machine" and "cafe kiosk with tr…
That's not why Starbucks is so labor-intensive.
Starbucks developed a good automated coffee-making machine, but decided not to deploy it. Instead, they built a lower-profile manual machine which allows their employees to maintain eye contact with the customer. The whole point of Starbucks, the thing that justifies their high prices, is the ego boost the customer gets from making the barista perform. Starbucks is about sucking up. All their employees know this; it's in their training. Starbucks is a fast food operation with the sucking-up level of a sit-down restaurant.
Read what their CEO has to say on the subject.[1]
[1] http://www.kplu.org/post/robot-baristas-heres-starbucks-ceo-...
Circle Medical is "Uber for doctors". That's going to be interesting. The tea-making robot seems to come with overoptimistic numbers. The sandwich-making robot is a good idea, but it will need a complete redesign to make it cleanable. All stainless and Teflon, no food trap points, machine-washable, steam-cleanable. Whether it's cost effective is another issue. That idea has been tried many times. Here's AMFare, from…
Who needs a teaBOT when you can have a teasmade! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teasmade )