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Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

techcrunch.com

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Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#31

Post by jkaunisv1 »

kaeawc wrote: post #19
pla3rhat3r wrote: post #18

I love that every app is labeled "It's (insert other app) for (insert what is does)." Example: YAMMER FOR MOBILE WORKFORCE, Mint.com for legal spend, CLICKTALE FOR MOBILE, YELP FOR LATIN AMERICA. UGH!!

It seems to be the best way to get new ideas across to people. How would you describe them in a clearer way that as many people would understand?

It goes both ways. The names are so nonsensical that I had to stop and think about what each service they were referring to does. No idea what Yammer is, and I was so inundated by weird names that by the time I read Yelp it didn't even register.

Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#32

Post by prawn »

Liked this comment on the SpoonRocket story:

"Reminds me of a tactic used by my father's friend, who owned a pizzeria. He noticed that about half the orders were for large pepperoni pizzas. So he had his drivers always carry an additional large pepperoni pizza in the car, and he'd call them mid-route if an additional order came in. It usually did, so thankfully very few cold pizzas died, and he sold more pizzas per hour than before. Saved on gas, drivers made more tips, and eventually he ended up getting heaters and drivers carrying as many as 10 per trip. Combine that with the deeper large pepperoni price cut he could now afford, it was quickly became the busiest joint in town. Too bad he never expanded."

Makes me imagine a person/duo in a van, back filled with a limited range of curries on the go and rice cookers, driving around a particular area getting delivery requests and payment on their phone. Drive the short distance (you're already in the van with the product), ladle out servings and walk them to the door. It'd be hard to beat that sort of delivery time and it might make for a few impulse orders.

Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#33

Post by jrichards27 »

jasonkester wrote: post #11

I remember a time when this very TechCrunch article would come out and I'd read through it with a sense of dismay at the sheer unadulterated badness of every single idea. Things have changed. An example: Teleborder charges $5,000 per visa application, ... gathering documents, collecting information, and sending information to the government. This is one of those ideas where you just stop and wonder why nobody has run…

Thanks Jason! I'm one of the cofounders.

There seems to be a bit of confusion around our pricing in the comments below, so let me clear it up: we charge an average of $5,000 per visa application. The real fees range from sub-$2k for simple transfers all the way to above $10k for some green c cards. For simplicity, we (and the press) sometimes abbreviate this to "$5k per visa".

So far, customers haven't had a problem paying a slight premium to use us; what they pay out in cash they more than make back in time saved and employee happiness, and that's why some even told us we're cheap!

Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#34

Post by jamesbrennan »

StatusPage.io looks like a very good and needed product but I feel like the fact they are a 100% AWS service this wouldn't be ideal for companies who also host their product in AWS. What happens when an AWS-related issue comes up? Your customers may not be able to get to your product as well as your status page.

Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#35

Post by huhtenberg »

jasonkester wrote: post #11

I remember a time when this very TechCrunch article would come out and I'd read through it with a sense of dismay at the sheer unadulterated badness of every single idea. Things have changed. An example: Teleborder charges $5,000 per visa application, ... gathering documents, collecting information, and sending information to the government. This is one of those ideas where you just stop and wonder why nobody has run…

> This is one of those ideas where you just stop and wonder why nobody has run with it before.

Hahaha... seriously? You have never heard of "immigration lawyers" and "travel agents"? This is exactly the service they have been providing since the dawn of time.

Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#37

Post by velik_m »

I think GoComm and Kivo have the best chance of this batch. I think GoComm especially is a good idea and in retrospect so obvious, that i wish i would've though of it. Coordinating people, even in small scale events is painful. I remember when i helped with fencing tournaments our club ran (running computer system) it was a constant trouble tracking down free pistes, referees, making sure other stuff (refreshments, garbage and similar) was ok... we solved this with having a dedicated person on the floor in the hall, keeping an eye out and keeping me in the loop, but that isn't very scalable

Re: Y Combinator Summer 2013 Demo Day, Batch 1

#38

Post by confluence »

prawn wrote: post #32

Liked this comment on the SpoonRocket story: "Reminds me of a tactic used by my father's friend, who owned a pizzeria. He noticed that about half the orders were for large pepperoni pizzas. So he had his drivers always carry an additional large pepperoni pizza in the car, and he'd call them mid-route if an additional order came in. It usually did, so thankfully very few cold pizzas died, and he sold more pizzas per h…

> Almost all programming [pizza delivery] can be viewed as an exercise in caching.

-- Terje Mathisen

Extra food in the car is like the L1 cache of the food world. Now that I think about, I'm pretty sure that every company in the world is just an exercise in caching.

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