How to be 100% sure your startup idea is good

Post by slay2k » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 10:42 PM UTC

LeBlanc wrote: post #33

shawndrost wrote: post #31

Hey Andrew! I hope you work on this more, but it's not ready for general consumption yet. Specifics: Social proof is a big part of why kickstarter works. The startup pages should prominently display something like "X people have committed $Y". Discoverability is also key. It should be easy to find your users, but I can only find you. If you haven't implemented the above because you don't have any content, that's also…

There was an issue with the pledge buttons - it's fixed now. Thanks for the advice though, I think it's spot on. I'm going to put in "X people have committed $Y" ASAP.

Post by jacques_chester » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 11:46 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #42

(Warning: outsider perspective coming) Why do all of these startup ideas always have similar web layouts? It may be "cool" in YC-land but that's no way to stand out. The idea is intriguing though.

Post by chucknthem » Wed, Feb 09, 2011, 12:11 AM UTC

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #25

acconrad wrote: post #14

So I guess Google, Facebook and Wikipedia wouldn't work?

"Google" - A search engine that is better than others because it doesn't rely on keyword frequency but rather other sites that reference it. "Facebook" - A social network that relies on exclusivity through both signup and connecting to others to engage customers. Stickiness is applied via user's updating their status, linking to sites or subjects of interest, discussing upcoming local events, and various methods of s…

Post by Ntagg » Wed, Feb 09, 2011, 12:47 AM UTC

nckpark wrote: post #2

This doesn't prove anything about the quality of a 'startup idea' It just proves that you are able to convince a small number of people to drop five bucks. I don't see how that has a correlation to the future success of a business. This would be much more interesting if it were pitched as a way to build a group of active early adopters. Pledging to an idea should give the user some perks from the start, and you shoul…

Post by Ntagg » Wed, Feb 09, 2011, 12:49 AM UTC

dralison wrote: post #17

Provocative idea. Agree (and upvoted swombat) that 100% is inaccurate. Here's the thing: how many applications do you use today that if they used the model upstartly.com is providing YOU would have invested in. I spend a huge amount of time in Clicky (web analytics) today and am a paying customer, but I wouldn't have given them $5 to build it. I needed to see it working—and try it—before I made that commitment.