Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course, but I would not call it "Web application" anymore. Perhaps brain application?
"Aw, man... BrainBook is down again..."
As long as Wikipedia is still working. ;)
Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
51–59 of 59 posts
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#52People's wants seem unlimited, at least in the near term. If you accept that, the only limitation on the number of web startups is how many needs can be satisfied by software. (The web is just the current default software platform.) And since everything is turning into software nowadays, it seems likely that the infinite demand for new stuff translates into an infinite demand for new software.
What do you mean by "everything is turning into software"?
Also, while I agree that there's effectively infinite demand for new software (I can't imagine a day where all software companies and open source projects stop writing code), it doesn't mean that there's infinite room for new software businessnes -- especially the ones that start with a few hackers in an apartment cranking out a webapp in 2-4 months.
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#53Every idea I think of, someone else has done. Maybe your ideas aren't specific enough. Take my own not-yet-launched project ( http://www.tarsnap.com ), for example: Online backups. Lots of people have done those, right? Mozy, Carbonite, iDrive... google can easily find dozens of them. But that's just the "30 thousand feet" view of what I'm doing. I'm not just doing online backups -- I'm doing secure online backups. S…
Mozy, Carbonite, and all the other big ones I have heard of seem to be Win/Mac only. Linux might not be a huge market, and there are DIY solutions, but personally I would pay for an easy to use linux backup system. Tarsnap isn't exactly what I need, but it's the closest I've seen yet.
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#54Every idea I think of, someone else has done. Maybe your ideas aren't specific enough. Take my own not-yet-launched project ( http://www.tarsnap.com ), for example: Online backups. Lots of people have done those, right? Mozy, Carbonite, iDrive... google can easily find dozens of them. But that's just the "30 thousand feet" view of what I'm doing. I'm not just doing online backups -- I'm doing secure online backups. S…
Mozy, Carbonite, and all the other big ones I have heard of seem to be Win/Mac only. Linux might not be a huge market, and there are DIY solutions, but personally I would pay for an easy to use linux backup system. Tarsnap isn't exactly what I need, but it's the closest I've seen yet.
Tarsnap isn't exactly what I need
Feel free to send me an email (address on website) to let me know what you'd like tarsnap to do -- the more feedback I can get, the better tarsnap will be. :-)
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mozy, Carbonite, and all the other big ones I have heard of seem to be Win/Mac only. Linux might not be a huge market, and there are DIY solutions, but personally I would pay for an easy to use linux backup system. Tarsnap isn't exactly what I need, but it's the closest I've seen yet.
Tarsnap isn't exactly what I need Feel free to send me an email (address on website) to let me know what you'd like tarsnap to do -- the more feedback I can get, the better tarsnap will be. :-)
Sent :)
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds a lot like http://www.idrive.com/ or www.evault.com/ and or several other systems out there. Building a secure system is a hard problem and even if you build the best system few people can judge how well your doing. You could market it as "The only 4096 bit system" but you end up with a tiny market segment. I would suggest starting with a secure chat system with good logging options. That way you can reas…
That sounds a lot like http://www.idrive.com/ or www.evault.com/ and or several other systems out there. As I said, lots of people are doing online backups. Nobody else is doing secure online backups. Building a secure system is a hard problem Exactly -- that's why it's something which I can do but nobody else has done yet. and [...] few people can judge how well your (sic) doing Fortunately, with a doctorate in Comp…
I am not talking about the size of the market, just pointing out there are already several companies that seem to do this. To be more clear: looking at idrives's home page's table iDrive, Mozy, and Carbonite all do "Security: Encryption on transfer, Encryption on storage" now I don't think these systems are going to be NSA level security but you now have to convince people you do security better than the existing players which tends to be hard.
In the end security is more about trust than the algorithm. I need to trust you not to log the password somewhere etc. Established players gain some trust because they have other things on their mind than your data and presumably they want to protect their reputation, so IMO the new guy is bester off focusing on something more tangible so you get a chance to build your reputation.
Which is why I suggest a free App that demonstrates you do security. You could build that relationship of trust and drum up some somewhat free press around how subversive your application was and turn that into a strong market.
PS: Good luck with your startup. I think you can make it work, but after considering the same idea and talking to people about what they trust I moved on to other areas .
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#57People's wants seem unlimited, at least in the near term. If you accept that, the only limitation on the number of web startups is how many needs can be satisfied by software. (The web is just the current default software platform.) And since everything is turning into software nowadays, it seems likely that the infinite demand for new stuff translates into an infinite demand for new software.
What do you mean by "everything is turning into software"? Also, while I agree that there's effectively infinite demand for new software (I can't imagine a day where all software companies and open source projects stop writing code), it doesn't mean that there's infinite room for new software businessnes -- especially the ones that start with a few hackers in an apartment cranking out a webapp in 2-4 months.
What do you mean by "everything is turning into software"?
Can't answer directly for pg but I know my whole field (electrical engineering) has pretty much been converted to software. Musical instruments, medical diagnostics, anything that deals with information processing, which in this day and age, seems to be migrating to a software function.
But like I said, can't speak for pg.
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry if I didn't express myself correctly. I'm not a native English speaker. I say: you can have a need, but you can have not enough money to pay for a solution to that need. For example, you can say that as there is so much poverty, there is a big need for food so there is a big market for food right? But probably, the sector that is suffering poverty wouldn't make an interesting market, as would not have money to…
The two of you have a disagreement, but it's not here, this is just conflicting names for ideas. Putting words in your mouths: You: if people don't know how to make something cheaply enough it's not a market. Ivan: it could be a market if you solve the technological problem of making it cheaper. You: making food cheaper isn't a market because the poor have no money. Ivan: making food cheaper isn't a feasible market b…
Actually, I was just trying to be precise. I think market != needs and I was giving some examples... in the best of the cases, all needs are potential markets, but you haven't markets for all needs. And, what is more important and what was my original comment: not all needs generate interesting markets for you (because of tech possibilities, as you said, because of costs, because of logistics, etc).
I can think of all kind of needs: a google maps with 2d shading would make it fun for kids (to say something stupid). But they wouldn't pay for it, it would be very expensive to do unless you are google, and it would probably be expensive _even_ if you are google (because the raw data are photos and no 3d info excepting some selected places), etc etc etc. That's not an interesting need if you look from the market perspective... but if you fall in the trap "anything useful for anybody is worth doing" you might fall in the trap of creating that kind of worthless project.
Re: Ask YC: Will there really always be room for more successful web startups?
#59One of the basic problems with this whole discussion, is that most are thinking like Americans: that everywhere in the world is like where we are now.
If you go to any lesser-developed countries they are not entrenched in "google" or "facebook" or anything for that matter because they don't have computers --but they do have mobile phones.
Everybody's talking about China & India, great. But what about the many nations on the African Continent? In five to ten years, countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, etc. will be the new technological and economical hotbeds.