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Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

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Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#71

Post by ianthiel »

aresant wrote: post #7

Is this that moment in time where because popular opinion says we're in a bubble, we're actually NOT in a bubble? Just food for thought - check out http://www.qwiki.com/for-publishers . Let's say that they pick up a reasonable number of tier-1 publishers into this format. Heck maybe they already have commitments and that was part of their pitch in raising the additional $8m. How would that change your perception of t…

I think the OP is forgetting that what the product does now is largely irrelevant to a good investor. It's what the product can or will do that makes it worth investing in.

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#72

Post by RobbieStats »

c2 wrote: post #22

I don't understand the need for bench entrepreneurs to ridicule start ups from the side lines. All this effort to point fingers and make fun of start ups which are actually trying to build businesses might be better spent actually trying to build your own business. All the posts about Qwiki and others recently (Facebook, Zynga, Groupon) all calling for the downfall of all these start ups really make me question the v…

I'm an active entrepreneur and I completely agree with the author of the post. While the economics of the last bubble are drastically different than what's going on now, seeing this kind of exuberance for a company that has a flashy but poorly thought through idea reminds me of 1999.

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#74

Post by crasshopper »

borism wrote: post #60
c2 wrote: post #22

I don't understand the need for bench entrepreneurs to ridicule start ups from the side lines. All this effort to point fingers and make fun of start ups which are actually trying to build businesses might be better spent actually trying to build your own business. All the posts about Qwiki and others recently (Facebook, Zynga, Groupon) all calling for the downfall of all these start ups really make me question the v…

you should learn to take criticism then.

Why, because trying to do anything gives everybody else the right to criticize you?

He's got a point. Taunts cost little and yield nothing.

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#75

Post by beoba »

davidcann wrote: post #69
dstein wrote: post #17

The thing that bothers me about Qwiki is their "technology" is just a smoke and mirrors reproduction of things we see in the movies when a robot or A.I. talks to the characters. It's made to look and sound like A.I. except what they're doing doesn't involve machine learning or anything A.I-related. It's a simple mashup with a well-oiled marketing campaign (Techcrunch) behind them.

I agree to some extent, but wikipedia and similar sites are what A.I. will use to "learn" in the future. If this were 1990 or I didn't know about wikipedia, then I would be very impressed and think this was true artificial intelligence.

Nothing is being 'learned' here, the only thing being produced is a rote repetition of an article after it's been passed through a mediocre TTS engine.

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#76

Post by beoba »

arnorhs wrote: post #26

I simply don't agree with Eric on this one. His main argument seems to be that this startup isn't adding anything of any value to the space. The way I see it is this: Wikipedia is not very consumer friendly. It's dull looking and the entries are usually filled with a lot of text. The modern internet consumer is constantly facing more and more attention disorders and a lot of people don't simply like to read. The sear…

What's consumer friendly about waiting for a reader to slowly meander its way through the entire text of an article?

When's the last time you read a wikipedia article from start to finish, without even first checking that it contained the tidbit you were looking for?

Text is skimmable, dialog isn't.

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#77

Post by quantize »

lefstathiou wrote: post #47
ry0ohki wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post, while insightful, doesn't really provide much reason as to why there seems to be a huge influx currently of high funding rounds for seemingly basic or non-profitible companies, the likes that I have not seen since the 90s. The companies you mentioned, Pandora, Dropbox, and Facebook are probably the exceptions, and don't release financials to my knowledge. It will be interesting to see what Facebook actuall…

I think the answer is a bit more simple than that. Where else should people put their money if not in high tech? Industrials correlate to GDP, and GDP is projected to be flat. Same goes with consumer products and volatility is too high in media. If you have capital to put to work, Tech appears to have the highest risk/return profile. Phrased differently: if you had $10mil, where would you put it?

are internet companies still considered high-tech? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_tech

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#79

Post by adaugelli »

psyklic wrote: post #46
ry0ohki wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post, while insightful, doesn't really provide much reason as to why there seems to be a huge influx currently of high funding rounds for seemingly basic or non-profitible companies, the likes that I have not seen since the 90s. The companies you mentioned, Pandora, Dropbox, and Facebook are probably the exceptions, and don't release financials to my knowledge. It will be interesting to see what Facebook actuall…

Should companies only be highly funded if they are similar to popular companies already making huge exits? Wouldn't this sort of be "missing the train"?

This comment should be upvoted a ton more.

If you're pitching your business as X for Y and X is still a massively unproven startup - you've missed the train.

Work on creating your own X - you want to be the market leader - its the only way to truly win in the consumer web.

Re: Qwiki Epitomizes the Current Startup Bubble

#80

Post by wazoox »

jhasky wrote: post #54
lefstathiou wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the answer is a bit more simple than that. Where else should people put their money if not in high tech? Industrials correlate to GDP, and GDP is projected to be flat. Same goes with consumer products and volatility is too high in media. If you have capital to put to work, Tech appears to have the highest risk/return profile. Phrased differently: if you had $10mil, where would you put it?

"GDP is projected to be flat." This is utterly absurd and shows a complete misunderstanding of economic growth.

On the contrary, it makes sense. There were a huge influx of liquidities from the central banks around the world, and this money needs to be invested into something. Western GDP is pretty flat now and has been for a while if you don't take into account the various credit bubbles, and will probably stay so for the foreseeable future - as long as oil prices stay over 75$ a barrel at least, which may very well be forever.
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