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I didn't get into YC – here's my project

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#71

Post by keithwarren »

swatkat7 wrote: post #32
keithwarren wrote: post #7

Rejected as well; http://pivotal.ws

Personally, I'd love to use this if it can provide context to my photos. No one gets context right. Couple that with discovery and you have a winning proposition. I don't think the rejection has anything to do with the product itself. I reckon they got a lot of applications this year they wanted to fund that drowned out a lot of the other applications (such as mine, to ally different story though:)).

Appreciate the feedback. The challenge seems to be wrapping a revenue model around what amounts to a feature (context). The obvious play is to provide the common utility (backup/storage) which puts me in competition with the big dogs and storage is a bad business when you really get into it.

Originally had planned this as an app but took the idea to a startup weekend competition (we won) and mentors there were pushing me to find a monthly revenue model.

Now that YC has came and gone I may revisit simply building this as an app.

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#72

Post by keithwarren »

supo wrote: post #61
keithwarren wrote: post #7

Rejected as well; http://pivotal.ws

Hi, I co-founded a company that works on a similar idea, just from a slightly different perspective (focus on storytelling, not so much the aggregation): http://memoarc.com/ We should hang out :-)

Also curious what you thought about Nokia Storyteller which just got announced recently - pretty close to home it seems.

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#73

Post by swatkat7 »

keithwarren wrote: post #71
swatkat7 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I'd love to use this if it can provide context to my photos. No one gets context right. Couple that with discovery and you have a winning proposition. I don't think the rejection has anything to do with the product itself. I reckon they got a lot of applications this year they wanted to fund that drowned out a lot of the other applications (such as mine, to ally different story though:)).

Appreciate the feedback. The challenge seems to be wrapping a revenue model around what amounts to a feature (context). The obvious play is to provide the common utility (backup/storage) which puts me in competition with the big dogs and storage is a bad business when you really get into it. Originally had planned this as an app but took the idea to a startup weekend competition (we won) and mentors there were pushin…

NOOOOOO!!! Don't give up! You could, monetise context. So, for instance, I'm looking at a pile of photos from Glastonbury from when I was at university. If you can tag the photos as from Glastonbury and intuitively know that Eminem performed there in 2007 (he didn't!), you could enable commerce on the content itself - Eminem one-click song downloads from 2008.

Think about it.. Same goes for you being with someone whose birthday pictures you're looking at and you can provide a context to them. Gifting is an area you can charge advertisers for. Think fashion!!! We take pictures all the time!! If you could provide the context to where the pictures were taken, the store it was taken in, and how there is a discount going on in that store, it would be amazing! Use the context of the photos, for instance, as 'subscriptions' to these contexts.

To elaborate, think of this scenario. I took a photo at H&M on Regent Street in London and then at Next further along the road. Since I took at photo at H&M, you can 'subscribe' me into H&M offers, etc. And same goes for Next. So when there are offers, an ongoing sale or either of the brands just looking to reach out to customers, you could be the conduit for them!!!!!!!!! THAT IS WORTH A LOOOOOTTT OF MONEY!

If you're not doing it, I WILL! :D :D

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#75

Post by jader201 »

keithwarren wrote: post #7

Rejected as well; http://pivotal.ws

Sorry to hear that Keith, I was rooting for you.

I too think you shouldn't give up. Just because there may be other competitors doing something similar -- even giants you feel you could never tackle -- doesn't mean you don't have something unique to offer that the competition doesn't.

Also, even if you don't topple the competition, who cares? If you have a product that others are interested in, your product has the ability to be much less successful and still yield you more of an income, just because you have much less overhead than the giants.

Worst case, you'll come out of it having gained a lot of experience -- you'll know the technology better, and will have learned some good life lessons. Then you'll be better prepared for the next YC app!

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#76

Post by keithwarren »

jader201 wrote: post #75
keithwarren wrote: post #7

Rejected as well; http://pivotal.ws

Sorry to hear that Keith, I was rooting for you. I too think you shouldn't give up. Just because there may be other competitors doing something similar -- even giants you feel you could never tackle -- doesn't mean you don't have something unique to offer that the competition doesn't. Also, even if you don't topple the competition, who cares? If you have a product that others are interested in, your product has the a…

Jared - thanks for the kind words old friend.

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#77

Post by yoloswag »

avsbst wrote: post #44
yoloswag wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that is truly retarded. I'm sorry but if anyone gave you money for that it should be money they never expect to get back. I hate to be so hostile towards your idea but there is actually such a thing as a dumb idea and it's useful to point them out as such.

There are dumb ideas, and it can be useful to point out their weaknesses in a constructive manner. However, using the word retarded to describe something in a negative way is both childish and derogatory. Here's an eloquent description of why what you said is inappropriate. When saying retarded, “What we mean is that he is as stupid as someone who is mentally handicapped, and we mean that in the most derogatory sense…

The use of the word "dumb" is extremely derogatory to people who are actually dumb (as per the original meaning of the word). You're being extremely childish and derogatory. Look up what "dumb" actually means before you use the word.

See how this works now?

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#78

Post by derwiki »

tsenkov wrote: post #12
justhw wrote: post #4

Your forgot a link, I'm guessing this from your profile? https://www.cameralends.com/

Judging by this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6671131 , I guess this is it: https://www.dailysitesnap.com/

Intentionally omitted, just wanted to see what everyone was up to. Nice sleuthing, both are mine, about 10 months and 1 week respectively.

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#79

Post by [deleted] »

keithwarren wrote: post #13
yoloswag wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem with that is that everyone under the sun offers that same exact service. Facebook does it, Dropbox does it, Google does it, Apple does it. There's nothing you can really do to usurp such entrenched and cohesive services who offer it as a part of their broader platform. It's essentially a solved annoyance.

I agree from a utility perspective, our differentiation is our ability to determine context about the photos, knowing for example that you were tailgating at a 49ers game rather than simply saying you were at a certain lat/lon on a given date. Once we know that we can supplement the UX with that context. This is where I wish there was some, even a few words or a sentence, feedback. We had 8 different alums look over…

[deleted]

Re: I didn't get into YC – here's my project

#80

Post by leokun »

keithwarren wrote: post #13
yoloswag wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem with that is that everyone under the sun offers that same exact service. Facebook does it, Dropbox does it, Google does it, Apple does it. There's nothing you can really do to usurp such entrenched and cohesive services who offer it as a part of their broader platform. It's essentially a solved annoyance.

I agree from a utility perspective, our differentiation is our ability to determine context about the photos, knowing for example that you were tailgating at a 49ers game rather than simply saying you were at a certain lat/lon on a given date. Once we know that we can supplement the UX with that context. This is where I wish there was some, even a few words or a sentence, feedback. We had 8 different alums look over…

The first two for sure, the last bit maybe.
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