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Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

blog.eladgil.com

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Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#81

Post by bad_user »

cadr wrote: post #78
smanek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like someone did do them! Obvious examples include: 1. basecamp/fogbugz/jira 2. Confluence/Sharepoint 3. django/rails 4. Google Docs 5. Facebook

I think there is a lot further someone could take #3 (crud apps for business). While django/rails are great, I think you could build some more specific tools that would provide a lot more leverage in some cases. (Maybe something like DabbleDB but with some more specifics built in.)

Like what cases?

Both frameworks support plugins you know.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#82

Post by enjo »

Abid wrote: post #46
there wrote: post #32

is anyone still trying to innovate in the online dating arena? i thought okcupid has had it pretty much locked for a while.

From what I can tell old dinosaurs like Match.com continue to dominate this field. OkCupid was the last site I heard of that people found unique in approach, but even that was mostly used for the fun tests and quizzes rather than dating.

I'm shocked that OkCupid hasn't been more in the discussion here. It's one of the sections on the OP's list. OkCupid not only found traction, but success in a vertical long thought dead. I have absolutely no doubt that something else will come along and do the same

The idea that just because a category has competitors means it's "dead" is quite wrong on a lot of levels. That's the beauty of the internet really. New ideas will come along and trample the old, and usually on a much shorter timescale than anyone expects.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#83

Post by vaksel »

stevenj wrote: post #43
pg wrote: post #13

It's true that such ideas tend to be magnets for sloppy thinking, but I think most if not all of them could be pulled off if done right.

Out of curiosity, what do you dislike or think can be done better with Craigslist? In other words, if you were going to build a Craigslist competitor what would you focus on doing differently?

better fraud control...my sister was looking for an apartment in Manhattan, and out of ~20 people she contacted, only 4 were real people.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#84

Post by primigenus »

there wrote: post #32

is anyone still trying to innovate in the online dating arena? i thought okcupid has had it pretty much locked for a while.

3 years ago I built branddating.nl for a client; it was pretty innovative but not particularly successful (which was okay because it was intended to appeal to a niche). And right now the company I work for is building another innovative dating site for a different (bigger) client. So yes, I'd say there's still innovation in this space, just perhaps not at the scale of OKcupid, or necessarily with the same amount of attention startups in the US get (the above two are both Dutch).

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#85

Post by enjo »

pingswept wrote: post #72
stevenj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what do you dislike or think can be done better with Craigslist? In other words, if you were going to build a Craigslist competitor what would you focus on doing differently?

(I'm not pg, obviously.) I've found the scantiness of information in Craigslist posts a weakness. I have no idea how to fix that, but I rule out a large fraction of ads based on "Not enough info to know what this person is selling." For example, many ads don't have pictures, and many that do have pictures that are tiny and inscrutable.

I'd argue that's a strength for Craigslist. The fact that you don't need pictures (or even content really) lowers the barrier to posting.

What craigslist gets wrong is the posting procedure. It's arcane. My in-laws can't figure it out with the email responses and what-not. Better would be some way to submit posts by email (or mobile app) and have them automatically posted to the site... like posterous.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#86

Post by randrews »

The stereotypical "never gonna work" idea that I always see is this:

* There's a sort of thing that there are many implementations of (website logins, say)

* Having many implementations is confusing, one canonical one would be better (Hey! Let's make OpenID!)

* They make a new one, announce it, everyone sees that it's not as mature as what they already have (Provider? XRI?)

* Nobody else adopts the new one, now there's one more competing implementation for the next never-gonna-work idea to contend with.

Note: I don't want to pick on OpenID, it actually works pretty well, but I needed an example.

Once you start looking for this pattern you see it everywhere: Linux distros, OpenSocial, OS X package managers, etc.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#87

Post by gruseom »

brlewis wrote: post #44
eladgil wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. The premise is not that they can not work - rather, that many people have tried them, or thought of them, but they have not worked as of yet. Even more importantly for the article, the really do come up in every brainstorm I have ever had :) I think social news (Reddit, Twitter) and Cloud based file sharing (DropBox) are two ideas I would have put on my list before that have been addressed in some go…

Shouldn't the parenthetical note in your title be (That Haven't Worked Yet)?

Indeed. Reminds me of Jerry Weinberg's story of the Nebraska farmer who was interviewed by the local paper when he turned 100. "Have you lived in Nebraska your whole life?" they asked. "Yes I have," said the farmer, and then added: "So far."

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#88

Post by dzlobin »

iamwil wrote: post #74
dzlobin wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.barcadebrooklyn.com/

Yeah, and he's opening another branch soon in Philly.

I think they're also doing a joint venture with some big restaurateur in NYC for something not quite related.

They're certainly doing great, as they should; it's a great idea.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#89

Post by ultrasaurus »

cadr wrote: post #78
smanek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like someone did do them! Obvious examples include: 1. basecamp/fogbugz/jira 2. Confluence/Sharepoint 3. django/rails 4. Google Docs 5. Facebook

I think there is a lot further someone could take #3 (crud apps for business). While django/rails are great, I think you could build some more specific tools that would provide a lot more leverage in some cases. (Maybe something like DabbleDB but with some more specifics built in.)

I think #3 very quickly very quickly merges with #2. Specialized crud applications start to look a lot like CMS's with well defined content.

Re: Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)

#90

Post by ziutek »

cadr wrote: post #78
smanek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like someone did do them! Obvious examples include: 1. basecamp/fogbugz/jira 2. Confluence/Sharepoint 3. django/rails 4. Google Docs 5. Facebook

I think there is a lot further someone could take #3 (crud apps for business). While django/rails are great, I think you could build some more specific tools that would provide a lot more leverage in some cases. (Maybe something like DabbleDB but with some more specifics built in.)

Like Salesforce / Force.com. It's more a framework you build upon than a CRM app.
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