YC Office Hours at TC Disrupt [Live]
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
It was my first time on stage, it is really hard to prepare for this kind of experience.
I applaud you for even getting up there to take criticism so publicly.
The ASUS G73SW-A1 listing says this in the Display summary:
"Looking at the screen both indoors and outdoors is a generally enjoyable experience"
Then this in the Display details:
"The reflections on this screen cause its usability to be close to minimal. Users will only be able to comfortably view the display in either dark environment or with the least possible amount of lighting. Outdoor use will prove to be absurd; patience and continuous focus will be required for any actual and efficient use of this laptop under medium lighting conditions."
These seem contradictory, and there were little inconsistencies everywhere I looked.
It is a fun idea/project though!
The MBP is known to be a good match for many "performance"-tasks such as video editing and graphical work.
The current problem with our website is: We didn't put the newest data up. We have other plans with it and kind of starved the consumer version of new laptops. Nevertheless your points are very valid, the categorizing of products needs improvement, very much. We have many better gaming laptops in our complete database, I hope we will manage to make them available to everyone in the next few weeks.
About the wording, we are no native speakers, so our English is definitely a week point.
I always spend a lot of time researching products before buying, and I would use a site like yours if I could validate your rankings. Perhaps offer a straightforward recommendation, but provide the option of letting the user understand everything that went into that score.
Also, you said you are using conversion rate as a datapoint. Laptops are a big purchase and sometimes people don't purchase right away, or they research online and then go in store. For your next product, you could get some quick data like Paul was suggesting by reviewing a product that is easy for people to impulse buy. Perhaps something like home media players (WDTV, Boxee, Roku).
It seems that some of the guys wouldn't know their arse from their elbow. I appreciate how stressful it would be on stage, however a lot of them just didn't grasp the fundamentals of business or communicate a clear value prop.
Were past YC companies more polished during their first elevator pitches, or is it something that comes with practice?
I think there were 2 others but the stream was on in the background while I was working. I must have zoned out and missed them.
One could potentially build a yelp like website with this search experience - especially if you don't manipulate reviews :)
I've done a bit of research on how to transfer expertise and I feel that this (public office hours) really is an effective way to do just that, you can learn a lot from this, even if you're not the interviewee.
Chen Li
Got nothing on Omniplaces and everything i needed on Google Maps and as pg pointed out on stage you fight against Google in search and there is no compelling feature im even interested in on your site.
Overall it looks like a clone of Google Maps with less features and information sorry to say that.
Maybe adding some social layers (friend recommendations etc.) would help.
Chen Li
Your backend technology may have promise, but you probably need to apply it on a more niche and less traversed market than location search, one that BigCos like Google wouldn't consider.
In any case, good luck!
Google's big advantage is that I can click "directions to here", which would prevent me from switching. If you are targeting mobile devices, this is especially important.
A few suggestions: 1. Prepare answers to basic questions about your business before you go on stage/interview. Practice with someone. 2. Actively listen and try to understand what the interviewer is asking for. Don't answer question B when interviewer is asking question A. 3. Think about what use cases your product could quickly become a hit with. Keep some examples ready.
Having said that, I tried out your webapp, and really like the speed of search as well as the quick zoom in and out based on how many search results you found. Get someone to help you with interaction and visual design so you can polish the look, feel and experience. Also try to think through all the steps a user would go through to achieve their goal when they come to your website.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. They are all very valid. (1) I should admit we didn't do any preparation before the interview since we didn't think we could get selected. (2) When I watched the video tonight, I also noticed that I should have let Paul finish his questions before trying to answer them. For Harj, I had a hard time hearing his questions possibly due to the distance, even though you guys could hear him clearly through his microphone. (3) We will improve the UI of our site.
I should emphasize that we currently use OmniPlaces.com to demonstrate our backend technologies. Our main focus is companies who can use our search technologies. Our goal is not to compete with Google Local. We want to develop OmniPlaces as a site that can aggregate information from other sites, such as Yelp and Foursquare, which can provide valuable information to end users.
Thank you.
Chen Li
Have you thought of something like bringing together wishlist + local deals for places - say I add to list Ghirardelli and when there's a deal available there - I get notified about the deal. You can provide the businesses with a deal-hype building based on which they can plan their deals ahead of time. More fun stuff can be thought of with these on the user side too ... as which places are getting hotter and might be deal prone soon
What this really highlights is that entrepreneurs aren't put face to face with someone as incisive and BS-resistant as PG or Harj nearly often enough.
Maybe there's an opportunity for an Ask Your Target Market like service which specializes in reality checks for entrepreneurs.
Someone will post a link to their startup, and everyone will be supportive and at most suggest a few wording corrections.
I'm often tempted to post "this is shit, and here is why", but I think the supportive environment of HN is valuable. I don't know what the solution is.
What pain point are you solving? Is it something you dealt with (or the market deals with)? How do you go about using the product? What is the killer feature of your product that will allow a user to switch from their current method?
Essentially, do you have product-market fit and an intuitive user experience.