joshuahays

As our demo wasn't even accessed, we aren't going to pivot. I imagine we were declined because we didn't do a good enjoy job differentiating ourselves from an early YC graduate startup who claims to be doing something similar to us. To me, since the apps are judged mainly by people and not product, being declined is not a good enough reason to pivot.

This.

I've been tweeting reminders as well, it never hurts to remind the community about an important deadline. More importantly, a new entrepreneur may not know about the YC program just yet and may have time to apply. Just looking out for the under dog... :)

Agreed, if it's going to work... it's going to work. We submitted our app a week or so ago and haven't looked back.

I think the reason it didn't work was a combination of things, including the timeliness of launch. Six years ago the automotive industry was still in the 90's as far as their tech knowledge went, and were stuck on platforms like AutoTrader. In addition, like you said it was a marketing and sales problem as well. My primary experience is Marketing and in the Automotive Industry dealing directly with dealers, I've incorporated this into Bidzuku. And finally, we've acquired several individuals who represent over 200 dealerships nationally who have committed to bringing out product in front of them and I am personally well connected with large groups such as Hendrick Automotive and Carl Gregory.

We've put a lot of time, effort and thought into building a platform dealers will want to use... and luckily our experience is in the related industry so we can do it with inside knowledge and experience.

As of right now, we haven't entered Beta, but are working towards it quickly. Thanks for the kind words!

I'll visit the site if not to buy a logo, but a great place to start when thinking about a name for a startup. Good food for thought.

The option can sound enticing for startups that are grounded in Russia who don't have many more options. However, like another user said below... it's really just paying you to complete the product, like they're contracting you to build your own product. If they're investing in just you and not a multi-man team, may be worth considering?

This may be in part due to the prices of private jets going through the floor and owners are unable to continue trading up or selling them. I know someone with a Citation II that went from 3 million to less than 1 million in just two years. Jets don't typically drop that much that quickly. I imagine that the owners may want to begin chartering them to help pay for the dead weight?

I use under 2GB per month but with so much going mobile, I can easily see myself pushing that limit soon. Cell phone carriers shouldn't be afraid of growth.

Love the star trek references... :)

Babies grow far to quickly for parents to subscribe to a single plan and the stockpile would be far too much to maintain... on a startup budget.

Why not try an exchange network, user to user?

Build a prototype first under a dev name, ours was 'Festy' until we unveiled the name. If it's a Premium Domain for $3,000+ on GoDaddy, it won't likely sell anytime soon. But, even if it did, it isn't the end of the world.

Wait until you have the 50k in the bank. And even then, think twice about that investment.

In short, prototype first.

+1

No problem!

Here: http://www.fotolia.com/id/23271141

Just the staggered line...

First is most effective. Have you tried like a life pulse illustration?

I'm excited about this project and even more excited that we were able to utilize it with our startup. I know these guys personally and this is only the beginning... I promise you.

I actually like the privacy settings, people just call it a 'nightmare' because they haven't taken the time to figure it out. They're like "where's the do it all button?"...

Sent.

Yes, but be cautious. Sometimes you have to talk to them for a bit to get them to care. You'll eventually learn the 'buying signals'.

I completely understand your struggle. I'm working on our startup with two other team members. We're all in our mid-twenty's, two of us married, one of us with a kid, working full-time (sometimes more-than-full-time jobs).

We've been doing it for a year, and as much as we continue to push, we just don't seem to have time for anything. Our finances have taken a hit, our personal lives have taken a hit... sometimes it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel and sometimes it feels like we're just building until someone notices.

The only thing I can tell you is that the harder you work now, the better you're life will be and the more fulfilled it will be later. Remember: entrepreneurs work 16+ hour/day jobs to avoid working 8 hour/day jobs for someone else. Keep your head up!

That and every question is dodged like a professional politician.

Will do for sure.

Have I got a story to tell. I'm a founder of a bootstrapped startup in Central Florida, which is by all means on the opposite side of the world when it comes to tech. Got a great product and an excellent team but just struggling to break through. Southeast tech struggles.

Twitter continually impresses me, and I find myself using it more and more each day. Their biggest program is helping people understand that it can be a valuable resource and not just somewhere to post what their eating for lunch. I get my news from Twitter before I get it anywhere else.

I agree, it is a bit extreme. However, they did say it was a 'ballpark'.

Yes

None of this matters. They basically just paid $0.50 per user for their data acquisition. That's a great deal!

That's true, but I guess I expected a true online bank who was dedicated to customer satisfaction, not just a middleman.

And if they don't secure the bank I'm with?