ummm, they have seed funding? Amazing! If there is one thing I know its that you can't predict what passion can and will accomplish. I've been coaching gymnastics for over 20 years and I've come to realize that people with heart can and do beat out the most talented, accomplished, educated... "sure winners" time after time. If they've found a way to predict talent and passion I'd love to see it. And of course if your team "gels" - the whole can be much more than the sum of the parts. I'll try to keep an open mind but just look at the Superbowl - who won... And if its possible to predict the success of a business - they really wouldn't need startup funding - they could just play the stock market. p.s. - if this is a simple case of marketing/PR - Good Job Guys...
If I was put in charge; I'd start by examining each unit of the business and the leadership of each of the units. I'd make the tough calls; such as eliminating under performing managers and replacing them with my top team; and/or I'd give each marginally performing business unit a set time to reach agreed upon goals or be sold; and/or I'd help unneeded employees seek employment elsewhere.
I'd breakdown existing barriers to communication. I'd put a focus on innovation and I'd dig deep into the business to see what opportunities exist but haven't been implemented. I'd establish known business and employee performance goals and "push" the business towards those goals. Profit would be a key dimension of my "new" goals.
Without knowing anything about Yahoo - One of the mistakes I think they made was copying Google's Adwords system. I think they should examine closely the reason customers use online advertising - and then create a unique model based on their customers wants. I could go on but everything after this would be a guess since I really don't know the insides of Yahoo.
My next statement might go against the grain of YC startup programmers but in my opinion; Design should be at the core of the entire business... think Apple. If you've found a great designer make her a founder. It could be the best move you'll ever make.
I like the site and concept. My 2cents: Some of the graphics need tweeked - like the go button and the hot callout bubble are a little cheesy. I am guessing the ad creator/publisher will be able to choose the border color - so I won't go there. Will the advertisers be able to create Flash ads? I agree with mixmax; I think the ads should be relevant to the content of the site. I noticed that your the only founder; since you know what your doing from a programming point of view, I'd look for a co-founder who has a design background. Once again I like what you are doing.
It's kind of nifty - next time I'm thinking about buying something I'll try to remember to use the site. Now, I'm going to try to be constructive; The site is nifty but it's unremarkable - it's not that your site isn't cool it's just not engaging to users. Maybe a place to log in - so a user can post a review? Or maybe a place to post questions about products?
I'll start by saying, I like it. It's like an advanced Rolodex. From a new users point of view: I know you have screen shots but I would recommend instead - a (Take a Tour) button. From my design point of view: I would design a more attractive logo and consider developing a cohesive color scheme and maybe tweak the overall design flow. Just my two cents...
When I first visited the site I didn't understand how to use it. After I played around a little bit and I viewed some of the flashcards - I clicked study and now I get it. It's simple but cool. That being said, maybe a how it works feature or suchlike. And one other thought - your logo is hard to read....
As far as the open new window ~ I meant once you clicked on a group and are viewing the ABOUT GROUP box; if you click on location it opens up Google maps in the current window. I thought maybe the location should open in a new window. Just a thought :)
I like it. It's fairly clean and simple. Did you consider making it more Web 2.0ish? I am guessing that you'll add more search features ~ like search via activity or suchlike? When you click on location maybe open a new window so I don't have to use my back button. I think it would be cool to use Google's Maps API and have a "pin" where the groups are located. And one more thing ~ maybe a link to "learn more" and then give details about Group-O-Matic.
When I finished high school I spent a few years working then I started my own business. I ran the business for 10 years before selling it two years ago. Recently I joined the worker bees/cubicle side of things ~ from my perspective working as a cubicle slave sucks! I can't wait till my new business can support my life! At any rate the other slaves (almost all college educated) really do live their lives for that two week vacation. But I know the unedamkaed bees (like me) live for that vacation too. So was it college or just a case of the pareto principle in action ~ 80% of the people are worker bees and 20% are entrepreneurs?
Well for personal communication I use Instant Messages, email and a phone (land line and cell). But my day job is to communicate to the public thru our website.
Nonverbal ~ body language, sign language, print media ~ books, newspapers, etc, DVDs, music, radio, Morse code, land line phones, semaphore, visible light communication ~ the list goes on I think I've even heard of people communicating with whistles and clicks.
I guess if it was me and I was in that situation I'd start at the book store reading a little about what other startup companies used as far as technology. I'd read as many posts as I could on this site so I could gain insight into what is happening in the web 2.0 world from both a technology side and a business side. Then I could meet a developer and make a more informed judgment about what I was looking for in a co-founder.
In my opinion it is going to be very hard for a non-developer (non-geek) to judge ~ whether or not a developer knows his or her stuff. Does he know any developers?
What have you done so far? As a climber/boulder-er myself, I think climbers can be qualified as an affinity group. In other words if you can get a few climbers using the site (and they like it) they should pass the info about your site to other climbers. Or think of how most climbers use the internet - what sites do they use - that's another source of marketing ideas (think cross promotions). Have you tried to post information about your site on relevant blog/forum sites?
This seems like a panacea for tailored advertising or big brother ~ you decided. Ok, so I join/register for a web 2.0 web site (or any web site) and of course I give them my name, address, email, etc. and for fun let's say they grab my browser history. Now they could gather information about me by doing a Google search and of course every time I revisit the site they could re-gather my browser history ~ put all that info into an ever growing database and now you have the ability to tailor advertisements. Come to think of it maybe I should start a site that does this ~ anyone want to help :)
According to Techstars and Ycombinator; they pick startups because they like the founders not necessarily the business model but; I've looked at some of the startups that have received funding and I know I'm not a zillionare but they seem to have very questionable income models. If you take advertising out of the equation, I'd guess many of them don't have an income model.
Here's my guess at the business model; get the mentors at Techstars or Ycombinator to help you develop your company. (i.e. get as many people using your site as possible, probably for free) Then since there really isn't a real revenue source, after you get a lot of eyeballs you sell the company to some larger company. Wah La ~ Web 2.0
I don't want to sound like I am indorsing or rejecting anything I would just like to see more creative income models.
I could be wrong but I just did a quick Google search. The top speed of the Model T was 45mph - The top speed for a horse is 47.5 mph - hummm - just a thought. By the way I am all for something new. I just like the MS interface - it looks cool to me.
Which version of Flash do you own? I'd start by learning the animation aspect first. Learn about key frames, the timeline, layers and suchlike. There has to be a tutorial online somewhere. I remember when I was learning I turned to Google many times.
Do you mean Flash animation or ActionScript? I learned Flash/ActionScript and PHP at the same time by reading Foundation PHP 5 for Flash. But I already had an understanding of animation programs like Toon Boon and Autodesk Animator Pro.
I like the app; but instead of telling people to throw away their USB drive maybe you could incorporate a sync feature that would allow users to work on their files offline. Sometimes you just dont have internet access. Just a thought.
I am the team leader; the one with the original insight. My initial role was as the developer. I created a beta version of the concept and used it to convince two extremely talented people to join my team. I now have an exceptional designer and a marketing guru working with me to create an innovate business.