"Facebook" - A social network that relies on exclusivity through both signup and connecting to others to engage customers. Stickiness is applied via user's updating their status, linking to sites or subjects of interest, discussing upcoming local events, and various methods of social graphing (i.e., how users are connected to the people they want to connect to and the people those connections are connected to).
"Wikipedia" - An online encyclopedia that is created, edited, modified, and updated by Everyone. Accuracy is mostly preserved by off-page discussion and off-site citation. It's goal will be a recreation of the Library of Alexandria [<-- that's the stinger selling point.]
I've had lots of "brilliant" ideas, and my wife pooh-poohed them all except one. Guess which one really took off?
I think women are less likely to be impressed by the cool tech, and see the actual need (or lack of it!).
It's not an idea I'm particularly keen on, perhaps even though I try to be objective I'm being mislead by the lack of shiny tech, but maybe I should focus on it for a bit and give it a chance.
http://upstartly.com/startups/view/30 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/29 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/28 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/27 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/26 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/25 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/24 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/23 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/22 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/21 http://upstartly.com/startups/view/20
Social proof is a big part of why kickstarter works. The startup pages should prominently display something like "X people have committed $Y".
Discoverability is also key. It should be easy to find your users, but I can only find you.
If you haven't implemented the above because you don't have any content, that's also a big problem. If you don't seed a site like this with content (from friends, family, cold calls, whatever) it causes all kinds of problems. For one, it makes it harder to see what the site does, because content is what happens when the site is doing things. It's also really unappealing at a basic human level, like an empty room. There's not much to look at, and you want to leave.
Your users' potential users don't want to "Validate this startup!". Your copy and design should align more with their needs.
The "Pledge" buttons are broken.
Your branding must be much weaker on pages like http://upstartly.com/startups/view/1. I would move all upstartly-specific content to the footer.
Hope that helps!
One of the most useful pieces of knowledge I got from a longtime entrepreneur was "don't build anything until you have an order for at least one." A lot of important details emerge from that statement once you analyze it.
This would be much more interesting if it were pitched as a way to build a group of active early adopters. Pledging to an idea should give the user some perks from the start, and you should make it easy for the companies collecting pledges to incentivize these users.
Although... kickstarter does seem a bit more oriented to creative and industrial endeavors than, say web app startups.
Valid concern or no?
More importantly, WHO those five are is very important. I could get five best friends to give me five dollars. That's meaningless in evaluating your idea.
I still think this is a good product, I'm just pointing out the importance of WHO/HOW to get meaningful people to pay.
This + adwords targeted at your target demo will be a smart way to test
There have definitely been a lot of start-ups about start-ups floating around. Whether they actually help any other start-ups remains to be seen in most/all cases.
Either way, really fun idea and Goodluck!
But surely that isn't the point? Most Amazon customers, most Walmart customers, most McDonalds customers aren't succesful entrepreneurs that know what will work - but they're the guys spending the money. Hopefully on something; (on something that they presumably want, or see some value in) that will make _you_ succesful.
For $100, he can secure an angel/seed round of $100K.
Wouldn't be surprised if that is one of those unintended consequences that further inflates, what honestly looks like is becoming, the resurgence of a new bubble.
Good idea though, just wondering about the macro implications.
Does it solve a relevant problem for people who have money? If so, you're probably in the clear.
