

Social Ridesharing Startup Ridejoy (YC S11) Raises $1.3M - jamesjyu
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/06/social-ridesharing-startup-ridejoy-raises-1-3m-from-freestyle-capital-lerer-ventures-and-others/

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jaysonelliot
Congratulations Kalvin, Randy, Jason, and the whole team.

You're a super-talented bunch with honorable motivations to make a dent in the
world. I know you'll do great things!

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GraffitiTim
These guys are major hustlers. They've earned it.

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jasonshen
Thanks Tim! We're just getting started... =)

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joshu
Congrats to the team! (I invested)

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rmoh
Services like these have been around in Europe for at least five years. Glad
to see the US is catching up.

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chris123
Congrats guys. Nice execution so far. Time to take that ball and run, because
Steve Blank and others would say that you have taken down a big risk milestone
for everybody interested in the market, indeed you have validated it. Now it's
time for the second movers join the party :)

To other developers (Rails, anyone?):

Want to create a similar/better/different version (I've got the points of
differentiation written up) get in touch. Up to 50% of the equity is on the
table (subject to terms, conditions, etc.), plus I seed fund (no salaries
until proper milestone and subject to terms, conditions, etc.).

Before you scream "copycat," consider that this project has been on my backlog
since before RideJoy existed or registered its domain name. The brands I've
got for this include part of my "P2P" line, plus a "_ _ _str" name, both
registered prior to RideJoy: p2pRides.com and Ridestr.com.

Why don't I do it myself? Because I can't (yet?). I'm a former venture finance
guy who moved to Europe and tried to get some things going, including Airbnb
before Airbnb was Airbnb. Google for "BuzzPal Revealing Its Product -
ArcticStartup" for the video, which kind of sucks, but is what it is. It was
also a bad name for the project, but I didn't yet own p2pRooms.com or any of
other better ones for that project yet (do no and it's still on the backlog).

Why did I say "yet" in the paragraph above? Because I am now studying Software
Engineering with an emphasis on what I need to learn to launch these kinds of
projects myself and/or assess and analyze technical partners, co-founders,
etc.

To RideJoy or Airbnb or others who have been and are making offers to acquire
domain names: Deals are possible, but probably something with upside vs.
straight cash deals like the one I did last year (related to Amazon's
$500-million acquisition of Diapers.com).

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cchurch
So, you're looking for someone to build you a website for a validated business
model? And to the table you bring ... 2 "meh" domain names? And for this, they
can get up to 50% equity?

How nice that you're willing to negotiate on licensing your "assets."

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vaksel
yeah, those are some terrible domain names...not even worth the reg fee. Now,
if it was something like rideshare.com it might be worth something.

