
TechCrunch’s Picks: The 10 Best Startups From Y Combinator Demo Day - canistr
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/27/best-of-y-combinator-demo-day/
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natural219
I knew from the moment I saw Carsabi that it was going to be big. Buying (and
selling) used cars is such a pain in the ass that it really surprises me
nobody has done something as simple and clean as them.

I also like how the initial listings are populated by Craigslist, but on each
panel is laid out cleverly to display the "source: craigslist" as a changeable
element. This allows them to piggyback on the volume of listings on
craigslist, while subtly suggesting that future listings may come from any
source (perhaps maybe an in-house ecommerce system?)

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vaksel
I like Carsabi, but for some reason their name is really forgetful. I don't
know why...but I was looking for a car like 2 months after I saw their
post...and for the life of me I couldn't remember what they were called

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karlzt
If they take the 'i' out, it would be easier to remember.

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yummyfajitas
Carsab is dangerously close to CarSaab, which probably infringes on some sort
of trademark.

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jerrya
Interesting, has carsabi partnered with Craigslist? I always thought
Craigslist didn't like scrapers and did their best to discourage and prevent
them.

Has that changed?

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ravi_m
Yep - Craigslist does not allow scraping and blocks IPs sucking up content.
Even AirBnB created their initial listings by scraping Craigslist though.
Guess you can do it until they notice - and hopefully by then you have enough
traffic of your own.

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mikeriess
Really no flutter on this list? These are all great companies but I think
flutter deserves a spot as a company with potential to really change how we
interact with our devices. It seems like one of the few that is inventing a
new space rather than improving on one that already exists (not that there's
anything wrong with that).

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calebmpeterson
Agreed. The other one that seemed to fall into/near this category was
MatterPort <http://matterport.com/>

They seem to be utilizing a Kinect for capturing texture-mapped point clouds
of indoor environments and objects. If it really does this, with true-to-size
dimension measurements, this will be an incredible tool for "surveying"
physical objects and spaces.

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mikeriess
Definitely- I was just thinking about whether and how this would be possible
the other day- it's like gps on a micro scale.

For those of you who've read joshua foer's 'moonwalking with einstein' about
memory competition and memory palaces, I thought this could be a great
platform to create an app that builds and maps memory palaces out of your own
physical spaces (like your house, friend's houses, office, etc) and uses the
maps it creates to train your memory (so you too can memorize the order of two
decks of cards in five minutes).

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silentscope
I actually kind of of don't like techcrunch's coverage of this event. Give us
one page with extended coverage or run the risk of being labeled YC's PR
department.

Don't get me wrong, I devoured all of it. But part of me likes the idea of the
closed door pitch day without the superbowl style coverage. Is YC demo day
going to turn into a media circus ala Mac Conventions and the like?

Let the effects of these companies on the market speak for themselves. If
they're effective, they'll be written about. Keep coverage like this away from
Demo Day, lest this become a "startup Hunger Games."

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qq66
I've been doing Carsabi-style regression analysis to buy cars for years. A
little sad that now everyone has access to it, I won't be able to snap up the
best deals for myself.

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nchuhoai
Exec is hands-down my favorite.

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dustin
Pair is interesting, especially for long distance relationships and the like.
I predict:

1) By the end of summer their servers will be hacked and a new celebrity
startlet's nudie pics will hit the tabloids.

2) Drama and heartache ensue when people find out they can't pair with their
wife AND their mistress. This will create a niche market for a Pair client
with multiple partners.

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cpeterso
The Sonalight demo was impressive, but the app really deserves a better voice.
There is no reason the canned messages can't be prerecorded by a human voice
actor.

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jcarden
Carsabi is great. I really wish they would have been around a couple of years
ago when I was looking for a nice used car. I can't recommend them highly
enough.

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psycho
YCombinator turns its sight towards offline with funding of iCracked, I guess.

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mthreat
Congrats, carsabi! I know I've spent too much time screwing with craigslist'
crappy search. I just wanted to search across every craigslist in the US for a
certain (rare) car. I had to setup like 200 RSS feeds to accomplish it.

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joeguilmette
Searchtempest has done this for years.

