

Why Reddit's Founder was "Terrified" to Launch New Startup, Hipmunk (YC S10) - chcameron
http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/08/why-reddits-founder-was-terrified-launch-new-startup-hipmunk.php

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inboulder
"hipmunk" (I really hate domain squatters if this is best URL you guys could
find available?) looks good, but I wonder if it's all flash 'agony' and name
recognition (hey you got cnn to write an article already, sweet hook up!). As
far as I can tell it has a pretty 'info graphic' interface, but doesn't really
do the thing that would get me to use it: save money on flights.

Does hipmunk do anything different? It doesn't look like it can tap into
sabre, ryan air db, etc, looks like it just scrapes and organizes, nor does it
look like it has any fancy back end db of extensive flight info with a smart
heuristics engine to predict future prices. So, beyond help those who have
trouble visualizing a schedule, I'm not sure how this is any better than
farecast et all. Can hipmunk predict if a particular flight's price (not willy
nilly flights, I'm looking at you farecast) will go up or down?

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samratjp
That's a bit unfair to judge a recently graduated startup on its current face
value. I am sure they have more under the hood a-brewin'. They already solved
my pain indirectly for group travel - I was screen sharing with my friends and
the layout helped us figure out a time much faster! I do hope there could be
some sort of group travel exploration feature down the road a la chat or group
search :-)

"Hipmunk" is a cool pun - it's a hip c'hipmunk' (or could be Hip Monk :-p)
Either way, it's much more personified with the mascot (like the Reddit alien)
than vowel dropping startups.

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richardhenry
"...secure funding from both Y Combinator and a group of angles including Ron
Conway."

Angles. Angles including Ron Conway.

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gojomo
Conway is a very acute angle. Other angles outside the valley might be quite
obtuse.

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adnam
Aah, the penny drops. (Hipmunk site was top of reddit a few days back). It
looks great, but it would be amazing if they could incorporate Ryanair,
Easyjet, Fueling and German Wings.

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spez
A ton of people request this. We're working on it.

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pmorici
I would also add Southwest to that list. The reason I don't use sites like
Orbitz, Travelocity, etc... isn't because they are hard to use it's because
Southwest is nearly always the cheapest and they don't jerk you around. I once
bought a flight on Continential over Southwest to save literally 4 dollars.
I've never been so sorry about a purchasing decision in my life. Long story
short Continential was so bad I never actually made it onto their flight I
ended up booking a Southwest flight instead. After that I don't even check any
sites except Southwest.com anymore for domestic travel.

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a1k0n
But from what little I know, you also aren't allowed to list Southwest prices
on other online booking aggregators. Our company travel site makes us open
their site separately to check prices for this reason (I think -- it seems
highly unlikely to be a technical incompatibility).

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billpaetzke
I like the service. But I wonder, what is their business model?

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jambo
Speculating, I'd say reap referral revenue. Orbitz has a program
<http://www.orbitz.com/App/Affiliate>, and hipmunk can probably negotiate
better at some point. For an acquirer: drive sales.

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BlazingFrog
Kinda feels like Kayak. I do like the "previous searches" tabs.

