

Altman says Loopt to be profitable in 2009 - cominatchu
http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/ceo.html

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eugenejen
I believe they really can make it.

Though Loopt is not the first one to come up with the idea. But they are so
far the most visible one who create a good product that users want! I really
want to see their success.

This may sound as bragging. I thought idea similar to loopt on 2004 after
hearing about dodge ball and asked my then boss the possibility to do this and
we decided this was not the focus of the company. Also even I started to do
it, I wonder I can achieve the same result as Sam did. I know idea is
worthless and the execution and result is the king.)

Perhaps chasing one's idea and having the guts to do it in the right place and
right time is the true cause for success.

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menloparkbum
Everyone working mobile had this idea earlier in the decade. Most people
working in the field knew that the biggest issue was going to be getting
carriers to put this thing on their phone, not actually building the app
itself. Sam Altman was young and inexperienced enough (i.e. not jaded) to push
it through.

That said I wonder how loopt is going to respond to the Foursquare thing from
the dodgeball people. Out here in early adopter land it seems like Foursquare
is the new hotness and people consider Loopt a gay hookup application. Not
that a gay hookup application is necessarily a bad market to be in...

~~~
pg
_Everyone working mobile had this idea earlier in the decade._

Had it at the resolution of a one-paragraph text description, maybe. At that
resolution, Google = Excite.

I also think you're doing Sam an injustice by attributing his success to youth
and inexperience. Youth and inexperience are plentiful, but they don't seem to
produce much except when combined with brains and determination.

~~~
zimbabwe
Why can't it be both? Youth and inexperience may not necessarily mean
attempting the impossible, like menloparkbum suggested, but certainly being
youthful means having a better grasp on what's going on. So it's right to
attribute part of his success to youth: he made a product that appeals to the
youthful market.

Similarly, youth is a good reason to think that Foursquare could be a threat.
The people making Foursquare have already created a successful product in this
market. They spent a few years working for a powerful company that didn't
understand their ideas. So they're the people who hit the market before Sam
did, and they're returning with a more refined concept than they had before.
The fact that they're youthful _and_ determined is why I'm watching them and
ignoring attempts like Google Latitude, which practically scream sterile.

~~~
axod
There have been several startups doing the same sort of thing, all failing.
I'm still not convinced people want this (Location aware social networking
mobile thingy). It's a shame you can't get traffic figures so easily for
mobile apps - without user/revenue numbers it's all speculation as to how
successful or otherwise loopt is.

IPO seems like crazy talk to me.

~~~
zimbabwe
I don't use my cell for networking. I don't like that constant connectivity.
But within that market, I would suggest that the Dodgeball team is a force to
be reckoned with.

Perhaps I'm biased because Loopt is ugly as sin, and Foursquare is slightly
better.

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dcurtis
What? No double popped-collar neon polos? I thought that was his trademark.

On a serious note, please make the website as great as the iPhone app. It's
really lacking, and that integration will be really cool.

