

The Color of Money - answerly
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/24/color/

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MatthewPhillips
Article summary: Color is an app. It might be successful, it might not.
Sequoia believes, the internet doesn't.

~~~
mikeryan
Slight nitpick. The article is clear that the real "win" for Color is as a new
type of social _platform_ (likely with a multitude of different "apps"
leveraging it). I'm as skeptical as anyone on this, but I can at least buy
that point. There may be a really compelling platform... if enough people use
it.

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whatever_dude
Great idea, terrible execution.

~~~
Tycho
Looks like on HN we finally found out the value of ideas:

    
    
        42
    

(million dollars)

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DeusExMachina
One flaw I see in this big idea that nobody seems to see is the total
anonymity of the process of sharing and the inability to select/delete the
content you see (or at least, I tried and I could not find one).

This sounds to me like Chatroulette: there was much hype about it at the
beginning and then it started filling with guys showing their genitals.

How long will it take before people start uploading questionable content? Even
if not done on purpose, just think about using the app in a 100 ft. radius
from a swingers club/gay bar. Something probably you don't want to have on
your phone.

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javanix
_Shouldn’t we be rooting for it to succeed? Ultimately, wouldn’t that be
better for everyone across the board? The startups, the investors, and the
users?

Of course._

I suppose this is good for the community as long as _every_ one of these
gambles works, but the reality is that not every one does, and I would imagine
investors would become increasingly skittish because of it.

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dlsspy
Can someone summarize the vision here? Everything I've seen has made this look
like a weekend project (except for the $41MM thing).

~~~
Tycho
The app: take pictures with your phone, instantly/automatically upload them to
the cloud, meanwhile see what other pics other people nearby are taking.

The experience: a frenzy of sharing entertaining photos and having fun
anytime, anywhere, with anyone.

The reality: a classier, more respectable and 'innocent' rival to Grindr.

The money: push advert pics into the localized photo streams, even making them
_geographically contextual_ , exposing them to an already captive audience,
who may even react and start talking about it (the advertised product/service)
on the spot.

Actually, have to admit, I really like the idea.

~~~
statictype
Still not sure I understood: I assume the point is to share (currently only
photos) with people near you in both space and time. Why would you do that?
You're right there. You can directly see them right?

Or is it something where you go somewhere and you can see photos taken at this
location 3 months ago or something? (ie, they use space but not time for
proximity)

~~~
Tycho
Having actually looked at the thing on App Store, I realized that it also
solves very nicely a classic problem of social photography: bunch of
friends/family at a gathering, all taking pictures, 'you take one with me in
it' etc., but then everyone goes home with a separate set of photos.

Sure, Facebook, Bebo etc. alievate that problem somewhat by having people
upload their photos and sharing with their friends list, so you might
eventually get to see everyone's photos. Assuming they bothered to upload and
tag. But Color _guarantees_ that everyone walks home with The Definitive Album
for that event, with no extra effort required.

From a user perspective, that's a pretty big win. Just put Color on your
grand-dad's phone and suddenly he gets to join the fun, without the whole
registering/tagging/uploading/friending/browsing rigmarole.

------
nivertech

      "If you had more capital, could you get to the future faster?"
      "Will $25M help you get five years into one?"
      -- @Sequoia_Capital invest in Time Machine
    

<http://twitter.com/#!/nivertech/status/51047798413606912>

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dglassan
I really want to know why they didn't launch at SXSW....it would have been the
perfect place to launch this

~~~
austinB
Perhaps they purposely did not launch a SXSW to redirect the limelight from
all the great apps that did to themselves, a mere week afterward. If this
blogging, tweeting, posting frenzy continues then they are going to be nearing
$41 million worth of marketing in a matter of days, making it potentially
money very well spent.

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mhiceoin
Surely this is a tech investment that can either succeed in its own right or
be bought by a major player. How long is it till Facebook will need to start
propping its platform with startups to keep improving their tech.

~~~
jamesbressi
I think that is where the real money lay for Color. The technology behind it
doesn't seem like something to stand on its own, rather something that plenty
of other companies would really like to get their hands on.

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bialecki
Maybe I'm naive, doesn't $41M for two years of runway seem like a lot of cash
to be burning through? How many people are they planning on hiring/what other
costs do they have while they explore this space?

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mattmanser
_This is a company working on a big idea that got a large amount of funding to
work on that big idea uninterrupted for a couple of years._

Given the reminder of why Duke Nukem failed making its way up the board this
is actually quite funny. Not having constraints can often be a bad thing, not
a good one.

And regardless of this, what is the 'big' idea? There's nothing big about it.
It's a pathetically small idea.

This is why the bubble thing is making the rounds, there's nothing big about
social apps, they're notoriously hard to make any return on.

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geuis
Many may disagree with me here. I'm not going to comment on the money, because
that's what everyone else is doing.

I downloaded the Color app. I like it. I'm in downtown San Francisco. A number
of other people apparently are using it right now, so I'm able to see some
local content.

I think the setup experience is very nicely done. Its simple. Ask for a name,
then it takes a photo of you using the front facing camera.

The interface is minimal and well designed. I'm not buried in tons of options
I don't need. I played with everything for a few minutes and it didn't take
long to get the hang of it.

Its insanely easy to upvote and leave a comment on someone's photo. I was
actually surprised that my comment went through as soon as I hit Done, instead
of showing me what the comment looks like and another button to post it.

The only thing that threw me off a little was the layout of images. The
feeling I get from the interface is its reminiscent of Windows Phone OS. I
personally kind of like that non-iOS kind of interface, in that its something
new and interesting, but not bad. If that's where they indeed took their
inspiration from, its not a bad source.

So money or not, I've had fun using it today.

~~~
mattmanser
_I was actually surprised that my comment went through as soon as I hit Done,
instead of showing me what the comment looks like and another button to post
it_

Seriously? Because that's pretty much how all forum and comment software
works. I'm just boggled that you find this so surprising, it's the path of
least effort.

~~~
geuis
Yes, it seems obvious to any of us. Its how you and I would design it. But add
in some product managers, a separate non-communicating design team, and top it
off with 3 layers of ineffective management on top of that and these simple
kinds of thing quickly either get overlooked, or purposely designated not to
function that way.

