

Ask HN: Our 4sq hackathon entry is 4sq + klout. Would it make a good business? - bwm

Our hack, sends an SMS to foursquare venue owners when someone with a high Klout score checks in. The idea is that it would help venue owners turn influential customers into patrons. It went from concept to a proof of concept over the course of a weekend, and we’re now thinking of turning it into a business. you can check it out @ http://venuemachine.heroku.com.<p>Some possible problems which we could try to solve:<p>1. (what it already does) Nowadays, you don’t have to be a celebrity to be influential, these kind of people walk into your venue all the time but you are unaware of it. VenueMachine notifies you when this happens allowing you to give these people the best possible experience.<p>2. Often when people go to a restaurant and have a bad experience they’d rather tweet about it than voice their concerns directly. This could help managers identify and rectify bad experiences as soon as they happen.<p>So HN, what do you think?
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tonywebster
I think this is an awesome idea, and I think it could be carried beyond Klout
too -- number of Twitter followers, number of foursquare friends, friends with
known big names, etc.

I could see the best audience being upscale venues (clubs, expensive
restaurants, etc.) but with the difficulty that understanding technology like
foursquare is sometimes a barrier. But alas, you're removing that barrier.

Good business idea? Yeah, but marketing big will be a challenge. Thankfully
you already have the tech down!

