
Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think? - YCW10
http://ycombinator-w10-cofounder-search.tumblr.com/
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patio11
I am going to pull this out because I feel it might not get seen otherwise:

<http://www.slideshare.net/YCW10/cutbots-presentation-1946585>

Read this presentation. It is, far and away, the best pitch I have ever seen.

I have sold to, approximately, these customers for the last 3 years. Once a
little blog none of you have ever heard of got the notion "Hey, gals, lets
have a scrapbooking competition with a bingo theme, hey, this guy does bingo"
and that one mention sold a week's worth of software.

Passionate customers. Willing to spend money. On IP. With zero cost of
reproduction. On a recurring basis. With the added benefit that the hardware
integration poses a competitive moat, and increases customer lock-in, not that
you'll need it because they are a fiercely loyal tribe if you treat them
right.

If I had $25k burning a hole in my pocket, I would be contacting you to
discuss angel terms as we speak.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
I know your bingo card creator is your baby.. but.. have you considered
applying with him? When all is said and done, the upside seems larger in the
physical goods space.

~~~
patio11
The upside you speak of can't offer me anything that I value which I don't
already possess, but the changes in my life I would have to make to have a
shot at it would cost me dearly.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
I appreciate your self-awareness and frankness. Thanks.

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callmeed
Here's the deal: I really like your ideas ... what bothers me, however, is
that I can't tell much _about you_ from this blog.

It's curious that you're hiding your name (I guess if you're worried about
losing your current job, that's understandable). A little more personal data
(maybe even a picture) would be nice.

If I was going to get in bed with a co-founder (figuratively speaking), I
would need to know more than those bullet points. I'd even go so far as to say
that it's more important than the idea itself.

~~~
YCW10
Callmeed, I completely agree. The quality of the cofounder is paramount. My
goal is to find people who are interested in the concepts and then share more
info about myself. As I mentioned on the site, my current job is awesome and
I'm trying to fly under the radar a bit. Great point though.

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darien
Your cut-boxes idea is best. I would suggest removing the other two
slideshows/presentations because I feel they weaken your overall pitch.
Investors want to know you're focused, confident and dedicated to your idea.
They wont necessarily get that impression if you're offering a download of
your brain. But good luck!

~~~
ricree
The YC application does specifically have an entry for alternate ideas, so at
least in this case it's probably a plus if anything. Plus, pg makes a big
point of the way startup ideas change over time, so I doubt that being focused
on one idea is too much of a point for him.

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joez
I like your ideas. The back of the napkin math is a little excessive
sometimes: I can do the math that if your averaging the same amount per user
and your users increase by 10x, then your revenue does as well. I don't need
to see what 100x would mean, or 500x.

The excessive use of the handle YCW10 loses credibility in my book and adds an
air of pretentiousness.

~~~
YCW10
joez,

re: back of envelope math, I concur, but I showed it to some people who were
fairly bright and they commented that the rev potential wasn't called out,
when it actually was more modestly. People tend to flip though these quickly
so its spelled out a bit pedantically.

re: name - just wanted something generic that also referenced the goal. Happy
to change it if pg or anyone else has a problem. No pretensions intended.

~~~
joez
Just got home, took a deeper look and had a few more thoughts.

I think the greatest part about these products is the "viral" (for lack of a
better word) ability. Someone with a new necklace will have all their friends
asking about it... show their 10 BFFs. Same goes for cutbot and name tags.
(See: [http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/07/seth-godins-
talk-...](http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/07/seth-godins-talk-from-
business-of-software-2008.html)) This is something that will be worth noting
to people.

I noticed you were pretty specific with what you wanted in a co-founder on
cutbots. Did you ever consider that you'd want someone with negotiation/supply
chain management skills who has done deals [possibly in China] before? Or if
you have before personally, even better. Just throwing that out there.

Lastly, a good way to get some attention and hype when your more finalized
would be via <http://www.kickstarter.com/>. These seem like projects people
would want to fund (in return for something... maybe first dibs?).

Good luck!

~~~
YCW10
Joez, Good point about the social nature of the product. It is referenced
obliquely on the Joolme slide, but also stands true for the other two. I'll
work on that.

I would certainly consider someone with Supply chain experience. I have some
knowledge by virtue of my job, but it would be a welcome addition.

Kickstarter is a great idea! It would be cool to "Syndicate" that and a YC
round:)

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tezza
Hi. I'm formerly of both startups and Artwork Automation tech. Your idea
sounds great & good luck with finding a co-founder.

@YC W10 I have a few comments

1\. CutBots :: Installed base of cutting machines

Can you offer a service to post the results to your customers who don't have a
cutter? Frequent or On Demand customers may still want a discreet device but
experimenters may be prepared to wait for the post.

\--

2\. Established Competition

Shapeways.com and others. Their big trade is vanity bracelets.

\--

3\. Suggested Reading

Crossing the Chasm - Moore. Specifically this book details the difficulty of
going from the Hackers who search for your "Hack CriCut" to the Early Majority
who do scrap-books. The Early Majority will need specialist tactics and
Moore's Whole Product solution.

\--

4\. Business to Business

My Artwork Automation tech was B2B rather than your B2C focus. I would say
that you should consider refocussing away from customer facing to White Label
provision.

Consider that anyone can now have Nike shoes made with your own name on
them[1], and lots of people have heard of Nike versus whoever did their
implementation for them.

Try to imagine selling your tech to say a Crafts Magazine where the magazine
can promote their cutter tool and you provide the technology & delivery and
take a cut of any transactions.

\-----------

[1] [http://missgeeky.com/2008/04/03/nike-id-design-your-own-
shoe...](http://missgeeky.com/2008/04/03/nike-id-design-your-own-shoes/)

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npk
Great ideas. I'm particularly impressed with the term "web 3d". The PR will
just roll in -- especially in "today's economy" -- press will love to discuss
Americans who actually (1) make things and (2) sell those things.

I've had a very nebulous idea that's been percolating in my mind: software
designed for small machine shops to organize their work. It never occurred to
me to organize hobby folk. awesome.

~~~
YCW10
Yeah I see a lot of reporters going gaga over Web 3.D because of the physical
production aspect and the way it fits in with the whole numbering scheme. I
see as many readers of this site rolling their eyes though.

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terpua
I love your Joolme idea (great name, too). Teenage girls are an underserved
market (online, at least) and I can see its potential. I have 2 sisters that
used to buy costume jewelry all the time. Even as adults, they still do.

The potential problem I see is the social aspect of trying on the jewelry
physically and "chatting / giggling / discussing" it. You alluded to some
aspect of social design but will it be enough?

P.S. - you might want to do a private registration on your domain names,
unless you used a pseudonym or a friend's name :) [edit: since you want to
remain anonymous]

~~~
Radix
Ever heard of candy? My cousin has a big zip lock completely filled with
brightly colored beads. She and my brother would sit and make herself, him, or
their friends bracelets. This can be time consuming, but she clearly enjoyed
it.

My point is that making can be _more_ social than shopping.

ps: That paper cutting slide show it great. I'm sure I'll imitate the style
next time I need to create one.

~~~
terpua
Making something together physically is fun but online? Not so sure.

~~~
Radix
Oh, I see your point now. I hadn't viewed that slide show yet and thought it
was more like the paper cutting pitch. I think it could work, but more likely
licensed and sold to a store like Claire's.

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alaskamiller
This is a great way to go about getting cofounders. Love it. Good luck.

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diN0bot
i like your style. very curious to know if this pans out for you.

i'm looking for a co-founder, too. my current project may not overlap with
your interests, but i recently showed off a neat diy CNC mill at Maker Faire.
maybe the networking and idea exchange would be useful for both of us. i will
shoot you some email.

~~~
YCW10
thanks diN0bot. Please shoot me an email, would love to hear about the CNC.

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moe
I like how you think beyond the usual social network web stuff. I also like
how you identify problems in existing markets, sexy or not - way to go, imho.

~~~
YCW10
Thanks moe, I love twitter and music as much as the next guy, but I think
there are hundreds of other cool uses for technology. Especially things like
the CNC paper cutters that you can get at Hobby shops for $250. One of the
founders of MakerBot has a cool line that went "Steve Wozniak couldn't have
predicted 4Chan in his wildest dreams when he was building the original Apple"
I think we are at a similar stage with these devices. Will be interesting to
watch, even more interesting to build!

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tomsaffell
I'd find #3 more interesting if it were the 'Threadless Tees of Jewelry'

~~~
falsestprophet
I think esty.com may already have become that.

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YCW10
My main interest is combining the web with custom manufacturing technology to
help people build anything they can imagine. I'm also interested in ideas
usually discussed under the banner of "Web Meets World" "Internet of Things".

In short I really like the internet and plastic. I'd like to combine those two
things in satisfying ways.

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wensing
You have a comma out of place on slide #10. Just saying. :-)

