

What's the offline equivalent to your online startup? - itayadam
http://itayadam.posterous.com/whats-the-offline-equivalent-to-your-online-s

======
yungchin
It's a very intriguing statement, but I miss the insight to understand why
it's true. Sure, you can name lots of businesses that would have had an
offline equivalent, but why does it follow that you're in trouble without
such?

------
perlpimp
Making a rule of thumb from partial data gives you a blind spot;example of
non-conversions some mentioned github, lighthouse, basecamp. Fact that
software is eating real businesses - does not make a market to be.

I would say be open to all ideas and try them in a short run. Coding never
been easier. Launch in couple of weeks and look at the response - any kind of
coherent idea you might get.

my 2c

------
Link-
What's the offline equivalent of Dropbox? Klout? Bottlenose? GitHub?

Having people used to a certain concept and then migrating that concept to the
web contributes a lot to the success of a product. It saves you the trouble of
introducing abstract concepts to the average user, which could be sometimes
troublesome.

However the generalization of this observation is incorrect, it is inaccurate
and should not be used as a rule to define a good product and\or startup.

~~~
laurencei
Offline equivalent of Dropbox is a usb key you carry around with you
everywhere you go.

~~~
CaveTech
Except you can't use the USB key in two places at once.

~~~
lars512
The offline equivalent is just how people achieved something similar
beforehand. It's ok for it to be worse. I think the USB key is just right for
Dropbox's offline equivalent.

------
ebiester
More important is the question, "Does it fulfill an offline need?"

Will it make me more money? Will it make me more friends? Will it bring me
love? success? food? shelter? Will it save me time?

~~~
icebraining
What kind of needs are there besides "offline" ones?

