

Ask YC: Will your product fly? - terpua

Per http://evhead.com/2007/12/how-to-evaluate-new-product-idea.asp, I'm asking fellow entrepreneurs to rate their product using EW's method.<p>Mine is called iTenna, mobile document management.<p>Tractability - Low/Med
Obviousness - Very High
Deepness - High
Wideness - Med
Discoverability - Low
Monetize - High
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webwright
I think it's interesting to relate this thread to Fred Wilson's "Why Early
Stage Venture Investments Fail":

"Of the 26 companies that I consider realized or effectively realized in my
personal track record, 17 of them made complete transformations or partial
transformations of their businesses between the time we invested and the time
we sold."

With this in mind, I think the most important factor is tractability. Can you
build it quickly to test your theory? If your theory is off-base, can you
quickly shift? I think Fred is a fairly discerning and successful investor...
It's interesting to note that 2/3 of the successful teams that he has invested
in have been WRONG about their initial product direction.

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tlrobinson
A better question: will it _blend_?

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cperciva
Tarsnap (online backups for the truly paranoid):

Tractability: Medium.

Obviousness: High.

Deepness: Medium.

Wideness: Medium/High.

Discoverability: Low.

Monetizability: Very high.

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nostrademons
GameClay, online casual game creation.

Tractability: Low

Obviousness: Very high

Deepness: Medium

Wideness: High

Discoverability: Very high

Monetizability: Low

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icky
I think you're selling yourself far too short on monetizability. You could
have a model where ad-supported games are free to make (i.e. YOUR ads), or
where they could be ad-free (or contain their own ads) for paid subscribers...

Monetizability: Very High

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edw519
I'd prefer to evaluate my product using the method of the other EW (me):

if (customers.want) {return success} else {return regroup} ;

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joeguilmette
after 10 long minutes:

tractability.Med obviousness.Med deepness.High wideness.VeryHigh
discoverability.VeryLow monetize.VeryHigh

