

(reddit) YC applications are due, did you apply? If so, what are you building - pg_bot
http://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/l7mkz/y_combinators_applications_are_due_tonight_did/

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alanh
We did — we’re Blogic, and we’re what you need when you have a great website
but no blog yet. We turn your website into a blog theme, in a minute.
<http://blogic.com/> (free until we throw Stripe at it!)

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lien
wow! this is really cool! I have to test it out some more - does it come with
all of the social sharing, etc?

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alanh
Thanks! Yes, at present we support Twitter, FB, G+, and commenting with Disqus
or FB.

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SurfScore
We applied with SurfScore. It's designed as a universal achievement-reward
system for the Internet, similar to videogame achievement systems(GamerScore,
etc.) People are able to perform tasks (simple things like uploading a photo
to facebook) and earn SurfScore for it, which can be redeemed for prizes. It's
designed as a new form of advertising...companies can institute achievements
for their own websites(it can be anything, as long as it doesn't cost money--
you don't pay to watch a commercial), and people will see a tangible reward
for doing whatever task they specify.

This takes advantage of the interactivity of the Internet, while also
revolutionizing advertising as something much more appealing than just beating
you over the head with banner ads and commercials. Advertising wants you to do
something, but does it in a way that usually just pisses you off. We hope to
change that. <http://www.SurfScore.com>

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Hisoka
Isn't this just a fancy derivative of "fill this form out and we'll send you a
free iPod?". Because that's all it is..

If you tell me people want achievements, well.. Achievements in games feel
good because there's actual skill involved, and it feels like you mastered
something. You can't say the same for doing random tasks online. You can't
just throw a word like 'achievement' or 'score' on top of what you're doing,
and think the effect will be the same.

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SurfScore
What's wrong with getting a free iPod for filling out a form? The problem with
these types of companies is execution; they're usually really shady and have a
lot "catches". If a company came along that could get rid of all that and do
it right, wouldn't you be filling out forms too?

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Hisoka
Nothing wrong, just that you're going to have difficulty finding advertisers
that will agree to this type of advertising. You're not in any way solving the
problem of finding relevant audiences for their ads. You're just throwing an
incentive for random people to do things for prizes, and hope they will buy
whatever the ad is about. But users just want the free goods.

The problem is not how to make users interested in an ad. The core problem is
connecting an ad to a relevant audience. You can't fake interest in an ad
that's not relevant to what you want at the point. People have tried that with
FB ads, but the CTR are horrible, and people get pissed when they see the ad
had nothing to do with the actual product.

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SurfScore
You know, you're absolutely right. Any suggestions?

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Shenglong
I've been wandering around the internet for a few months now, unexpectedly
surprised that there's no hate for YC. Inevitably, the very same internet
proves me wrong.

Edit: A few months of being pleasantly surprised - not a few months of being
on the internet. Gosh.

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gbelote
FWIW I think some people are just trying to troll. It seems like some of the
comments have been downvoted into the negatives. (Maybe by HN'ers?)

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kunle
we built Wanderplayer: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FmjEiNV08s>

turning your smartphone into a game controller for browser and pc games on any
screen (iPad to Desktop to TV)

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earplug
That looks really cool. Does this only work with Chrome? BTW - Next time, hide
the hookah sitting in the background :)

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kunle
thanks - will fix. Works with any browser on Mac/PC. Chrome is optimal though

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garydevenay
We applied with Glecto. Glecto (glecto.com) is a social news platform. We
allow users to create stories and other users to come along and add their
additions (what they know) to that story, therefore building up a full
structured news story.

All stories are up/down voted to ensure that the the best and most important
content are shown first (and of course the worst and inappropriate content is
pushed off).

Users can also add video and photo to their stories or additions.

We aim to get our app fully accessible on both Mobile and Desktop (unlike
others).

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hopeless
oh wow, are any of these supposed to be profitable business? I see very little
real pain being solved by most of these ideas. Most seem to be social media
things, productivity clones or "The AirBnB of [whatever]".

<http://www.oyoglasses.com/> seems like the best of the bunch. At least
there's an un-served need, a fashionable elite with money and an emerging
technology (3D printers).

I hope it's just that all the good business haven't announced themselves.

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egiva
I'm also intrigued by these web app + product combos - this would have been a
perfect idea for Kickstarter as well, just because they could have sold some
of their glasses upfront.

On the flip side, whenever you have physical production and products, you also
have a lot more points to control in the customer experience to maintain a
quality experience for your clients. I think this is a good idea, but could
also go drastically wrong if they don't get the right resin, plastics
durability, etc.

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nl
I saw at least two task manager/to-do list applications.

I don't get the attraction - firstly it seems to me to be a FNAC (feature not
a company), secondly you are competing aginst big players (Google), larger
startups (Evernote) and a thousand smaller players (RememberTheMilk etc). What
is the attraction?

Is it simply that it is easy to build?

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SurfScore
I think that the biggest positive of doing something like that is that
execution is so crucial to success. Yeah, there are big players in the game,
but nothing is stopping some hotshot engineer from coming up with a new,
amazing way to keep track of your stuff. Yeah, its really hard, especially
with everyone thinking the same thing, but it puts you on a more level playing
field than other things might.

Are you going to take over the world with RememberTheMilk? probably not, but
you can carve out a pretty nice niche for yourself, and if you're good enough
be acquired by one of those big names.

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bennyfreshness
<http://www.profileperfecter.com/> "Your Online Wingwoman"

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rohern
I didn't submit an application for this round, but I filled one out just to
try it out and I found the process very useful. It made it clear to me what
needed to be done to make my idea appealing to an outsider and it made me
realize one or two big potential problems. In sum: killer app, man.

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RobertHubert
A quick list of various YC applicants from the reddit thread and other places:
[http://agog.posterous.com/yc-deadline-tonight-list-of-
applic...](http://agog.posterous.com/yc-deadline-tonight-list-of-applicants-
kinda)

~~~
Achshar
I applied too! for a powerful local media player with html5/js, inside browser
or any html5 platform. <http://projects.achshar.com/?id=6> \- Achshar Player

~~~
RobertHubert
Thanks! and much luck :)

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Achshar
I applied for a powerful local media player in the browser + social
integration :D

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luser001
i like flock.fm's idea. but disliked the autoplaying audio.

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snikolic
Thanks! We'll probably disable the autoplaying soon... it's been pretty
contentious :-)

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lerix
i really like that ttagg.com startup. I think it's the best one out of the
bunch listed so far

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chris_dcosta
bizzaro - this is very similar to the business model behind mine. Yikes
competition already!

