

10 'Net startups that will succeed, and 10 that will fail ... probably - ilamont
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/03/27/opinion-10-net-services-will-succeed-and-10-will-probably-fail

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erickhill
I used Redfin to find my house. Find. It was a fantastic service that I used
for house hunting, but never actually used their service in a way in which
they would make money off of me.

I think what the editors at The Standard did in the case you mention was look
at the two (or 3) main big boys and weighed in on who seemed to have the best
chance for financial success.

One thing I noticed about Redfin when I used it was it had a fairly small
coverage area, although luckily it included mine. If memory serves, it only
included five areas around the US.

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kevinrailsback
Joost and Hulu are interesting, but there are so many similar services going
on it is tough to say which will succeed and which will fail.

I disagree on Twitter. While the UI may not be elegant, there is a ton of
potential as a backend service and it has critical mass within the tech savvy
crowd. I think it'll be a big hit going forward.

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erickhill
I love Twitter. I think the question is, beyond trying to get bought
out/acquired, what is the business model? After reading that article, I just
asked myself, how _will_ they pay those 16 employees after the funding is gone
(if that ever happens any time soon is another question). It has a strong,
almost fanatical fanbase (and its fair share of marketing trolls), but where's
the money going to come from? Adsense for Twitter?

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noodle
meh. this smells a lot like speculation without real facts.

for example, trulia will succeed but zillow will fail? perhaps, but they
really don't have a totally different model. maybe they should have considered
redfin, as they do have a substantially different model.

