

Valleyball - dmor
http://valleyball.co/

======
minimaxir
From the sample leaderboard, this seems more like "which startup has the most
employees voting for it?" (case in point, dmor:
[http://valleyball.co/company/mattermark?cheat=1](http://valleyball.co/company/mattermark?cheat=1))
instead of "which startup is most likely to succeed?"

The problem with a fantasy startup league is the time horizon. No user is
going to pay attention for _years_ for an event to occur, whereas in fantasy
sports there's an event every day/week.

Relatedly, there's no good explicit definition for when a startup fails. (case
in point, Yo has been dead for a month but this webpage pretends it isn't)

~~~
gkop
> Yo has been dead for a month

Are you sure? They released an update for their iOS app yesterday:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yo./id834335592](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yo./id834335592)

~~~
minimaxir
Yes. [http://i.imgur.com/dCgcaWX.png](http://i.imgur.com/dCgcaWX.png)

That first spike in overall ratings was the result of an advertising campaign
where Yo literally gave away free car rides, and no one wanted it:
[http://valleywag.gawker.com/gimmick-app-yo-offered-
gimmick-c...](http://valleywag.gawker.com/gimmick-app-yo-offered-gimmick-car-
service-and-no-one-1625237703)

So they tried to give away free Moto 360s, which was a PR disaster:
[http://9to5google.com/2014/08/28/motorolas-yo-based-
moto-360...](http://9to5google.com/2014/08/28/motorolas-yo-based-
moto-360-giveaway-went-exactly-as-planned/)

Neither expensive PR stunt could stop Yo's descent into obsolesce. What would
organic usage do?

------
ghall
Hear hear, Buster is awesome!

Also wanted to point to a similar project we're building called Sand Hill
Exchange ([http://sandhill.exchange/](http://sandhill.exchange/) ). By
offering a fluid marketplace with real-time changes in price, we provide the
daily feedback startup junkies crave.

~~~
eric_cc
It is not immediately obvious what your site is about.

~~~
ghall
Very true. We're finishing up a redesign that will hopefully make things
clearer.

------
anonfunction
Would be great if you could remove your guess, as I did not know it would
publicly add my twitter handle.

~~~
busterbenson
Until I add this, feel free to email me (busterbenson at gmail) and I can
delete stuff.

------
aeling
FYI - the three links at the bottom (Product Hunt, Yo, and Uber) just link to
the home page, rather than the companies' pages.

------
allworknoplay
Once in a while I think "hey, wouldn't it be great if people in the bay area
loved building great products more than they love raising money and selling
companies?"

It's obviously a total pipe dream, but wow, maybe we could _actually_ make the
world a better place.

~~~
seanflyon
I think the real effect you are observing is that people who love raising
money and selling companies are more likely to raise money and sell companies.

