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>if it flops, use the leftover cash to make a more generally useful tool/service. I think you understate the difficulty of this; it's not any easier than the "
by navigatesol 7y ago
>if it flops, use the leftover cash to make a more generally useful tool/service.
I think you understate the difficulty of this; it's not any easier than the "dream project".
- pavlov 7y agoI think the idea here is not to start from scratch with the leftover cash, but to make use of existing development work and data gathered as part of the dream project to find a narrow focus on something people actually want. Wasn't Slack's origin as some kind of in-game chat within the failed Glitch project?
- devonkim 7y agoThat's the story that we have as the public - Slack started as a chat feature within another project. Similarly, Youtube's supposed origin story is that it was the video part of a dating app. At that time, online dating apps were being funded by VCs (OkCupid and even HotOrNot may have been still going strong) so it makes sense. The primary point should be that to find unicorns investors should be looking for good founders and teams first and products second fundamentally because products are flexible and plentiful while talent and ambition in the same body is not. This is what I think YC is also attempting to do.
- Alex3917 7y agoWasn’t Slack originally funded with a government grant to make educational games for Canadian girls, or was that Flickr?
- skellera 7y agoJust to clarify, it was an internal company chat so the team could communicate. Essentially the idea that slack is now.
- pavlov 7y agoThanks! I wasn't sure what the story was.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]