4 ms·

I hope, for your sakes, this isn't your business but just a side project. There are several reasons why I say this: 1. The name "fowndr" makes you look cheap.

by cletus 16y ago

I hope, for your sakes, this isn't your business but just a side project. There are several reasons why I say this: 1. The name "fowndr" makes you look cheap. Why? Because the domain name was no doubt unregistered. Basically it looks like you went looking for a domain name that you could get for $10 for a year; 2. What defines a founder? As HN bears witness, anyone with a weekend to spare on a pet project can (and do) declare themselves a founder, some rightly, many not. But with the barrier to entry for starting an Internet business being practically zero, "founder" doesn't really mean all that much. 3. What value proposition are you providing founders? YC provides benefit by the connections, the social proofing and mentoring of PG & co and the brand, which has come to mean quite a lot. Quora seems to be the place to go for the Valley insiders to talk to each other. The motivation behind invite-only seems to be to create this air of exclusivity, like a private club. Creating that pedigree such that people will want to be a part of your exclusive club and derive some benefit from it is incredibly difficult. At this point I think it would take some serious names on it or behind it or some other similar form of momentum, which I just don't see.

Dramatize 16y ago
I think this article by Stu might explain his motivation behind the site a bit better: http://stugreen.com/blog/2011/01/running-a-startup-outside-the-valley http://stugreen.com/blog/2011/01/running-a-startup-outside-t... Being outside a major tech community myself, I can see the value of the site (if it's like Forrst).
raganwald 16y ago
The name "fowndr" makes you look cheap. Why? Because the domain name was no doubt unregistered. Basically it looks like you went looking for a domain name that you could get for $10 for a year; This reminds me of the old argument that you need to wear a suit when demo-ing your app. If you show up in khakis and a polo shirt, people might think you're too cheap to buy a suit. Sure, we know that the suit has nothing to do with your app or your business, but still we care about it. It's a little like being a peacock. No, these feathers don't help me catch more food, but carrying them around must prove that I'm the Alpha cock. Interesting in a way: It's easier and cheaper than ever to launch new businesses, so now that simply getting the code running no longer costs $1,000,000, we ask founders to spend their money on something else just to prove that they're spending money!
- ScottWhigham 16y ago
  "This reminds me of the old argument that you need to wear a suit when demo-ing your app. If you show up in khakis and a polo shirt, people might think you're too cheap to buy a suit." Weird analogy - I don't see it. I don't know anyone who would think that way in 2011, particularly if we're talking about founders, and double-particularly if we're talking about founders making a pitch. I agree that "fowndr" is goofy but, to me, it's goofy in a way that might appeal to 15 and 16yos. Not my thing but I don't think it's meant to be so no problem.
  - raganwald 16y ago
    I'm not saying you should pitch in a suit today, but I am saying that picking a domain name on the basis of projecting that you spent money on it today is like wearing a suit used to be. That's why I called it an old argument. I'm also not saying that this would be a bad choice. There has been much talk of someone spending $350,000 on a domain name, and one of the interesting arguments in favour was that the domain could easily be resold if necessary. You can't do that with a suit.
petercooper 16y ago
The first two points seem like non-constructive scab picking that could apply to almost any project launched around here. 1. Glif, Wii, Flickr or Forrst are hardly any better. Unless they're generic words, names become valuable. "Y Combinator" itself is a pretty weird name for a business if you ignore the context of everything it has gone on to do and represent. "Fowndr" only sounds cheap now because it's new and doesn't have any history. 2. Why does it matter if the barrier is low? Any barrier that cuts down the useless 90% is fine. The term "founder" is self selecting anyway. I know at least 90% of my Twitter followers wouldn't self identify as "founders" and the 10% who do (whether they are or not) would still likely find such a community useful (assuming it takes off). Your third point is more serious and this is an area where he'll need to do a lot of work. I'll certainly be trying to help Stu a little with his efforts because I see some value in what he's trying to do (from the "Forrst for founders" POV).
- pstuart 16y ago
  Wii works very well -- it's unique and can be thought of as "we play together" and "whee! this is fun!"

by cletus 16y ago

Dramatize 16y ago

I think this article by Stu might explain his motivation behind the site a bit better: http://stugreen.com/blog/2011/01/running-a-startup-outside-the-valley http://stugreen.com/blog/2011/01/running-a-startup-outside-t... Being outside a major tech community myself, I can see the value of the site (if it's like Forrst).

raganwald 16y ago

The name "fowndr" makes you look cheap. Why? Because the domain name was no doubt unregistered. Basically it looks like you went looking for a domain name that you could get for $10 for a year; This reminds me of the old argument that you need to wear a suit when demo-ing your app. If you show up in khakis and a polo shirt, people might think you're too cheap to buy a suit. Sure, we know that the suit has nothing to do with your app or your business, but still we care about it. It's a little like being a peacock. No, these feathers don't help me catch more food, but carrying them around must prove that I'm the Alpha cock. Interesting in a way: It's easier and cheaper than ever to launch new businesses, so now that simply getting the code running no longer costs $1,000,000, we ask founders to spend their money on something else just to prove that they're spending money!

ScottWhigham 16y ago
"This reminds me of the old argument that you need to wear a suit when demo-ing your app. If you show up in khakis and a polo shirt, people might think you're too cheap to buy a suit." Weird analogy - I don't see it. I don't know anyone who would think that way in 2011, particularly if we're talking about founders, and double-particularly if we're talking about founders making a pitch. I agree that "fowndr" is goofy but, to me, it's goofy in a way that might appeal to 15 and 16yos. Not my thing but I don't think it's meant to be so no problem.
- raganwald 16y ago
  I'm not saying you should pitch in a suit today, but I am saying that picking a domain name on the basis of projecting that you spent money on it today is like wearing a suit used to be. That's why I called it an old argument. I'm also not saying that this would be a bad choice. There has been much talk of someone spending $350,000 on a domain name, and one of the interesting arguments in favour was that the domain could easily be resold if necessary. You can't do that with a suit.

petercooper 16y ago

The first two points seem like non-constructive scab picking that could apply to almost any project launched around here. 1. Glif, Wii, Flickr or Forrst are hardly any better. Unless they're generic words, names become valuable. "Y Combinator" itself is a pretty weird name for a business if you ignore the context of everything it has gone on to do and represent. "Fowndr" only sounds cheap now because it's new and doesn't have any history. 2. Why does it matter if the barrier is low? Any barrier that cuts down the useless 90% is fine. The term "founder" is self selecting anyway. I know at least 90% of my Twitter followers wouldn't self identify as "founders" and the 10% who do (whether they are or not) would still likely find such a community useful (assuming it takes off). Your third point is more serious and this is an area where he'll need to do a lot of work. I'll certainly be trying to help Stu a little with his efforts because I see some value in what he's trying to do (from the "Forrst for founders" POV).

pstuart 16y ago
Wii works very well -- it's unique and can be thought of as "we play together" and "whee! this is fun!"