4 ms·

It's interesting how little value the answers to this question seem to have. dating/t-shirts - Lots of people date and buy t shirts online. I don't get this.

by netcan 16y ago

It's interesting how little value the answers to this question seem to have. dating/t-shirts - Lots of people date and buy t shirts online. I don't get this. social or mobile _____ - How long have these been pursued? Most people don't even have smartphones yet and the first and only social thing they use is facebook. Patience. grocery delivery - I can get groceries delivered in my area (melbourne) by one of several big companies. 10% or 1% of a one of the biggest markets is not failure, is it? Maybe it's not possible to answer this question in a useful way.

helwr 16y ago
well, I asked pg to post a list of ideas he regularly rejects but I haven't seen any.
- tcarnell 16y ago
  Essential reading: http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html :-)
- dabent 16y ago
  He does have a list of ideas he wants to see, which might be a better way of looking at it: http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html
dotBen 16y ago
Some of this has to do with how you define success. For dating, in the Quora said someone said "well Grindr is doing well". They have traction, in a niche community (m4m) but I'm not aware of any revenues. Context is another - online grocery delivery is VERY successful in the UK too - for many reasons including lower car ownership than the US.
- amac 16y ago
  You might need to define 'successful' for online grocery in the UK. Ocado is losing money and I doubt that the major supermarket operations are profitable.
  - dotBen 16y ago
    I wasn't aware Ocado was loosing money - they were definitely my delivery service of choice when I lived back home in London. I think something similar an independent company based on Whole Foods (rather than Waitrose) -- would be successful here in California. For the record, their stock has almost doubled in value since they IPO'd last year (http://www.google.com/finance?q=OCDO http://www.google.com/finance?q=OCDO)

by netcan 16y ago

helwr 16y ago

well, I asked pg to post a list of ideas he regularly rejects but I haven't seen any.

tcarnell 16y ago
Essential reading: http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html :-)
dabent 16y ago
He does have a list of ideas he wants to see, which might be a better way of looking at it: http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html

dotBen 16y ago

Some of this has to do with how you define success. For dating, in the Quora said someone said "well Grindr is doing well". They have traction, in a niche community (m4m) but I'm not aware of any revenues. Context is another - online grocery delivery is VERY successful in the UK too - for many reasons including lower car ownership than the US.

amac 16y ago
You might need to define 'successful' for online grocery in the UK. Ocado is losing money and I doubt that the major supermarket operations are profitable.
- dotBen 16y ago
  I wasn't aware Ocado was loosing money - they were definitely my delivery service of choice when I lived back home in London. I think something similar an independent company based on Whole Foods (rather than Waitrose) -- would be successful here in California. For the record, their stock has almost doubled in value since they IPO'd last year (http://www.google.com/finance?q=OCDO http://www.google.com/finance?q=OCDO)