13 ms·

Startup Ideas We'd Be Willing To Pay For

207 points by kapilkale 15y ago

pg 15y ago
B2BRev is working on number 2. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be-the-yelp-for-b2b-services/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be...
- akkartik 15y ago
  And #4 seems to correspond to http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html.
- dforeman 15y ago
  I think it's interesting how the Yelp model might work for business services, but breaks down for service providers. We're not doing lawyers, but I think lawyers are a good example of why the Yelp UX model is wrong for the "relationship" business services market. - First, reviews are the wrong content. You won't get them, first of all, because customers of businesses who see 10-20 engagements per year will never leave lukewarm or negative reviews. Secondly, even if you only allow recommendations (like LinkedIn) and not open reviews, it's still the wrong content to describe a complex business service. The managing partner of WSGR has tons of recommendations on LI. Does one of them come close to capturing how he thinks about business or his potential value? No. - Second, stars or any other standard comparison ranking system is the wrong discovery method. Stars help people discover who is good, but not who is good at what. - Third, participation. LawPivot, who was able to raise several million dollars, lets lawyers generate business through a private Q&A site. Well, the most successful lawyers have no reason to use this service- they are already oversubscribed. Any service discovery/review tool dependent on active participation by the service providers leaves out the best players. This is less of a concern for the B2Brevs of the world, but describes why Guru.com and Elance became talent slums. I probably shouldn't say anything, but we're launching (and applied YCW12) with something designed to fill a number 2 role for an often overlooked class of business services.
- zbruhnke 15y ago
  Nice shoutout from PG there, and because of that I will probably even check it out, but seriously I hope a name change is in line for them ... it may seem simple but it is NOT memorable and certainly not something that is going to be easy to build a brand around IMHO
jprobert 15y ago
With regards to #2 on your list "Yelp for Business Services" there is a company called Contact Karma http://www.contactkarma.com/ http://www.contactkarma.com/ which aims to do something along the lines of what you're looking for. My company will also eventually be in the space and allow you to search and discover recommendations through friends and friends of friends in your social networks. For the most part we're restaurants, entertainment, and services for now while we perfect the data but you can see if you're connected in anyway by checking out http://www.cliqsearch.com http://www.cliqsearch.com
- oniTony 15y ago
  > recommendations through friends and friends of friends So kind of like http://www.gigpark.com/ http://www.gigpark.com/ (which is arguably something like "Yelp for (Business and other types of) Services").
swanson 15y ago
#1 reminds me of a reverse Selenium test :)
myared 15y ago
#1 - doesn't Clicktale do exactly this? I secretly love watching the thought process of people as they fill out a form.
noelsequeira 15y ago
If I've understood #1 correctly, this year's node knockout winner does exactly this. http://observer.no.de/features http://observer.no.de/features The demo appears to be buggy, but they seem to have something substantial in the works. From the website: Please note that Observer was build during the Node Knock Out, a 48 hour coding competition. The commercial version currently in developement, this free service will stay online as long as there are resources to support it. update: ClickTale does this perfectly, down creating playable videos. http://www.clicktale.com/ http://www.clicktale.com/
- wmblaettler 15y ago
  http://userfly.com/ http://userfly.com/ also does this
- V1 15y ago
  Hi, Could you describe was buggy about the demo? Did it load really slow or was it something else :)? I'm currently working really hard on the commercial version of Observer which will be much more speedy less hacked up. So any feedback is still more than welcome at this point :D Thanks, Arnout (developer of Observer :D)
bdr 15y ago
Congrats to ZeroCater on their first "X for Y" appearance
- massarog 15y ago
  #5 - Startupthreads.com is doing this
jbondeson 15y ago
#4 - Cloud9 seems to fit the bill http://c9.io http://c9.io
rhizome 15y ago
How does AngiesList not satisfy #2? Seems to me that this article could be a little less manna-from-heaven and more inclusive of the unmentioned-but-existent.
- onwardly 15y ago
  True, though I think this thread has done a great job of bringing some of the unmentioned-but-existent apps to light, more so than a few hours of research by the authors. Something of a side-effect, and one of the reasons I click on "comments" for many HN stories.
  - rhizome 15y ago
    It doesn't speak very well of the credibility of the investors who wrote the post to say they'll pay for something without any apparent knowledge of existing solutions, nor any critiques of why they're deficient. It's like saying, "someone should invent a good car."
chrischen 15y ago
4. An iPhone code editor with Github / Heroku integration Can kind of be solved by using iSSH or any other SSH client for the iphone. If you've got a bluetooth keyboard then it's pretty handy.
- akavi 15y ago
  That makes it possible, but far from easy/convenient enough to be worthwhile. What I imagine is intended by this is a text editor tailor made for browsing and editing code on a touch screen with limited real estate. A non-trivial problem in my estimation.
  - chrischen 15y ago
    iSSH+vim for iphone has a usable interface. I've actually done emergency work through it. But if you have a bluetooth keyboard it becomes even more usable. I figure it's about as usable as you'll get with the iphone's tiny screen and keyboard.
- mahyarm 15y ago
  An iPad and a bluetooth keyboard is around as heavy or heavier than a 11" macbook air.
  - chrischen 15y ago
    You can use an iphone and a roll up rubber keyboard, or a laser keyboard...
kloncks 15y ago
For #3 wrapper around paypal Thought that's by far not all we do, my startup ( http://www.kout.me http://www.kout.me ) has the ability for people to do that. A lot of interesting problems in this space.
incomethax 15y ago
Doppler for Heroku (http://dopplerapp.com/ http://dopplerapp.com/) works like a charm for having a quick rails console on your iPhone. It also allows you to provision your app and run rake tasks as well. I'd be interested in something that also allowed code editing with github integration for the iPhone if any exist.
edw519 15y ago
Have you had another idea you’d pay if existed? 1. A device that rings a bell or flashes the lights in any/all rooms of my house if my cell phone is at home and rings. This way I don't have to carry it with me everywhere in the house. 2. A service which lets me know which restaurants have excess capacity and will give me a discount if I come right now. 3. A reasonably priced dependable on-line grocery service that delivers in fly-over country. 4. An email device for senior citizens as easy to use as an iPod. 5. A device that lets you know whether the dishes in the dishwasher are dirty or clean. 6. An open source Windows clone that works. 7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction. [EDIT: Numbers 1 thru 5 were serious. #6 was a pipedream. #7 was a joke, but like James Bond's Austin Martin, I can dream, can't I? You guys are giving me what I deserve for mixing jokes in with the real stuff.]
- run4yourlives 15y ago
  Number 7 rocks. :)
  - pmikal 15y ago
    It'd likely cause a more dangerous condition as the jammed drivers would be fussing with their phones trying to figure out what happened to their signal.
  - hornbaker 15y ago
    Not sure about that. Here's how it plays out: 1) driver coming towards you gets disconnected from her call; 2) she looks at phone to diagnose problem, starts to redial; 3) drifts across center line just before reaching you...
    - hugh3 15y ago
      Not to worry, I'm sure it's highly illegal anyway.
- gallerytungsten 15y ago
  re: "2. A service which lets me know which restaurants have excess capacity and will give me a discount if I come right now." Some of my local pizza places use Twitter to provide this service. re: "7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction." Cell phone jammers are readily available, but are illegal in the USA. (This is not legal advice.)
gkoberger 15y ago
1. Software that shows videos of real visitors using our website http://www.clicktale.com/ http://www.clicktale.com/ 3. A wrapper around PayPal Why put lipstick on a pig? I'd rather use Stripe (not as full featured yet, but getting there) 4. An iPhone code editor with Github / Heroku integration Github lets you edit and commit tiny changes right from the site. 5. Zerocater for startup swag Lots have tried; nobody wants to pay for swag it seems. [Edit: I misread this one, they want their own swag.] http://www.schwa.gd/ http://www.schwa.gd/ http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-valleyschwag/ http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-vall... (closed) http://www.startupschwag.com/ http://www.startupschwag.com/ (closed)
- mikeryan 15y ago
  Lots have tried; nobody wants to pay for swag it seems I think you're missing the point. This is startups ordering schwag for itself. Not for other people to order the coolest new startup's shirt. Github lets you edit and commit tiny changes right from the site. How would you test them? The ask is for a complete stack right on his phone.
- kapilkale 15y ago
  We hadn't heard of Clicktale before. Thanks.
  - collision 15y ago
    I tried Clicktale, and it didn't work very well. I gave up half way through. Observer (http://observer.no.de http://observer.no.de) seems like a good new solution.
    - kapilkale 15y ago
      Userfly.com was also brought to my attention.
- frankdenbow 15y ago
  We are working on this at StartupThreads.com. Companies are always buying swag, so the opportunity is to provide the added services that a startup would want. Some people do pay for Startup merch (startupschwag.com had many subscribers when it shut down), its just not a huge market. If you have any specific needs/thoughts would love to hear it.
yolesaber 15y ago
I'm surprised there isn't a company that fits #5 yet. That seems like it would be a lot of fun. startupswag.com and hackerswag.com are taken but aren't hosted yet.
- frankdenbow 15y ago
  StartupThreads.com (my site) will do some of this. There are some others like StartupSchwag.com that used to do it (Roddy actually gave me the StartupThreads domain, awesome guy) along with SwagLove (they do fulfillment for startup t-shirts).
- pm 15y ago
  schwaggr.com * +1 for omitting the e (but not all vowels) * +1 for sounding like "swagger" * -10 for reminding me of "Swagger Jagger"
yolesaber 15y ago
I'm surprised there isn't a company that fits #5 yet. That seems like it would be a lot of fun. startupswag.com and hackerswag.com are taken but aren't hosted yet.
dudemanbro 15y ago
2. Yelp for business services This is exactly what BestVendor is doing. www.bestvendor.com
- yonasb 15y ago
  Just signed up, and I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand I really like the UI and sign up process, because it actually made me want to give them information for some reason. On the other hand I feel like they just robbed me because they didn't give me access to the site.
  - bestvendor 15y ago
    We feel you! We've gotten that feedback, so we're totally changing the sign-up process and opening it up so you get access immediately. Give us a couple of weeks; code takes time, but we're on it. For now, we sent you an invite to the current alpha. Check your email. We're making the whole product much better soon, so stay tuned.
lukejduncan 15y ago
It's kind of sad for PayPal that people NEED a wrapper around their UI for the reasons stated.
ajaimk 15y ago
The swag idea has some potential. Though there isn't much market for people paying to get startup swag, I feel that many startups would love to outsource the actual shipping out of their swag.
- johns 15y ago
  HA. You would know ;) http://www.swaglove.com/ http://www.swaglove.com/ Is the closest I've seen.
- frankdenbow 15y ago
  True, the market isn't huge, but for good quality content some would be willing to pay. We have thought about this a good deal and creating merchandise that stands out, and offering good fulfillment services is an area that hasn't been fully tapped thus far.
ajaimk 15y ago
The swag idea has some potential. Though there isn't much market for people paying to get startup swag, I feel that many startups would love to outsource the actual shipping out of their swag.
johns 15y ago
Swag as a service: http://www.swaglove.com/ http://www.swaglove.com/ (Boulder-based startup)
forrestthewoods 15y ago
"2. Yelp for business services" Take it three steps further. I want to know what tools of all types other developers are using. I'm a game developer want to browse what other studios are actually using and sort based on developer size, time, and more. For example what do people use for Source Control? Small devs probably use Git or SVN. Show a time trend and SVN likely trends down and Git way way up. Large devs will almost exclusively use Perforce. I want to see this data for EVERYTHING. Text editors, modeling packing, memory managers, build tools, databases, profilers, and so so much more. There are dozens of amazing, wonderful tools/middleware/things out there that I don't even know exist. This can naturally be expanded outside of software development, but I'm greedy and want to use it for myself first and foremost. :)
- kapilkale 15y ago
  Yes, this would be awesome, particularly the time plot.
  - forrestthewoods 15y ago
    So many amazing things could be done. The ideal situation is one in which users can quickly and efficiently mark all tools they use and also get them to update that list every ~6 months. It would integrate nicely with Stack Exchange network I think.
    - kooshball 15y ago
      http://osx.iusethis.com/ http://osx.iusethis.com/ is somewhat like this. you can see the most popular tools in different categories. they dont have a timeline view. appfresh also has integration with this, where you can check the tools you need and also update them.
mikepmalai 15y ago
I'd pay for something that made it easier for me to remotely manage my parent's life (documents, bills, schedules, appointments, insurance, money, etc.). English isn't their first language so I end up being the go to for a lot of things.
amandalim89 15y ago
#5 definitely!!! I think the ladies working in startups will definitely appreciate it! Startup schwag rarely fit me properly :( and most of them are just a logo slapped onto a T-shirt. Would be great for team morale! Plus, nice swag like rovio's angry birds plush toys, t-shirts etc are selling like hotcakes http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/SF2011/2011/09/12/angry-birds-the-brand-rovio-sells-1m-t-shirts-and-1m-plush-toys-per-month/)So http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/SF2011/2011/09/12/angry-birds-... there's definitely market validation for that idea! I definitely believe in investing in gd schwag and who knows that might even become a source of income for a bootstrapping startup :)
- frankdenbow 15y ago
  Swag can be pretty big. It is a difficult industry since margins are really thin, but I think people are willing to focus on a service that helps them to outsource some of their swag needs in order to focus on other aspects of their business. Oh and we'll have women's sizing too :-)
  - amandalim89 15y ago
    Cool! do you guys make schwag? send me a link to your website :)
fleitz 15y ago
Regarding the swag idea, I was thinking of a service that would deliver swag to users of a site. eg. When you become King of Mayor of whatever on foursquare you get an actual shirt type thing, or an iron on badge, etc.
- frankdenbow 15y ago
  I like this. We hadn't thought of this for StartupThreads but at the core, startups can use merch as an agent of appreciation for the loyalty and support of their users. Finding creative ways to express this will help them retain some of these power users.
sthatipamala 15y ago
Hey guys, great post. I just wanted to let you know that you should add left padding to your post content. The text runs right at the edge of my screen on my phone.
- kapilkale 15y ago
  Thanks, we'll look into it.
  - kapilkale 15y ago
    Should be fixed.
Schultzy 15y ago
2. Yelp for business services Take a look at: http://www.headstartup.com/ http://www.headstartup.com/ http://www.cloudsurfing.com/ http://www.cloudsurfing.com/ and http://web.appstorm.net/ http://web.appstorm.net/ In addition to the already mentioned http://www.bestvendor.com http://www.bestvendor.com (which I look forward to checking out).
GMali 15y ago
Strange how nobody here has mentioned http://clixpy.com http://clixpy.com Although it's more strange that the site's down atm.
yonasb 15y ago
I would pay for number one right now
notlisted 15y ago
1. Software that shows videos of real visitors using our website Forget ClickTale. Check out Mouseflow. Love it and much more affordable. http://mouseflow.com/demo http://mouseflow.com/demo Useful for debugging purposes too and they have a "live" version.
theseanstewart 15y ago
I think it would be awesome if there was a "Google Voice" for Snail Mail. You would give out one address and it would follow you everywhere. This would be especially great for those 18 - 25 that are going off to college and will end up living in multiple places over a short period of time before settling down.
- LogicX 15y ago
  earthclassmail.com - one address; they scan in your mail so you can check it online from anywhere.
kang 15y ago
Every startup should do a list like this.
kevt 15y ago
Great idea for posting up a wishlist for services, until I remembered the old saying of how people are terrible at predicting future behavior. Hence, never to ask potential customers the question, "would you buy/use this". I realize that this is in reverse (the writer is asking for it), and that they are not being lead by an interviewer, but shouldnt the same theory (that people cannot predict future behavior) still apply?
joshfraser 15y ago
#1 - I believe tealeaf.com and atomiclabs.com provide that #5 - Check out swaglove.com
Toenex 15y ago
I'd like someone to start a service that guarantees I get the best deal on my utilities every month (gas, electricity, broadband etc). They would get paid an amount based on the saving they made for me.
- arojahn 15y ago
  I was looking into something similar to this for the UK a while ago - tricky part is the legal implications and the fact that you have to use post-fact data to identify the "best" deal when the user behaviour might change the next day.
bemmu 15y ago
Here's two I would use, but making them seems to require everyone in the world to agree to some reporting API. - Software that automatically finds receipts for all my account activity. So that if I give it my bank account statement that had a charge for Dropbox, it would automatically create dropbox.png which is a screenshot of the receipt from dropbox. This would save about an hour every month finding these manually. - Mac OS X widget that adds all daily revenue from all different ad networks (adsense, cubics, lifestreet etc.) and displays the sum for yesterday and today in the menu bar.
freejack 15y ago
wifi enabled thermostat with web-based controller at a reasonable price.
savrajsingh 15y ago
E-junkie is a PayPal wrapper.
diamondhead 15y ago
Idea No. 4 is implemented by Cloud9 very well; http://c9.io http://c9.io

207 points by kapilkale 15y ago

pg 15y ago

B2BRev is working on number 2. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be-the-yelp-for-b2b-services/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/yc-backed-b2brev-aims-to-be...

akkartik 15y ago
And #4 seems to correspond to http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs5.html.
dforeman 15y ago
I think it's interesting how the Yelp model might work for business services, but breaks down for service providers. We're not doing lawyers, but I think lawyers are a good example of why the Yelp UX model is wrong for the "relationship" business services market. - First, reviews are the wrong content. You won't get them, first of all, because customers of businesses who see 10-20 engagements per year will never leave lukewarm or negative reviews. Secondly, even if you only allow recommendations (like LinkedIn) and not open reviews, it's still the wrong content to describe a complex business service. The managing partner of WSGR has tons of recommendations on LI. Does one of them come close to capturing how he thinks about business or his potential value? No. - Second, stars or any other standard comparison ranking system is the wrong discovery method. Stars help people discover who is good, but not who is good at what. - Third, participation. LawPivot, who was able to raise several million dollars, lets lawyers generate business through a private Q&A site. Well, the most successful lawyers have no reason to use this service- they are already oversubscribed. Any service discovery/review tool dependent on active participation by the service providers leaves out the best players. This is less of a concern for the B2Brevs of the world, but describes why Guru.com and Elance became talent slums. I probably shouldn't say anything, but we're launching (and applied YCW12) with something designed to fill a number 2 role for an often overlooked class of business services.
zbruhnke 15y ago
Nice shoutout from PG there, and because of that I will probably even check it out, but seriously I hope a name change is in line for them ... it may seem simple but it is NOT memorable and certainly not something that is going to be easy to build a brand around IMHO

jprobert 15y ago

With regards to #2 on your list "Yelp for Business Services" there is a company called Contact Karma http://www.contactkarma.com/ http://www.contactkarma.com/ which aims to do something along the lines of what you're looking for. My company will also eventually be in the space and allow you to search and discover recommendations through friends and friends of friends in your social networks. For the most part we're restaurants, entertainment, and services for now while we perfect the data but you can see if you're connected in anyway by checking out http://www.cliqsearch.com http://www.cliqsearch.com

oniTony 15y ago
> recommendations through friends and friends of friends So kind of like http://www.gigpark.com/ http://www.gigpark.com/ (which is arguably something like "Yelp for (Business and other types of) Services").

swanson 15y ago

#1 reminds me of a reverse Selenium test :)

myared 15y ago

#1 - doesn't Clicktale do exactly this? I secretly love watching the thought process of people as they fill out a form.

noelsequeira 15y ago

If I've understood #1 correctly, this year's node knockout winner does exactly this. http://observer.no.de/features http://observer.no.de/features The demo appears to be buggy, but they seem to have something substantial in the works. From the website: Please note that Observer was build during the Node Knock Out, a 48 hour coding competition. The commercial version currently in developement, this free service will stay online as long as there are resources to support it. update: ClickTale does this perfectly, down creating playable videos. http://www.clicktale.com/ http://www.clicktale.com/

wmblaettler 15y ago
http://userfly.com/ http://userfly.com/ also does this
V1 15y ago
Hi, Could you describe was buggy about the demo? Did it load really slow or was it something else :)? I'm currently working really hard on the commercial version of Observer which will be much more speedy less hacked up. So any feedback is still more than welcome at this point :D Thanks, Arnout (developer of Observer :D)

bdr 15y ago

Congrats to ZeroCater on their first "X for Y" appearance

massarog 15y ago
#5 - Startupthreads.com is doing this

jbondeson 15y ago

#4 - Cloud9 seems to fit the bill http://c9.io http://c9.io

rhizome 15y ago

How does AngiesList not satisfy #2? Seems to me that this article could be a little less manna-from-heaven and more inclusive of the unmentioned-but-existent.

onwardly 15y ago
True, though I think this thread has done a great job of bringing some of the unmentioned-but-existent apps to light, more so than a few hours of research by the authors. Something of a side-effect, and one of the reasons I click on "comments" for many HN stories.
- rhizome 15y ago
  It doesn't speak very well of the credibility of the investors who wrote the post to say they'll pay for something without any apparent knowledge of existing solutions, nor any critiques of why they're deficient. It's like saying, "someone should invent a good car."

chrischen 15y ago

4. An iPhone code editor with Github / Heroku integration Can kind of be solved by using iSSH or any other SSH client for the iphone. If you've got a bluetooth keyboard then it's pretty handy.

akavi 15y ago
That makes it possible, but far from easy/convenient enough to be worthwhile. What I imagine is intended by this is a text editor tailor made for browsing and editing code on a touch screen with limited real estate. A non-trivial problem in my estimation.
- chrischen 15y ago
  iSSH+vim for iphone has a usable interface. I've actually done emergency work through it. But if you have a bluetooth keyboard it becomes even more usable. I figure it's about as usable as you'll get with the iphone's tiny screen and keyboard.
mahyarm 15y ago
An iPad and a bluetooth keyboard is around as heavy or heavier than a 11" macbook air.
- chrischen 15y ago
  You can use an iphone and a roll up rubber keyboard, or a laser keyboard...

kloncks 15y ago

For #3 wrapper around paypal Thought that's by far not all we do, my startup ( http://www.kout.me http://www.kout.me ) has the ability for people to do that. A lot of interesting problems in this space.

incomethax 15y ago

Doppler for Heroku (http://dopplerapp.com/ http://dopplerapp.com/) works like a charm for having a quick rails console on your iPhone. It also allows you to provision your app and run rake tasks as well. I'd be interested in something that also allowed code editing with github integration for the iPhone if any exist.

edw519 15y ago

Have you had another idea you’d pay if existed? 1. A device that rings a bell or flashes the lights in any/all rooms of my house if my cell phone is at home and rings. This way I don't have to carry it with me everywhere in the house. 2. A service which lets me know which restaurants have excess capacity and will give me a discount if I come right now. 3. A reasonably priced dependable on-line grocery service that delivers in fly-over country. 4. An email device for senior citizens as easy to use as an iPod. 5. A device that lets you know whether the dishes in the dishwasher are dirty or clean. 6. An open source Windows clone that works. 7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction. [EDIT: Numbers 1 thru 5 were serious. #6 was a pipedream. #7 was a joke, but like James Bond's Austin Martin, I can dream, can't I? You guys are giving me what I deserve for mixing jokes in with the real stuff.]

run4yourlives 15y ago
Number 7 rocks. :)
- pmikal 15y ago
  It'd likely cause a more dangerous condition as the jammed drivers would be fussing with their phones trying to figure out what happened to their signal.
- hornbaker 15y ago
  Not sure about that. Here's how it plays out: 1) driver coming towards you gets disconnected from her call; 2) she looks at phone to diagnose problem, starts to redial; 3) drifts across center line just before reaching you...
  - hugh3 15y ago
    Not to worry, I'm sure it's highly illegal anyway.
gallerytungsten 15y ago
re: "2. A service which lets me know which restaurants have excess capacity and will give me a discount if I come right now." Some of my local pizza places use Twitter to provide this service. re: "7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction." Cell phone jammers are readily available, but are illegal in the USA. (This is not legal advice.)

gkoberger 15y ago

1. Software that shows videos of real visitors using our website http://www.clicktale.com/ http://www.clicktale.com/ 3. A wrapper around PayPal Why put lipstick on a pig? I'd rather use Stripe (not as full featured yet, but getting there) 4. An iPhone code editor with Github / Heroku integration Github lets you edit and commit tiny changes right from the site. 5. Zerocater for startup swag Lots have tried; nobody wants to pay for swag it seems. [Edit: I misread this one, they want their own swag.] http://www.schwa.gd/ http://www.schwa.gd/ http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-valleyschwag/ http://techcrunch.com/2006/05/04/get-web-20-schwag-from-vall... (closed) http://www.startupschwag.com/ http://www.startupschwag.com/ (closed)

mikeryan 15y ago
Lots have tried; nobody wants to pay for swag it seems I think you're missing the point. This is startups ordering schwag for itself. Not for other people to order the coolest new startup's shirt. Github lets you edit and commit tiny changes right from the site. How would you test them? The ask is for a complete stack right on his phone.
kapilkale 15y ago
We hadn't heard of Clicktale before. Thanks.
- collision 15y ago
  I tried Clicktale, and it didn't work very well. I gave up half way through. Observer (http://observer.no.de http://observer.no.de) seems like a good new solution.
  - kapilkale 15y ago
    Userfly.com was also brought to my attention.
frankdenbow 15y ago
We are working on this at StartupThreads.com. Companies are always buying swag, so the opportunity is to provide the added services that a startup would want. Some people do pay for Startup merch (startupschwag.com had many subscribers when it shut down), its just not a huge market. If you have any specific needs/thoughts would love to hear it.

yolesaber 15y ago

I'm surprised there isn't a company that fits #5 yet. That seems like it would be a lot of fun. startupswag.com and hackerswag.com are taken but aren't hosted yet.

frankdenbow 15y ago
StartupThreads.com (my site) will do some of this. There are some others like StartupSchwag.com that used to do it (Roddy actually gave me the StartupThreads domain, awesome guy) along with SwagLove (they do fulfillment for startup t-shirts).
pm 15y ago
schwaggr.com * +1 for omitting the e (but not all vowels) * +1 for sounding like "swagger" * -10 for reminding me of "Swagger Jagger"

yolesaber 15y ago

I'm surprised there isn't a company that fits #5 yet. That seems like it would be a lot of fun. startupswag.com and hackerswag.com are taken but aren't hosted yet.

dudemanbro 15y ago

2. Yelp for business services This is exactly what BestVendor is doing. www.bestvendor.com

yonasb 15y ago
Just signed up, and I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand I really like the UI and sign up process, because it actually made me want to give them information for some reason. On the other hand I feel like they just robbed me because they didn't give me access to the site.
- bestvendor 15y ago
  We feel you! We've gotten that feedback, so we're totally changing the sign-up process and opening it up so you get access immediately. Give us a couple of weeks; code takes time, but we're on it. For now, we sent you an invite to the current alpha. Check your email. We're making the whole product much better soon, so stay tuned.

lukejduncan 15y ago

It's kind of sad for PayPal that people NEED a wrapper around their UI for the reasons stated.

ajaimk 15y ago

The swag idea has some potential. Though there isn't much market for people paying to get startup swag, I feel that many startups would love to outsource the actual shipping out of their swag.

johns 15y ago
HA. You would know ;) http://www.swaglove.com/ http://www.swaglove.com/ Is the closest I've seen.
frankdenbow 15y ago
True, the market isn't huge, but for good quality content some would be willing to pay. We have thought about this a good deal and creating merchandise that stands out, and offering good fulfillment services is an area that hasn't been fully tapped thus far.

ajaimk 15y ago

The swag idea has some potential. Though there isn't much market for people paying to get startup swag, I feel that many startups would love to outsource the actual shipping out of their swag.

johns 15y ago

Swag as a service: http://www.swaglove.com/ http://www.swaglove.com/ (Boulder-based startup)

forrestthewoods 15y ago

"2. Yelp for business services" Take it three steps further. I want to know what tools of all types other developers are using. I'm a game developer want to browse what other studios are actually using and sort based on developer size, time, and more. For example what do people use for Source Control? Small devs probably use Git or SVN. Show a time trend and SVN likely trends down and Git way way up. Large devs will almost exclusively use Perforce. I want to see this data for EVERYTHING. Text editors, modeling packing, memory managers, build tools, databases, profilers, and so so much more. There are dozens of amazing, wonderful tools/middleware/things out there that I don't even know exist. This can naturally be expanded outside of software development, but I'm greedy and want to use it for myself first and foremost. :)

kapilkale 15y ago
Yes, this would be awesome, particularly the time plot.
- forrestthewoods 15y ago
  So many amazing things could be done. The ideal situation is one in which users can quickly and efficiently mark all tools they use and also get them to update that list every ~6 months. It would integrate nicely with Stack Exchange network I think.
  - kooshball 15y ago
    http://osx.iusethis.com/ http://osx.iusethis.com/ is somewhat like this. you can see the most popular tools in different categories. they dont have a timeline view. appfresh also has integration with this, where you can check the tools you need and also update them.

mikepmalai 15y ago

I'd pay for something that made it easier for me to remotely manage my parent's life (documents, bills, schedules, appointments, insurance, money, etc.). English isn't their first language so I end up being the go to for a lot of things.

amandalim89 15y ago

#5 definitely!!! I think the ladies working in startups will definitely appreciate it! Startup schwag rarely fit me properly :( and most of them are just a logo slapped onto a T-shirt. Would be great for team morale! Plus, nice swag like rovio's angry birds plush toys, t-shirts etc are selling like hotcakes http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/SF2011/2011/09/12/angry-birds-the-brand-rovio-sells-1m-t-shirts-and-1m-plush-toys-per-month/)So http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/SF2011/2011/09/12/angry-birds-... there's definitely market validation for that idea! I definitely believe in investing in gd schwag and who knows that might even become a source of income for a bootstrapping startup :)

frankdenbow 15y ago
Swag can be pretty big. It is a difficult industry since margins are really thin, but I think people are willing to focus on a service that helps them to outsource some of their swag needs in order to focus on other aspects of their business. Oh and we'll have women's sizing too :-)
- amandalim89 15y ago
  Cool! do you guys make schwag? send me a link to your website :)

fleitz 15y ago

Regarding the swag idea, I was thinking of a service that would deliver swag to users of a site. eg. When you become King of Mayor of whatever on foursquare you get an actual shirt type thing, or an iron on badge, etc.

frankdenbow 15y ago
I like this. We hadn't thought of this for StartupThreads but at the core, startups can use merch as an agent of appreciation for the loyalty and support of their users. Finding creative ways to express this will help them retain some of these power users.

sthatipamala 15y ago

Hey guys, great post. I just wanted to let you know that you should add left padding to your post content. The text runs right at the edge of my screen on my phone.

kapilkale 15y ago
Thanks, we'll look into it.
- kapilkale 15y ago
  Should be fixed.

Schultzy 15y ago

2. Yelp for business services Take a look at: http://www.headstartup.com/ http://www.headstartup.com/ http://www.cloudsurfing.com/ http://www.cloudsurfing.com/ and http://web.appstorm.net/ http://web.appstorm.net/ In addition to the already mentioned http://www.bestvendor.com http://www.bestvendor.com (which I look forward to checking out).

GMali 15y ago

Strange how nobody here has mentioned http://clixpy.com http://clixpy.com Although it's more strange that the site's down atm.

yonasb 15y ago

I would pay for number one right now

notlisted 15y ago

1. Software that shows videos of real visitors using our website Forget ClickTale. Check out Mouseflow. Love it and much more affordable. http://mouseflow.com/demo http://mouseflow.com/demo Useful for debugging purposes too and they have a "live" version.

theseanstewart 15y ago

I think it would be awesome if there was a "Google Voice" for Snail Mail. You would give out one address and it would follow you everywhere. This would be especially great for those 18 - 25 that are going off to college and will end up living in multiple places over a short period of time before settling down.

LogicX 15y ago
earthclassmail.com - one address; they scan in your mail so you can check it online from anywhere.

kang 15y ago

Every startup should do a list like this.

kevt 15y ago

Great idea for posting up a wishlist for services, until I remembered the old saying of how people are terrible at predicting future behavior. Hence, never to ask potential customers the question, "would you buy/use this". I realize that this is in reverse (the writer is asking for it), and that they are not being lead by an interviewer, but shouldnt the same theory (that people cannot predict future behavior) still apply?

joshfraser 15y ago

#1 - I believe tealeaf.com and atomiclabs.com provide that #5 - Check out swaglove.com

Toenex 15y ago

I'd like someone to start a service that guarantees I get the best deal on my utilities every month (gas, electricity, broadband etc). They would get paid an amount based on the saving they made for me.

arojahn 15y ago
I was looking into something similar to this for the UK a while ago - tricky part is the legal implications and the fact that you have to use post-fact data to identify the "best" deal when the user behaviour might change the next day.

bemmu 15y ago

Here's two I would use, but making them seems to require everyone in the world to agree to some reporting API. - Software that automatically finds receipts for all my account activity. So that if I give it my bank account statement that had a charge for Dropbox, it would automatically create dropbox.png which is a screenshot of the receipt from dropbox. This would save about an hour every month finding these manually. - Mac OS X widget that adds all daily revenue from all different ad networks (adsense, cubics, lifestreet etc.) and displays the sum for yesterday and today in the menu bar.

freejack 15y ago

wifi enabled thermostat with web-based controller at a reasonable price.

savrajsingh 15y ago

E-junkie is a PayPal wrapper.

diamondhead 15y ago

Idea No. 4 is implemented by Cloud9 very well; http://c9.io http://c9.io