5 ms·

YC Demo Day Session 4

76 points by jasontraff 12y ago

lukasm 12y ago
My prediction - in 4 year: backpackbang will dodge the bullets and be valued 300mln Biotech & Nuclear will continue research. One will yield value. Rest will pivot, acquihire or die.
- necubi 12y ago
  Backpack isn't "kinda" illegal, gray-area, like AirBnB or Uber. It's straight-up, completely illegal. And this isn't municipality-level policies it's up against, it's customs and border, national law. I can't see any future where they don't get shut down.
  - lukasm 12y ago
    prices are not the same within EU. There is an opportunity here.
- bduerst 12y ago
  Doubtful about backpackbang. All it is going to take is a couple smuggling stings on the travelers, and then they will have the reputation as not being safe. I mean, who wants to spend their vacation in a foreign prison, waiting for the consulate? Or risk losing their job for smuggling a couple hundred dollars?
  - hayksaakian 12y ago
    Seems like something wealthy people would be interested in. Maybe that's why it stands out.
    - ddw 12y ago
      Do wealthy people need all the hassle to save a few hundred dollars on a Macbook?
      - hayksaakian 12y ago
        maybe you want a fancy wine or a cuban cigar.
        jacquesm 12y ago
        Maybe whatever you take along has a bunch of cocaine in it. I'm a pretty experienced traveller and I do people all kinds of favours but I'm fairly picky about what I take across borders for others. As in: I get to inspect the item inside and out beforehand.
- untog 12y ago
  Even if backpackbang dodges the bullets, I still don't see the market being that big for it. It's a total niche service.
  - simoncarter 12y ago
    I'm in Eastern Europe right now, and the percentage of people I know who do this, either via a friend, friend of a friend, or a client, is high. Obvious, though not insurmountable, problems aside, I disagree it's niche.
- davidPB 12y ago
  If you believe in the backpack idea, here is a whole list http://blog.piggybee.com/2014/08/delivery-by-travelers.html http://blog.piggybee.com/2014/08/delivery-by-travelers.html
pariya 12y ago
So awesome that I've been tracking most of these companies without even realizing they were YC affiliated over the last few months. Love the Zenamins- what a great idea. I've been obsessed with Product Hunt. Seriously. I call it "The Vortex". I hope they all succeed.
kyro 12y ago
Congrats to Chas and the Aptible bunch. Really smart guys. Also saw they joined RockHealth. Tackling a ton of hard problems in healthcare to make it easy for people to build apps. Learned quite a bit about HIPAA compliance from their blog, but it seems like they've taken that stuff down, unfortunately.
- chasb 12y ago
  Thanks kyro. We'll get some blog posts back up!
- chimeracoder 12y ago
  Seconded - I could not be more excited for them (especially as a customer!). I know Chas & Frank from our days together in the Blueprint Health accelerator[0] (they were in the class before mine). Aptible is going to allow a lot of people to enter the health-tech space when the costs would otherwise be prohibitive - it's going to be huge. Forcing every company to duplicate all that compliance work in-house makes no sense, just like having every company maintaining its own colo hardware makes no sense. [0] http://www.blueprinthealth.org/ http://www.blueprinthealth.org/
- callmeed 12y ago
  I looked at it the other day and it starts at $3,500/month. That's pretty much a non-starter for any bootstrapped health startup that wants to deploy a working MVP.
  - dome82 12y ago
    There is a development environment at $0.06/hour. Anyway, I agree. I think the pricing is a bit too high for bootstrapped health startup.
StewartDouglas 12y ago
Do all the YC companies get a chance to demo? I know that http://permutive.com/ http://permutive.com/ are part of this cohort but I didn't see them mentioned.
- TheMakeA 12y ago
  They might have demoed off the record.
samirmenon 12y ago
I'm not sure I understand how Women.com "verfies" that you are a woman. It seems a bit presumptuous to ask someone to "verify" their gender.
- davemel37 12y ago
  There is actually a forum my wife participates in for Married Orthodox Jewish Women that has done an excellent job qualifying users before letting them in. They ask questions that even their husbands wouldn't know. All women.com needs to do is ask questions about feminine products and they'll keep out most men. Edit: For the record, my wife participates in the forum dozens of times a day. The ability to discuss sensitive issues with other like minded women in a verified exclusive forum is an incredibly good idea - one that is proven to work.
  - Mandatum 12y ago
    Are the questions catered to American women, or are they universal? Do you have a few examples? I find it interesting that this works.. I can't imagine what you'd ask men. Cars? I know nothing about them. Tools? No idea. Cooking, sport, shaving your beard.. I've got a beard trimmer?
    - davemel37 12y ago
      Many months ago there was a thread on HN about words that only males or females know the definition of... Thats one option... (I can't track it down.) In the case of verifying women, you can simply ask the difference between different tampons or whatnot and most guys will have no clue. There are lots of things that ALL WOMEN know that men don't. In the case of the forum my wife participates in, they ask questions about what happens at the Mikvah. While a few men might know the laws around this, no jewish male has ever been present at the mikva, and no single jewish women either... It is an experience exclusive to married jewish women...and there are specific things that are said and done that most men would have no idea how to answer. The few that would know the answer would likely stay away from the site in the first place (if they even use the internet!) Edit: Here is the questionnaire. http://balaboostas.com/forum/entry/register?Target=%2F http://balaboostas.com/forum/entry/register?Target=%2F
bluerail 12y ago
Is it only me, or why the FAQ on backpackbang's site is just talking only about Bangladesh?
- tejasm 12y ago
  Because the founders are from Bangladesh.
mind_heist 12y ago
Question about Aptible .. What exactly does the HIPAA "compliance engine" do ? (ie) the list of parameters it checks for in a deployment ?

76 points by jasontraff 12y ago

My prediction - in 4 year: backpackbang will dodge the bullets and be valued 300mln Biotech & Nuclear will continue research. One will yield value. Rest will pivot, acquihire or die.

necubi 12y ago
Backpack isn't "kinda" illegal, gray-area, like AirBnB or Uber. It's straight-up, completely illegal. And this isn't municipality-level policies it's up against, it's customs and border, national law. I can't see any future where they don't get shut down.
- lukasm 12y ago
  prices are not the same within EU. There is an opportunity here.
bduerst 12y ago
Doubtful about backpackbang. All it is going to take is a couple smuggling stings on the travelers, and then they will have the reputation as not being safe. I mean, who wants to spend their vacation in a foreign prison, waiting for the consulate? Or risk losing their job for smuggling a couple hundred dollars?
- hayksaakian 12y ago
  Seems like something wealthy people would be interested in. Maybe that's why it stands out.
  - ddw 12y ago
    Do wealthy people need all the hassle to save a few hundred dollars on a Macbook?
    - hayksaakian 12y ago
      maybe you want a fancy wine or a cuban cigar.
      - jacquesm 12y ago
        Maybe whatever you take along has a bunch of cocaine in it. I'm a pretty experienced traveller and I do people all kinds of favours but I'm fairly picky about what I take across borders for others. As in: I get to inspect the item inside and out beforehand.
untog 12y ago
Even if backpackbang dodges the bullets, I still don't see the market being that big for it. It's a total niche service.
- simoncarter 12y ago
  I'm in Eastern Europe right now, and the percentage of people I know who do this, either via a friend, friend of a friend, or a client, is high. Obvious, though not insurmountable, problems aside, I disagree it's niche.
davidPB 12y ago
If you believe in the backpack idea, here is a whole list http://blog.piggybee.com/2014/08/delivery-by-travelers.html http://blog.piggybee.com/2014/08/delivery-by-travelers.html

pariya 12y ago

So awesome that I've been tracking most of these companies without even realizing they were YC affiliated over the last few months. Love the Zenamins- what a great idea. I've been obsessed with Product Hunt. Seriously. I call it "The Vortex". I hope they all succeed.

kyro 12y ago

Congrats to Chas and the Aptible bunch. Really smart guys. Also saw they joined RockHealth. Tackling a ton of hard problems in healthcare to make it easy for people to build apps. Learned quite a bit about HIPAA compliance from their blog, but it seems like they've taken that stuff down, unfortunately.

chasb 12y ago
Thanks kyro. We'll get some blog posts back up!
chimeracoder 12y ago
Seconded - I could not be more excited for them (especially as a customer!). I know Chas & Frank from our days together in the Blueprint Health accelerator[0] (they were in the class before mine). Aptible is going to allow a lot of people to enter the health-tech space when the costs would otherwise be prohibitive - it's going to be huge. Forcing every company to duplicate all that compliance work in-house makes no sense, just like having every company maintaining its own colo hardware makes no sense. [0] http://www.blueprinthealth.org/ http://www.blueprinthealth.org/
callmeed 12y ago
I looked at it the other day and it starts at $3,500/month. That's pretty much a non-starter for any bootstrapped health startup that wants to deploy a working MVP.
- dome82 12y ago
  There is a development environment at $0.06/hour. Anyway, I agree. I think the pricing is a bit too high for bootstrapped health startup.

StewartDouglas 12y ago

Do all the YC companies get a chance to demo? I know that http://permutive.com/ http://permutive.com/ are part of this cohort but I didn't see them mentioned.

TheMakeA 12y ago
They might have demoed off the record.

samirmenon 12y ago

I'm not sure I understand how Women.com "verfies" that you are a woman. It seems a bit presumptuous to ask someone to "verify" their gender.

davemel37 12y ago
There is actually a forum my wife participates in for Married Orthodox Jewish Women that has done an excellent job qualifying users before letting them in. They ask questions that even their husbands wouldn't know. All women.com needs to do is ask questions about feminine products and they'll keep out most men. Edit: For the record, my wife participates in the forum dozens of times a day. The ability to discuss sensitive issues with other like minded women in a verified exclusive forum is an incredibly good idea - one that is proven to work.
- Mandatum 12y ago
  Are the questions catered to American women, or are they universal? Do you have a few examples? I find it interesting that this works.. I can't imagine what you'd ask men. Cars? I know nothing about them. Tools? No idea. Cooking, sport, shaving your beard.. I've got a beard trimmer?
  - davemel37 12y ago
    Many months ago there was a thread on HN about words that only males or females know the definition of... Thats one option... (I can't track it down.) In the case of verifying women, you can simply ask the difference between different tampons or whatnot and most guys will have no clue. There are lots of things that ALL WOMEN know that men don't. In the case of the forum my wife participates in, they ask questions about what happens at the Mikvah. While a few men might know the laws around this, no jewish male has ever been present at the mikva, and no single jewish women either... It is an experience exclusive to married jewish women...and there are specific things that are said and done that most men would have no idea how to answer. The few that would know the answer would likely stay away from the site in the first place (if they even use the internet!) Edit: Here is the questionnaire. http://balaboostas.com/forum/entry/register?Target=%2F http://balaboostas.com/forum/entry/register?Target=%2F

bluerail 12y ago

Is it only me, or why the FAQ on backpackbang's site is just talking only about Bangladesh?

tejasm 12y ago
Because the founders are from Bangladesh.

mind_heist 12y ago

Question about Aptible .. What exactly does the HIPAA "compliance engine" do ? (ie) the list of parameters it checks for in a deployment ?