Idea Generation #2: Startup Ideas from other blogs

Found some startup ideas today while browsing the web Throught I put it here for refernce. (original post link)


There are way too many Web 2.0 companies out there. Some provide useful services, like Flickr or YouTube, but some are simply copycats, badly executed unoriginal ideas. The Web 2.0 bubble seems to be, thankfully, deflating now, with some companies already going out of business as they realise that Web 2.0 is not magic and if you just offer free services, then, well, there’s no money in that.

Here’s a list of Web 2.0 business ideas. Five of them. Hopefully these will inspire people to try something new and interesting and maybe some of these will turn out to be viable business ideas.


#1. Shortn


If you’re like me, then you read Digg and Slashdot, you surf del.icio.us and reddit and a whole bunch of blogs. Each Digg story is basically a link to some longer story somewhere and a quick introduction meant to draw the reader in. Do stories like this look familiar?

Joystiq takes the Inquirer to task over their recent article about the PS3 being “slow and broken.”

Okay, so, what’s wrong with the introduction and how can we improve it? If you’re interested in that article, then what do you want from it? Facts, right? Quick access to the list of facts presented by Joystiq in support of the PS3. Shortn would, in essence, be a community-edited article distillation service. Goes something like this:

Someone submits an URL.
Someone submits an informative “executive summary” of the article behind the URL.
Competing summaries are voted on by the community.
The best summary for any URL is made available through the Shortn API and on the Shortn website.
We are living in all kinds of noise and people who write 2000-word articles to hide a 2-sentence point in a pile of smart-sounding fluff are simply evil. There are dozens of articles each day that we’d like to read, but don’t have the time for. A community that creates informative summaries of each article would be a great timesaver.

#2. MetaSwarm


Do you like early rockabilly music? What about squid? Ever eaten any? Everyone knows the films of Darren Aronofsky, but ever seen anything by Mikael Håfström? There’s a lot we would probably like if we were exposed to it.

And there are a lot of things out there looking for an audience.

MetaSwarm would essentially be a meta-Web 2.0 community. People sign up and get to betatest new Web 2.0 services still half way in development. Web 2.0 service builders get betatesters and early content producers. With, perhaps, awards for most useful bug reports and such.

#3. AcidR


We have picture-sharing communities, video-sharing communities, football-experience-sharing communities, car-experience-sharing communities, and so on…

How about also sharing drug experiences? Describe your wildest trips. Post pictures of yourself high on all substances known to man. Rate your experiences with different drugs. Have others rate your trip stories. Had a bad trip? Share it with everyone else! At the end of the day, we can produce charts showing which drugs are the most popular and which produce the best experiences. Yay!

#4. Jizzr


Let’s face it. Most community-driven Web 2.0 services utilising AJAX and XML and whatever the fuck is hot right now are simply old classics like ratemypoo in new clothing. You have an “attention economy”. A good example is DeviantArt. Look at some work of art and add it to your list of favourites. Then, 90% of the time, the artist will look at your profile and your art, and leave you a comment saying “thanks for the fav!”

Web 2.0 services shouldn’t be some high-brow elitist movement. Stuff like ratemypoo needs AJAX too. You need to enable the community and stuff. Besides, consider if a jizz rating community becomes popular enough. “Honey, this splat here is shaped like Australia! Don’t move, I’ll get my camera!”

Bah, noone appreciates genius these days

#5. MetaCompany


Back to serious business now.

MetaCompany is an online community website that lets your build your business right there on the web. TopCoder and eLance already provide employment services. You can find professionals willing to do stuff for you on there. Now, combine this with the possibilities of online project management and collaboration environments like Basecamp. Then consider this scenario.

You need a quick website made for whatever purpose.
You log on to MetaCompany.
On MetaCompany you write a short description of the website and use it to hire a programmer and a designer.
You write the text that will be the content of the resulting website.
The programmer you hired uses the MetaCompany versioning server to store the code and to generate daily or weekly reports.
When you’re done with the web page, you can hire a sysadmin via MetaCompany to set the site up or you can do it yourself by finding a hosting company via MetaCompany.
Project finished!
MetaCompany is all about bringing people and companies together to provide a one-stop source for entrepreneurs.

Need a poster designed for an event? Hire a freelance designer via MetaCompany. Want to make a game and later sell it to a publisher? Find freelance coders, artists, and sound people on MetaCompany, manage everything online. Want peformers for a concert? Find bands in your area and listen to their CC-licensed tracks online.

It’s all about enabling people.

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