Friday 30 November 2007
17:46
aaronchua
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Startup Idea #31: Toys 2.0 ideas
Stardolls is the inspiration for this toy 2.0 post. I have a few ideas on how to develop this concept.
Idea #1: This idea focuses on games and any other media that have a ready 3D model. We aim to inject plasticity into the figurines, making them customisable. The microchunks are in three forms: (i) postures of figurines, (ii) clothing of figurines and (iii) sensor of figurines.
The last point need further explanation. Imagine figures which can react by actions or voices to other figures that have a prior relationship based on their characters in the animation or games. This is interesting as we are leveraging on the social graph of virtual characters to potentially enhance the social graph of the real world users.
updated: 30 Nov 2007
Somebody is already doing (ii) above. Toys 2.0 is already on its way. The question we have to ask ourselves is why has the above not taken off? No knowledge pool? No viral economies?
updated: 12 Dec 2007
Wow, this is exactly what I was saying except that it has limited community building and customisation. As I said, toys 2.0 is coming.
Idea #2: Bundle a physical package where toys can be remixable via microchunks of their physical parts i.e. different legs, hands, weapons et al. The package should encourage users to submit pictures of their customised toys to our site where the information can be shared. We of course allow users to buy more parts to expand their customisable ability.
Idea #3: We can build a community site where users submit their creation of toys that are made of recyclable materials. See this blog for cool examples.
Idea #4: Web linked toys. See this post of an example. This post gives another perspective. Bringing physical toys with connectivity into the web.
Idea #1: This idea focuses on games and any other media that have a ready 3D model. We aim to inject plasticity into the figurines, making them customisable. The microchunks are in three forms: (i) postures of figurines, (ii) clothing of figurines and (iii) sensor of figurines.
The last point need further explanation. Imagine figures which can react by actions or voices to other figures that have a prior relationship based on their characters in the animation or games. This is interesting as we are leveraging on the social graph of virtual characters to potentially enhance the social graph of the real world users.
updated: 30 Nov 2007
Somebody is already doing (ii) above. Toys 2.0 is already on its way. The question we have to ask ourselves is why has the above not taken off? No knowledge pool? No viral economies?
updated: 12 Dec 2007
Wow, this is exactly what I was saying except that it has limited community building and customisation. As I said, toys 2.0 is coming.
Idea #2: Bundle a physical package where toys can be remixable via microchunks of their physical parts i.e. different legs, hands, weapons et al. The package should encourage users to submit pictures of their customised toys to our site where the information can be shared. We of course allow users to buy more parts to expand their customisable ability.
Idea #3: We can build a community site where users submit their creation of toys that are made of recyclable materials. See this blog for cool examples.
Idea #4: Web linked toys. See this post of an example. This post gives another perspective. Bringing physical toys with connectivity into the web.
Startup Idea #30: Platform for action scripts that allow physical interaction between avatars in virtual worlds
This is huge! (LINK).
What we have here is the potential to create a new form of market: Action scripts for physical interaction between avatars in virtual worlds. Such form of interaction touches the heart of social capital and leads to connected consumption in the emerging media of virtual worlds. The opportunities for new markets are mind staggering. Just consider the few ideas below:
A microplatform for users to produce their own social animation script; a marketplace for selling and trading of social animation scripts; a smart aggregator to filter the scripts; a reconstructor to rebundle the right set of scripts for different social settings; a data analytics application for the scripts.
See the opportunities yet?
What we have here is the potential to create a new form of market: Action scripts for physical interaction between avatars in virtual worlds. Such form of interaction touches the heart of social capital and leads to connected consumption in the emerging media of virtual worlds. The opportunities for new markets are mind staggering. Just consider the few ideas below:
A microplatform for users to produce their own social animation script; a marketplace for selling and trading of social animation scripts; a smart aggregator to filter the scripts; a reconstructor to rebundle the right set of scripts for different social settings; a data analytics application for the scripts.
See the opportunities yet?
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Sunday 25 November 2007
Startup Idea #28: E-textile market
This article talks about the e-textile and how close we are to commercialising this. If we talk the full spectrum of 2.0 models and apply them in this market, there are lots of interesting things we can do..
- a micro community with a reconstructor toolkit: give away or sell the toolkits for users to design their wearables. Have a website for these users to then display their creations as well as educate others on how to create their own wearables
- a threadless model: we fixed the perimeter of the wearable technology and let users submit their designs. We will then manufacture the most voted designs
- marketplace for programming: fixed the wearable design but let users trade the programmings that run within the wearables.
- a micro community with a reconstructor toolkit: give away or sell the toolkits for users to design their wearables. Have a website for these users to then display their creations as well as educate others on how to create their own wearables
- a threadless model: we fixed the perimeter of the wearable technology and let users submit their designs. We will then manufacture the most voted designs
- marketplace for programming: fixed the wearable design but let users trade the programmings that run within the wearables.
Tuesday 20 November 2007
Idea generation #5: Creating new market exchanges
I post in startup idea #18 that we can provide analytics to new markets. On further reflection, that is missing the big picture. While that idea is still worth doing, the bigger value creation will come from creating new marketplaces in areas where there are strong economic gains to be realised. This site tracks such developments.
I have list some interesting markets being created:
Stickk: Marketplace for weight loss
CCE: Marketplace for carbon trading
certificateswap.com: Marketplace for exchanging gift certificates
SpotScount:Marketplace for selling and buying of temporary parking space
ParkingTicket.com: Contesting parking tickets.
Most of the above sites are not true exchanges like what we see in stock exchange. Hence, the opportunities here for new wealth creation is tremendous.
There are also untapped markets. How about the following:
cellphone numbers
journal articles
carparks
terrorism
lead generation
Here is a list of interesting markets that can be developed.
I have list some interesting markets being created:
Stickk: Marketplace for weight loss
CCE: Marketplace for carbon trading
certificateswap.com: Marketplace for exchanging gift certificates
SpotScount:Marketplace for selling and buying of temporary parking space
ParkingTicket.com: Contesting parking tickets.
Most of the above sites are not true exchanges like what we see in stock exchange. Hence, the opportunities here for new wealth creation is tremendous.
There are also untapped markets. How about the following:
cellphone numbers
journal articles
carparks
terrorism
lead generation
Here is a list of interesting markets that can be developed.
Sunday 18 November 2007
Startup Idea #27:
Updated:
From bubblegen in 2004 comes this insightful post that I think is still relevant today:
Death of the Sitcom
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Bravo to film a new reality show about the making of a sitcom. What they should really do is massively distribute the search problem - air different pilots and leverage distributed prediction to more efficiently find the next great sitcom. If, that is, it exists.
I don't know whether there is such a service today but it will be a killer idea. A feedback mechanism for content providers, be they professional studios or creative, will help them tremendously in getting early reactions on their product. It also allows business intelligence to be gathered on the next potential hit.
Updated: 1 Dec 2007, 11 Dec 2007
After thinking through, I realise there are already distributed platforms. Think Youtube, Revver, MetaCafe and countless video sharing sites. The key, as I mentioned previously is to provide a coordination mechanism. We need information extraction technology here. If we can build such a technology, the next step is to have a predictive model based on these aggregated info to identify the next hit. Sort of like how Monitor110 gives user tradeable actions before the investment news hit mainstream.
From bubblegen in 2004 comes this insightful post that I think is still relevant today:
Death of the Sitcom
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Bravo to film a new reality show about the making of a sitcom. What they should really do is massively distribute the search problem - air different pilots and leverage distributed prediction to more efficiently find the next great sitcom. If, that is, it exists.
I don't know whether there is such a service today but it will be a killer idea. A feedback mechanism for content providers, be they professional studios or creative, will help them tremendously in getting early reactions on their product. It also allows business intelligence to be gathered on the next potential hit.
Updated: 1 Dec 2007, 11 Dec 2007
After thinking through, I realise there are already distributed platforms. Think Youtube, Revver, MetaCafe and countless video sharing sites. The key, as I mentioned previously is to provide a coordination mechanism. We need information extraction technology here. If we can build such a technology, the next step is to have a predictive model based on these aggregated info to identify the next hit. Sort of like how Monitor110 gives user tradeable actions before the investment news hit mainstream.
Saturday 17 November 2007
Startup Idea #26: New music label
This article highlights a very interesting idea. Brand owners who own major retailing channels have the potential to become the new music labels for independent artists. What is missing to connect the two is a marketplace. In the spirit of bubblegen, we are using a marketplace to coordinate actions of parties such that it is just as efficient for an independent artist to sell through retailers as to do so through music labels.
What is needed on the supply side are hardware or software to make available their 'retailing space' for music. We create the middleware i.e. the marketplace for independent artisits to select the retailers that they wish to play their music on. Retailers can pre-screen the songs to ensure conformity with their brand before they are aired in the retailer's outlets.
On the consumer side, they have the option to instantly purchase the music they heard via their ipod or mp3 players. Alternatively, the music can be free for download if the consumer purchases certain items from the retailers.
Updated: 6 Dec 2007
This idea is not that far fetched if we use this example. It is saying: look guys, we will support your music via advertising. Is it far fetched to stretch to: hey guys, i will promote and sell your music in my store!
What is needed on the supply side are hardware or software to make available their 'retailing space' for music. We create the middleware i.e. the marketplace for independent artisits to select the retailers that they wish to play their music on. Retailers can pre-screen the songs to ensure conformity with their brand before they are aired in the retailer's outlets.
On the consumer side, they have the option to instantly purchase the music they heard via their ipod or mp3 players. Alternatively, the music can be free for download if the consumer purchases certain items from the retailers.
Updated: 6 Dec 2007
This idea is not that far fetched if we use this example. It is saying: look guys, we will support your music via advertising. Is it far fetched to stretch to: hey guys, i will promote and sell your music in my store!
Startup Idea #25: Transform inefficient networks into markets: finance edition
Companies like Monitor 110 and Clearforest create content derivation applications. They rely on inferring structure from unstructured data to get investment related information. While this is a good service, users have to pay to assess them which limits the growth.
What I am proposing is an open sourced approach. We leverage on the same methodology but make the information free and build communications tools around them. Let the community discuss on our recommended actions and suggest alternatives. The service may evolve into a MySpace for the investment community.
Updated: 27 Jan 2008
A bit more strategic here. How to use the above to alter the value chain of equity research, rather than just becoming another research tool? Here is one direction.
What I am proposing is an open sourced approach. We leverage on the same methodology but make the information free and build communications tools around them. Let the community discuss on our recommended actions and suggest alternatives. The service may evolve into a MySpace for the investment community.
Updated: 27 Jan 2008
A bit more strategic here. How to use the above to alter the value chain of equity research, rather than just becoming another research tool? Here is one direction.
Wednesday 7 November 2007
Startup Idea #24: Comments and services
The idea stuck me while reading this
Sad to say, my queue at Netflix is empty.
Okay, so you've been reading this blog for years, you know what movies I liked, probably don't have much insight into movies I don't (hint: I like most movies).
And now that we have easy comments (thanks to Disqus), it's easy for you all to tell me what your favorite movies are.
What if the recommendations from your comments are linked to actual services. Say, if I receive recommendations for a movie title, can I order immediately from NetFlix? In order words, can I mash the APIs for a comment system like Disque with the API from Amazon or Netflix to give you services when you are most likely to purchase it?
The idea goes beyond the simple mashup application scenario. If services are decoupled from their destinations and flow to where they are likely to be purchased, it makes a very powerful way of doing ecommerce. Can we accomplish this?
Updated: 1 Dec 2007
Facebook's Beacon is sort of what I am suggesting (see this post). The difference is that while Facebook's system is closed, our system will be open which is a huge strategic advantage.
Sad to say, my queue at Netflix is empty.
Okay, so you've been reading this blog for years, you know what movies I liked, probably don't have much insight into movies I don't (hint: I like most movies).
And now that we have easy comments (thanks to Disqus), it's easy for you all to tell me what your favorite movies are.
What if the recommendations from your comments are linked to actual services. Say, if I receive recommendations for a movie title, can I order immediately from NetFlix? In order words, can I mash the APIs for a comment system like Disque with the API from Amazon or Netflix to give you services when you are most likely to purchase it?
The idea goes beyond the simple mashup application scenario. If services are decoupled from their destinations and flow to where they are likely to be purchased, it makes a very powerful way of doing ecommerce. Can we accomplish this?
Updated: 1 Dec 2007
Facebook's Beacon is sort of what I am suggesting (see this post). The difference is that while Facebook's system is closed, our system will be open which is a huge strategic advantage.
Startup Idea #23: Game models
Updated 29 Dec 2007
Why are we not seeing the various interesting business models and innovation happening in music being applied in the games industry? This means a ripe area of startups.
One I can think of straight away is the network model such as Lala.com. We can offer an upfront small payment to game developers to convince them to release their games for free on our network. We then ride on other sources of revenue to recover our costs. These sources include: figurine printing, merchandise, mobile wallpapers, et al. The value add is inter-connect all these different sources of revenue into a one click software.
Updated 12 Dec 2007;
Dropped the previous idea as I found out there are already existing services out there, specifically brandpulse and blogpulse.
Why are we not seeing the various interesting business models and innovation happening in music being applied in the games industry? This means a ripe area of startups.
One I can think of straight away is the network model such as Lala.com. We can offer an upfront small payment to game developers to convince them to release their games for free on our network. We then ride on other sources of revenue to recover our costs. These sources include: figurine printing, merchandise, mobile wallpapers, et al. The value add is inter-connect all these different sources of revenue into a one click software.
Updated 12 Dec 2007;
Dropped the previous idea as I found out there are already existing services out there, specifically brandpulse and blogpulse.
Startup Idea #22: Cleaning contact database using social software
Most companies have problem maintaining a reliable and accurate contact management list. People move on, got promoted, migirated, change industries et al. It is difficult for any one company to keep track of all these changes without changing substantial resources.
My idea is to rely on social profiles such as those found in LinkedIn, Facebook et al to help companies automatically 'clean' their databases. Our software will match contacts in any contact management software with social profiles. Once the software detect any changes to these profiles, it will automatically change the information in the contact database.
The key challenges in this idea are: integration with various contact management software, powerful people matching engines (we can rely on the many people search engines that have surfaced such as Spock as well as those found in social network). Not easy challenges but not impossible. Worth a shot.
My idea is to rely on social profiles such as those found in LinkedIn, Facebook et al to help companies automatically 'clean' their databases. Our software will match contacts in any contact management software with social profiles. Once the software detect any changes to these profiles, it will automatically change the information in the contact database.
The key challenges in this idea are: integration with various contact management software, powerful people matching engines (we can rely on the many people search engines that have surfaced such as Spock as well as those found in social network). Not easy challenges but not impossible. Worth a shot.
Tuesday 6 November 2007
Startup Idea #21: Network for fashion estores
Update 18 March 2008
Create a network among independent fashion houses to cross sell products in their blogs or websites. In this network, whatever blog/site sends a lead to the seller, it will receive a part of the sales proceeds if the sales is made. In this way, the network effects can be multiplied across the independent fashion houses.
For the consumer, it means being able to view a wider range of items across the networks, rather than having to go to individuals sites. Hence, we are allocating the attention of the user efficiently through this network model.
Create a network among independent fashion houses to cross sell products in their blogs or websites. In this network, whatever blog/site sends a lead to the seller, it will receive a part of the sales proceeds if the sales is made. In this way, the network effects can be multiplied across the independent fashion houses.
For the consumer, it means being able to view a wider range of items across the networks, rather than having to go to individuals sites. Hence, we are allocating the attention of the user efficiently through this network model.
Monday 5 November 2007
Startup Idea # 20: Decentralised attention market for news
Updated: 19 Feb 2008
Took away the previous idea of using clickstreams as inputs to attention markets.
Dave of scripting.com posted a great idea: making a tool that allows community to start their Digg clone as easily as starting a website. My view is that it would be more viral if the there are 2 other components:
i) making a digg widget so that this function can be part of the current community, rather than having to start another new site, which is what a lot of Digg-maker is doing
ii) allows webmaster to appoint people who can submit articles. These will be the editors of the community-specific digg
iii) allows customisation of style sheets. very important for integration into current sites
Took away the previous idea of using clickstreams as inputs to attention markets.
Dave of scripting.com posted a great idea: making a tool that allows community to start their Digg clone as easily as starting a website. My view is that it would be more viral if the there are 2 other components:
i) making a digg widget so that this function can be part of the current community, rather than having to start another new site, which is what a lot of Digg-maker is doing
ii) allows webmaster to appoint people who can submit articles. These will be the editors of the community-specific digg
iii) allows customisation of style sheets. very important for integration into current sites
