Here’s the deal. I don’t have time for more projects, so it’s rare that I’ll actually take a new one on. I see new opportunities daily, but unless they fit the scope of what I’m looking for (usually not) I won’t blink at it. So from now on I’m going to start sharing random ideas with the community, rather than waste them. Hopefully this will work more as something to get your juices flowing and get people thinking a little less linear.
This first idea took me 2 seconds to think about, so if you don’t like it, who cares. If you do, then go for it…
During the dot com crash Philip Kaplan came out with FuckedCompany.com and was making a few hundred thousand per month at its peak. Basically the site documented each new tech company that crashed… He gained a lot of enemies, yes, but he also made a killing and created a name for himself and now owns Adbrite.
Anyway, there is a lot of debate right now whether or not we are in another bubble. I’m not going to get into my thoughts on this because it’ll shift this thread, but I’m going to use this industry buzz for this next idea.
Basically you would have something like web2bomb.com (or whatever). Now you would compile a list such as this http://www.alexaholic.com/sethgodin and place it in a database to start.
The general idea of the site would be to document the progression/digression of the web 2.0 companies in your database… and yes, it will be aided by user-generated-content. UGC is hot, and it works, so play off that.
Now the site can go any number of directions, get creative with it. I’d probably start with a ranking system, where users can vote whether or not the specific company will flop. Work with that and grow on it. Remember, stay creative. Who knows, maybe make it into a stock trading site based off votes (like alexadex.com), I don’t know, it’s up to you.
So now you’ll have: Voting, company news log, commenting, etc. Play with some ideas here. Get the users involved as much as possible. Keep the site as sticky as possible, that’s important.
There’s a huge array of variables that make an idea good or bad (including personal preference). I wouldn’t expect this site to be popular for 5 years, but I would expect it to prove a descent return on your time/money investment. The big thing with this site is that it plays off what’s hot in the market… Web 2.0 and another potential crash. Now remember, popularity spawns popularity. What does that mean? It means that you’re more likely to generate PR on something that is already a big debate in the industry than something that’s not (generally of course). Because of this, this site could very easily get on the front-page of Digg/TechCrunch/Reddit/etc. which is very enticing. This would jumpstart the site incredibly.
Also, I would suggest sticking with a Web 2.0 look and feel and usability (I know, ironic). Get some users rolling and comments generated before trying for a big PR push. I won’t go into too much detail with what you should do with the site, but use this to get your mind flowing!
Let me know what you think, and whether I should continue posting new ideas in the future. Also, if anyone follows through with this or any future ideas, share them with the community when you're done!
This first idea took me 2 seconds to think about, so if you don’t like it, who cares. If you do, then go for it…
During the dot com crash Philip Kaplan came out with FuckedCompany.com and was making a few hundred thousand per month at its peak. Basically the site documented each new tech company that crashed… He gained a lot of enemies, yes, but he also made a killing and created a name for himself and now owns Adbrite.
Anyway, there is a lot of debate right now whether or not we are in another bubble. I’m not going to get into my thoughts on this because it’ll shift this thread, but I’m going to use this industry buzz for this next idea.
Basically you would have something like web2bomb.com (or whatever). Now you would compile a list such as this http://www.alexaholic.com/sethgodin and place it in a database to start.
The general idea of the site would be to document the progression/digression of the web 2.0 companies in your database… and yes, it will be aided by user-generated-content. UGC is hot, and it works, so play off that.
Now the site can go any number of directions, get creative with it. I’d probably start with a ranking system, where users can vote whether or not the specific company will flop. Work with that and grow on it. Remember, stay creative. Who knows, maybe make it into a stock trading site based off votes (like alexadex.com), I don’t know, it’s up to you.
So now you’ll have: Voting, company news log, commenting, etc. Play with some ideas here. Get the users involved as much as possible. Keep the site as sticky as possible, that’s important.
There’s a huge array of variables that make an idea good or bad (including personal preference). I wouldn’t expect this site to be popular for 5 years, but I would expect it to prove a descent return on your time/money investment. The big thing with this site is that it plays off what’s hot in the market… Web 2.0 and another potential crash. Now remember, popularity spawns popularity. What does that mean? It means that you’re more likely to generate PR on something that is already a big debate in the industry than something that’s not (generally of course). Because of this, this site could very easily get on the front-page of Digg/TechCrunch/Reddit/etc. which is very enticing. This would jumpstart the site incredibly.
Also, I would suggest sticking with a Web 2.0 look and feel and usability (I know, ironic). Get some users rolling and comments generated before trying for a big PR push. I won’t go into too much detail with what you should do with the site, but use this to get your mind flowing!
Let me know what you think, and whether I should continue posting new ideas in the future. Also, if anyone follows through with this or any future ideas, share them with the community when you're done!
