I think you did well. I understood what you are trying to do immediately, but there was a struggle communicating that to Paul. I think you can immediately get the idea across by saying that it is "Metacritic for consumer electronics". Assuming your audience knows what metacritic is, which may not always be the case :)
I always spend a lot of time researching products before buying, and I would use a site like yours if I could validate your rankings. Perhaps offer a straightforward recommendation, but provide the option of letting the user understand everything that went into that score.
Also, you said you are using conversion rate as a datapoint. Laptops are a big purchase and sometimes people don't purchase right away, or they research online and then go in store. For your next product, you could get some quick data like Paul was suggesting by reviewing a product that is easy for people to impulse buy. Perhaps something like home media players (WDTV, Boxee, Roku).
I looked at your site after it finally started working again during your segment. Why is the Macbook Pro ranked #1 for gaming laptops? It has superior build quality, but gaming performance leaves plenty to be desired compared to many of the laptops below it. It also costs much more, which doesn't seem to be factored in to the price.
The ASUS G73SW-A1 listing says this in the Display summary:
"Looking at the screen both indoors and outdoors is a generally enjoyable experience"
Then this in the Display details:
"The reflections on this screen cause its usability to be close to minimal. Users will only be able to comfortably view the display in either dark environment or with the least possible amount of lighting. Outdoor use will prove to be absurd; patience and continuous focus will be required for any actual and efficient use of this laptop under medium lighting conditions."
These seem contradictory, and there were little inconsistencies everywhere I looked.
Thank you for your feedback, it is very appreciated.
The current problem with our website is: We didn't put the newest data up. We have other plans with it and kind of starved the consumer version of new laptops.
Nevertheless your points are very valid, the categorizing of products needs improvement, very much.
We have many better gaming laptops in our complete database, I hope we will manage to make them available to everyone in the next few weeks.
About the wording, we are no native speakers, so our English is definitely a week point.
I think you did rather well for your first time on stage! Don't be too hard on yourself. You did seem a little flustered, but on average, you answered pg's questions well.
Can anyone comment as to the quality of these interviewees in relation to the proper YC applicants?
It seems that some of the guys wouldn't know their arse from their elbow. I appreciate how stressful it would be on stage, however a lot of them just didn't grasp the fundamentals of business or communicate a clear value prop.
Were past YC companies more polished during their first elevator pitches, or is it something that comes with practice?
just tried out omniplaces.com. works pretty fast, i kinda like it. though when I looked for burgers near palo alto, i mostly got burger king and in and out, though that's fixable.
One could potentially build a yelp like website with this search experience - especially if you don't manipulate reviews :)
I would've loved to hear some more from Harj, he got some good questions in but it seemed to me he had a hard time actually hearing the interviewees (and vica versa). Plus Paul's enthusiasm probably didn't make it easier to get a question in (not meant as critique towards Paul).
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It's really interesting and it has to potential to transfer a lot of startup/business related knowledge in a short amount of time. But it could definitely be optimized (better seating arrangement/better sound). Perhaps it takes away some of the spontaneity, but picking more suitable startups beforehand and perhaps a 5min briefing for the interviewers so you can get to the point more quickly would go a long way.
I've done a bit of research on how to transfer expertise and I feel that this (public office hours) really is an effective way to do just that, you can learn a lot from this, even if you're not the interviewee.
I am the person talking about OmniPlaces.com. It's an amazing experience and Paul was right-on with his questions. Given the time limit, I was not able to answer all the questions. Our site provides powerful search features (instant, error tolerant and local), which are important for location-based apps and mobile apps. In addition, we provide aggregated links to other important sites such as Yelp, Foursquare, and Gowalla. Our core value is the backend technology and product developed by Bimaple, which are also ready to be used by other companies.
A few suggestions:
1. Prepare answers to basic questions about your business before you go on stage/interview. Practice with someone.
2. Actively listen and try to understand what the interviewer is asking for. Don't answer question B when interviewer is asking question A.
3. Think about what use cases your product could quickly become a hit with. Keep some examples ready.
Having said that, I tried out your webapp, and really like the speed of search as well as the quick zoom in and out based on how many search results you found. Get someone to help you with interaction and visual design so you can polish the look, feel and experience. Also try to think through all the steps a user would go through to achieve their goal when they come to your website.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. They are all very valid. (1) I should admit we didn't do any preparation before the interview since we didn't think we could get selected. (2) When I watched the video tonight, I also noticed that I should have let Paul finish his questions before trying to answer them. For Harj, I had a hard time hearing his questions possibly due to the distance, even though you guys could hear him clearly through his microphone. (3) We will improve the UI of our site.
I should emphasize that we currently use OmniPlaces.com to demonstrate our backend technologies. Our main focus is companies who can use our search technologies. Our goal is not to compete with Google Local. We want to develop OmniPlaces as a site that can aggregate information from other sites, such as Yelp and Foursquare, which can provide valuable information to end users.
Did not work for me at all.
Tried to search for Starbucks near Hamburg and compared it to Google Maps.
Got nothing on Omniplaces and everything i needed on Google Maps and as pg pointed out on stage you fight against Google in search and there is no compelling feature im even interested in on your site.
Overall it looks like a clone of Google Maps with less features and information sorry to say that.
Maybe adding some social layers (friend recommendations etc.) would help.
Wondering what is your business model - i.e. how do you plan to make money, given that maps app comes preinstalled and does instant search (I only typed in ghi and the suggestion include Ghirardelli Chocolate Co, Chicago). Though there isn't a link to yelp or yahoo review in the balloon, on selecting it I do get reviews, images, ratings from the site I'd care for. How much more does it add to the user experience by mashing up gowala and foursquare checkin data?
Have you thought of something like bringing together wishlist + local deals for places - say I add to list Ghirardelli and when there's a deal available there - I get notified about the deal. You can provide the businesses with a deal-hype building based on which they can plan their deals ahead of time. More fun stuff can be thought of with these on the user side too ... as which places are getting hotter and might be deal prone soon
First of all, fuzzy search is no biggie for Google. Google Search Instant works great, and I can't see any reason why the Instant technology wouldn't work just as well for Maps--which leads me to believe that they have a reason for not releasing a Maps Instant. Even if your fuzzy learning algorithm is superior to Google's, Google has way more data, and more data > better algorithm anytime.
Your backend technology may have promise, but you probably need to apply it on a more niche and less traversed market than location search, one that BigCos like Google wouldn't consider.
Hi Dr. Li, I saw your presentation on BiMaple at the Irvine Incubation Center, so it's nice to see the technology out in the wild. My initial reaction to omniplaces was that it was slightly harder to use than Google Maps because it does not guess at your location based on your IP address. I think if you implement that it will be easier to use than Google Maps due to the instant fuzzy search (though as Paul Graham said, just being slightly better might not be enough.) Good luck!
I tried it. To me it felt like a different skin to google maps. The only difference I noticed was that it provides the icons under each place that link to yelp etc. That feature would be much more useful if it could pull the data instead of link you off site.
Google's big advantage is that I can click "directions to here", which would prevent me from switching. If you are targeting mobile devices, this is especially important.
I check it out. It worked nice but still needs something to set it apart I think. Even if you have something that's a little better than Google I might be willing to still choose Google over OmniPlaces just because I'm already familiar with Google and probably already have it open. Just a thought.
The first guy had a business with millions of users, a partnership with Apple, and 20% monthly growth rate. He seems to have gone on stage just to show off!
People at the top of the pyramid almost always suffer from groupthink more than anyone else, because they have the fewest people both able and willing to say no to them.
I see this all the time, and it happens on HN a lot too.
Someone will post a link to their startup, and everyone will be supportive and at most suggest a few wording corrections.
I'm often tempted to post "this is shit, and here is why", but I think the supportive environment of HN is valuable. I don't know what the solution is.
Agreed, and I am sure if I was presenting I would have problems of my own. That doesn't take away from the value (or amusement) you get from seeing other people's problems.
If you guys watch a little bit later after the talk with Peter Thiel and his partner they did a little segment with PG and Harj. It was very interesting. They talked about the difference of what that was and what interviews and office hours are like. Not sure if it was recorded are not.
Key takeaways or at least the main ideas behind PG and Harj's questions & comments-
What pain point are you solving?
Is it something you dealt with (or the market deals with)? How do you go about using the product?
What is the killer feature of your product that will allow a user to switch from their current method?
Essentially, do you have product-market fit and an intuitive user experience.
It was my first time on stage, it is really hard to prepare for this kind of experience.