I can't fathom how it makes money, but I could see a lot of Facebook sorts of apps revolving around your friends controlling certain aspects of your life. E.g., choosing your current music, picking the next book you read, the videos you watch one afternoon, your alarm clock music (maybe?). It's kinda like the new form of mix-tapes.
Maybe you could try publishing this in alt.chi. I like the idea of exploring social startup ideas revolving around sleep in general. It may not turn out to be profitable, but it's interesting.
that's mean. And quite frankly it is very low for anyone to attack people in such a manner. If you cannot say something that adds value maybe you can save the keystrokes to promoting your gambling site.
It was pretty direct, and I think I might have chosen a softer way of saying it, but I don't like the idea much myself, either. Telling someone you respect the truth "adds value" in my opinion.
Who knows though, maybe Ryan will be able to repurpose it into something cool with just a little bit of effort, and come out ahead. I hope so.
What I think I would say to Ryan if I were talking about it over a beer, and trying to be a bit humorous about it, is that it really reminds me of something Kramer from Seinfeld would be trying to sell Jerry and Elaine on. "But Jerry, it's great, it's an alarm clock and it's social!". Later in the episode Kramer would be walking around in an obviously sleep deprived state.
Why would Kramer be walking around in a sleep deprived state?
Maybe I need to be more direct, as it looks like readers get the impression that your friends have the power to randomly wake you up with their messages? That is not the case and I dont want to use an alarm clock that allowed people to wake me up to messages when they want to. Uggh, that would stink, I want to sleep until the time on my alarm clock goes off!
What's different here is the sound of your alarm clock. INstead of just hearing only a buzzer you hear some sorta of buzzer and then audio messages left from those you allow. THis is only heard after the alarm time you set passes... same principle as a normal alarm clock.
If this is clear to you cool ... though I dont understand your statement, "Kramer would be sleep deprived"
Well, it's Seinfeld, so it would have been hacked or otherwise malfunctioned to make the show entertaining. "Jerry, these kids won't leave me alone!" or "Jerry, this woman keeps leavin' me messages, and I get all wowwowah". Didn't mean to cast aspersions on how it actually works.
Maybe you should aim higher or broader...take the ability to leave messages for people and do something with that? I just don't find the idea very compelling - it's too narrow feeling. If I want to hear a friend, I want to hear from them whenever it is, not just in the morning. And if I want a fancy alarm clock thing, I simply want one that I can load ogg or mp3 files in. Messages from people might be loaded or automatically pulled in, but for me that's just not a central feature. Another thing that sort of limits its appeal is that you have to have your computer in your room with you, and on. Mine has an option to automatically wake up, but it's a fiddly bios thing that most people aren't going to want to use, and most people don't like sleeping with the things on, either - they're noisy.
So, beyond what I don't like, I wonder how you could take what you've created and tweak it to appeal to other audiences, or be useful in other ways? If you've got good tech behind it, perhaps it's just a matter of trying out a few other niches - maybe something else is what it's really destined to be.
Are you a management consultant? Because at least those guys figured out how to get paid for their inconsequential opinions on how OTHER people should run THEIR businesses ... remind us all again what makes you the definative expert on OTHER people's prospects for success?
Well! I take back what I said. Obviously "making a bunch of money playing poker" qualifies one as an expert in rapidly assigning probabilities of success to ventures undertaken in an increasingly complex world where the law of unintended consequences seems to be trumping everything else.
>> and his current startup has obvious money making potential
And is worth $0. Contrasted with, say, Google ... which until year 3 had no clue as to what their business model would be and therefore had, using your logic, no "obvious money making potential" ... but is now worth ... like, a lot - or so I hear.
If ideas are a dime a dozen then "potential" must be the stuff they use for shipping filler to make sure the ideas don't get damaged during transport.
In other words, he is no more proven than the people whose startups he belittles ...
Dude, if I ever come down to the level you (which won't happen in this lifetime) I will say you are an idiot. But I will never be at that level, so I will never say it. But just so you know, a lot of people won't work at your startup for too long if they have to put it with your brains. Idiot.
