Youtube was created in 2003. This is what it looked like two years later, and a year before it was bought by Google for $1.65 billion.
2005 vs. 2010...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Easy Postcards
Nobody sends hand-written letters anymore; except for inept grandmas who refuse to learn "electronic mail technology." I have, however, sent post cards during my recent vacations (or at least considered doing so because I'm too cheap and lazy). It's easy to do and a nice gesture, a reason why they are still alive at every tourist spot in the world.
Postagram ultra-simplifies (and even improves) postcards. By integrating with Instagram, a picture sharing mobile app, Postagram lets you use a picture you have taken to create a postcard and send it with just a few clicks. The price: $0.99. I'm assuming this pays off for the company. If so, yet another "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" genius idea.
Founded: 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Short And Sweet
Facebook Questions was a pretty good idea. There is no doubt that it has sparked some uneasy conversations in the Google offices as it "threatens to threaten" the search business. Now, as you may have guessed by the company logo the business here is plain and simple: 140 character questions, 140 character answers.
TwitQA provides an online platform for asking/answering questions and delivers them through Twitter. Users can choose a category and find simple to simple questions. This is what should differentiate this site. But they better move fast before Twitter likes the idea too much (and I'm not talking about becoming a fan on their Facebook page).
Founded: 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wayback Machine Wednesdays
Wow, Wednesday again. Well, why don't we watch what happens when we put the New York Knicks website into the Wayback Machine?
2002...
2011...
Help Me Read Please, Thanks
I don't like Google reader. It does provide me with a nice interface for reading articles from my favorite sites. But I have a lot of favorite sites, and they publish a lot of articles. So if i go three days without the reader I come back to hundreds (if not thousands) of unread articles and it just becomes easier to select what I want straight from the websites.
Summify takes in your information (in my case from Facebook) and uses its very clever algorithms to deliver you stories that you will hopefully enjoy. It does this daily although you can decide how often you want a new set of stores. Just what I've been looking for.
Founded: 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Wayback Machine Wednesdays
If you are tired of startups then just visit the blog on Wednesdays for the new "Wayback Machine Wednesdays" section. Here I will just show how websites have changed over time. Yes, yes, you can just go to the site yourself, but I will hand-pick those that I find the most interesting and serve them to you on a post. Today, lets start with everyone's second favorite soft drink...
1996 vs. 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Netflix for Art
Like the title states, the idea of Artsicle is to create a place where pieces of art can be rented out like Netflix movies and, of course, we are not talking about online streaming. Up and coming (NYC) artists can promote their work on this site. And for $50 a month, people can rent a favorite piece and keep it as long as they want, or change it every week if desired. For those who end up loving the art, the site offers the chance to purchase it through them. Great exposure for artists, and a (relatively) cheap way of decorating your walls.
Founded: 2010
Website: artsicle.com
Blog: The Artsicle Blog
Twitter: @artsicle
Free Outlets
Xatori Inc., a month-old company created by two Stanford alumni has just created an application in an attempt to cash in from Obama's promise to have one million electric cars by 2015. Well, perhaps not "cash in" since this iPhone app that lets you find places to plug in your Chevy Volt around the city is currently free of charge.
PlugShare is user-generated, so any shop or diner that wants to attract more customers can upload their iformation and become a "power-station" for drivers who forgot to leave their car charging the night before. Add one for cell-phones and I'll become a customer immediately. The application just came out, and it may not be too popular at the moment but the idea is--of course--looking into the future.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Blog? Widget!
Iticker is a free toolbar for blogs and websites that lets you easily link them with the social media world. All you need is a twitter account to add the widget. I can describe to you what this application does, but instead I'll just show you: look at the bottom right of this window and check it out yourself. It is very easy to add and it even let's you advertise on your site. So if you don't have a widget like this already, what are you waiting for?
Founded: 2011
Website: itickerapp.com
Twitter: @itickerapp
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
What's Up Doc?
Perhaps you've heard of this one because they started in New York City. And although this health care booking site is already in a few other places (LA being the most recent one), they have just unveiled that they are ready to cover most of the country. ZocDoc is a too-simple-to-be-true website that lets you find same-day dentist or doctor appointments in just one click. All you need to provide is your zip code and insurance company and voilà! A list of available doctors and appointment times comes up and all it takes is one more click to book.
Founded: 2007
Website: zocdoc.com
Blog: blog.zocdoc.com
Twitter: @zocdoc
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Signing Bonus Without Getting Hired
Think that your friends are a lot more qualified for jobs than you are? No problem. Just refer them to one of the companies looking for candidates at TopProspect and get paid up to $20,000! By connecting your Linkedin account to this website, TopProspect matches your connections (based on their experience and skills) with available job offers and all you have to do is suggest them for the job. If the company ends up hiring your friend, they send you a check ranging from $10,000-$20,000, and believe it or not, they are happy to do it. You wouldn't even imagine how much money is actually spent in the recruiting process (try $8 billion a year).
As a member you can build a reputation for being good at referring people, and that's when the true value of the company comes in. This is because as a business, can you really trust these referrals more than any other resume submission? Some people think so, I don't; probably why TopProspect still isn't taking any cuts from these "referral bonuses."
Funded: 2010
Website: topprospect.com
Twitter: @topprospect
Monday, February 14, 2011
Luxury At Your Fingertips
Founded: 2010
Website: uber.com
Blog: blog.uber.com
Twitter: @uber
A Million Dollar Idea
Perhaps not a new idea if you have heard of The Million Dollar Homepage. This, however, does not make StartupsWall.com any less functional. The idea in a nutshell: you can purchase (for $1 a pixel) space on their home page (a.k.a: "the wall") and your company logo, text, or whatever you want to use to represent your business will be displayed on the ad space acquired.
StartupsWall claims to have a team of very good marketers and professional SEO gurus. If this is the case then this is a good way for any new business to market themselves on what could become a good source of traffic (the Million Dollar Homepage gets around 30,000 page views every day!). As for the company founders, this is a simple enough way to make a quick $1,000,000.
Founded: 2011
Website: startupswall.com
Twitter: @startupswall
Saturday, February 12, 2011
More Power, More Songs
The site also gives you the option to "like" or "follow" the radio station benefiting everyone involved.
Founded: 2010
Website: spins.fm
Twitter: @spinsfm
Monday, February 7, 2011
Rent Made Simple
I will dedicate my first post to the winner of the Pitch.co challenge; a contest that gave $50,000 (and a free .co domain name) to the company pitch that received the most votes on the site. The winner was Rentcycle.
Rentcycle.com is a website that allows you to search, compare and rent numerous items in a specified location all from one place. This is a very interesting idea since (believe it or not) there weren't many simple sites out there that provided this service. When we think of renting, we usually think of cars, DVD's or apartments. However, in this site you can rent iPhones, textbooks, solar panels for your house, designer dresses, Christmas trees and yes, even pets. So no need to get stuck with an old lifeless dog when you can just keep renting puppies for life.
The company has done a great job at creating a very simple and convenient interface (with maps and lots of images) for users and also businesses who can promote and rent their products from the same location.
Founded: 2009
Website: rentcycle.com
Blog: blog.rentcycle.com
Facebook: /rentcycle
Twitter: @rentcycle
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