coglethorpe

Maybe something that can use GPS in your car combined with traffic data to let the folks at home know when you are expected to arrive.

Well, there goes my startup idea for converting a steering wheel to a 6 button keypad. Seriously, it was hard enough to "steer" without even looking at the smartphone they had.

Yes, where is the line? Is TechCrunch a "news organization?" It's got a staff and lots of traffic, but isn't it just a really successful blog? Is Joel on Software or 37 Signals a blog or a very elaborate ad? How about Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki's which are really just ads for their own stuff. They get their own stuff for free. Do they have to disclose that?

He did make it look easy. It's like he said "Well, you just ask for 100k, get it, build some stuff, get more money and then..."

I think one thing that got him inside was the execution. Mint is just cool to use. If I was an investor, I'd try the site and just say "Hey, this is really cool to use. And useful. And in a lucrative niche." Then I'd write a check.

> Part of the problem is that the search page is dynamically generated; neighborhood-specific landing pages would help capture those more targeted queries.

Yes, yes and yes. SEO matters for almost every site, but it is a really big deal for this kind of site. I tweaked the internal SEO of my site to highlight and description (One Bedroom Apartment in Newark, New Jersey) of the listing and it paid off for those "long tail" searches.

First of all, yes, it's another link bait headline.

Initially, those are the competitors for sure. But They are already on the first page for the query you listed, so they've go that going for them.

Heh, I knew my site was on the map when spammers found it. :-)

I learned about scams that hit renters and landlords, but thankfully I got rid of them fast.

Also, people posting would either not capitalize anything or leave the CAPS LOCK key on. Spell checking their own ads was just too much to ask. That struck me as very odd, because I thought they would try their best to make it right to get a unit rented. I just let them post what they wanted as long as it seemed like a legit listing.

You make a good point there. I've had my problems with selling items on CL. The thing is, it's got so much traffic, that it is hard to get even a sliver of it to go my way. CL also may be ugly in one sense, but I get the impression that they really do listen to their users.

Then there's the whole second tier of rental sites, such as eBay's rent.com, apartments.com, rentals.com and more. They are usually pretty to look at, but I found all their UIs to be difficult to use. That's where I took a simpler approach to search that I thought users would like better. Still, they get hits and engage in fierce search engine battles.

I still think there has to be a way to connect renters with rentals that's easier than what's out there. I do like rentHop's design at first glance as well. I do wish the rentHop team success. Anything that makes life easier is great.

My first (only) startup was a rental site. RentHop already has more traction than I ever did. At the time I knew little about funding or how startups worked. Heck, I didn't really even know much PHP or CSS, but got a site up and running. With little to no funding, I decided to close up shop, which was sad, because we did have real listings coming in, just not enough revenue to cover costs.

I will say that I learned a LOT about coding, which has helped me on my day job and a lot about startups which will help me enormously, should I do it again.

What would I do differently?

- Try to get more seed money. I was working with about a $100 total. I would go with one like Shotput Ventures in my current Atlanta home, or YC if I could swing living in SV for three months. I could use the funds for stuff like the PR that got them this article. I'd get advice and connections to hopefully get that next round of funding, if I need it.

- Take a city-based approach. I tried to to the whole USA at once. It's a lot of territory to cover.

- Get a technical co-founder. I partnered with someone who had a little real-estate experience, but couldn't help out on the tech side. I personally need someone who could really handle the UI design and make something that looks pretty and is dead-simple to use.

- Pick a better name. Seriously. I'm not even going to tell you the name we picked because it was unmemorable, unpronounceable, difficult to spell, and lacked even a hint of SEO-keyword-mojo.

All those lessons, and the tech skills I picked up will help me greatly If I try this again. You know I wouldn't be here if I wasn't thinking about it. ;-)

If PG is reading, what made you/YC decide to fund yet another rental listing site? I'm kind of surprised to be honest. It's been done and has the biggest competitor out there.

> Aaron is an insider. He belongs to the club.

How is he an insider? Because he went to Princeton? Is he related somehow to Larry, Serge, Bill, or one of the Steves?

All friends listed were hypothetical. I might be able to get 10k from my closest friends and family. :-)

If I get 10k from one friend who has a million, 50k from another who has 5 million and maybe several 1k investments from others, it would be less painful if things fell through. One would have to be rather up-front about the incredible risk involved and have a huge amount of trust with many parties beforehand.

He went to Princeton, so I'm thinking he had some cash among his friends and family.