ddodge

You are correct. It was not meant to be negative. It was meant to convey the importance of the shift from social/consumer apps with no thought of monetization, to startups focused on solving real world problems that generate revenue from day one. This can be boring to investors looking for flying cars, or journalists looking for mind blowing technology.

I mentioned Circuit Labs, great technology that makes money in a boring way by selling parts. I also mentioned Thalmic Labs as an example of cool technology.

My personal favorite was Skip, the RFID checkout company, but I couldn't talk about it because they haven't officially launched. I think there could be an indoor location play using the RFID tag data.

Overall, I was impressed with the focus on solving real world problems and generating immediate revenue. Boring to some, but I liked it.

Another one I hear a lot "We had that feature 2 years ago". They have no idea why it isn't blowing up.

The $30/user is just a valuation metric, not the acquisition justification. They bought it because mobile and photos are core to what Facebook does...and Instagram does it better than Facebook. A lot better.

Exactly, it does work both ways. It would be interesting to know the details/motivations on why Ev Williams (Blogger), Dennis Crowley (Dodgeball) and Max Levchin (Slide) left Google. Yet, Andy Rubin (Android) and Chad Hurley (YouTube) stayed on and were very successful. Same parent company, different results.

This is basic stuff for anyone here. I'm sure you get asked for startup advice all the time. Here is something you can send to people who ask you for help. It will get them started thinking...and come back with more focused questions.

YC companies are the best in the world at elevator pitches. This post explains why you need 3 pitches; 1 minute elevator pitch for random encounters, 6 minute pitch for events, and 30 minute pitch for VCs and investors.

Also why your elevator pitch is important to recruiting new hires, getting new customers, and making deals with partners. The pitch is not a marketing task, it is vital to growing your business.

This post was written 4 years ago. At that point is was too early to tell. Four years later we know YouTube was a pretty good deal. Myspace looked like a great deal for a few years. Now...not so much. It takes several years to know if things will work out or not.