For me, this was the best intro to BitCoin - http://gendal.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/how-i-explain-bitcoin...
It doesn't focus on tech - it explains why BitCoin as a platform is so important and what are the killer apps that can be build with that platform.
We've created Discourse ( https://www.discoursehq.com ) to let big corpo have a direct link with their customers so they don't have to call them - instead they just send a message and nature of our channel is that customer can engage in a conversation, get more details etc. Would you, dear HNers, use it? We will launch first big brand customer in December.
So they are much like a "virtual VC"? But you do understand that VCs have value because they bring "unfair advantage" or "connections" or "good advice & experience"?
FundersClub has to think of two sides of the problem - how to shield large number of inexperienced investors from the founders and how to provide network, unfair advantage and smart advice to the founders.
One of the biggest values of YC is the second part. Replicating this is going to be difficult.
You are right. But just answer honestly one question - is this data that sales people provide for their reports really 100% honest??
If you had CRM on top of the communication tool - or even better - CRM reports like pipeline would be in real-time generated based on real life customer interactions - that would be much more valuable right?
That is exactly what we do with Discourse ( https://discoursehq.com ) - there are couple of usecases where this makes a lot of sense:
- real-estate brokers can track pipeline based on real life customer interactions
- car sales
- financial services sales
- telco services sales
We have integrated Discourse with Facebook fan pages so leads generated on fan pages can be immediately converted into prospects - right there on the spot.
We have a growing number of customers and we are looking for more :)
We have built Discourse ( https://discoursehq.com ) with exactly that vision - that CRM is not a sales tool and good communication platform for sales teams, customers and partners will be much better.
Anyone interested to learn more can see also http://blog.smartupz.com
EDIT: this comment may sound like a plug but I'm really excited to see CRM discussion on HN and had to jump in :)
As a founder of a B2B startup I think that your article is great!
I think that this quote from Steve Jobs is a perfect fit here:
When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.
I wish I UNDERSTOOD (very different then "I wish I knew") that 2 years ago when I was starting my company. Focusing on the problem, discussing it with the people that actually have that problem and not jumping immediately to solutions but "peel the onion" is something very very very hard to do.
Hope that next episodes of your article will provide more info about HOW to peel that onion :)
We are developing external and internal communication tool that has all the features that you have described.
It called Discourse - http://www.discoursehq.com
We are releasing new version on 3rd of October that is more flexible and generic then current one - if anyone would like a beta invite please let me know!
We are targeting small and medium marketing agencies, design shops, webdev shops and other professional services companies that have many projects at the same time.
I've seen http://view.io during SXSW - didn't work that well (not many people were using it). Concept was very similar - pictures of interesting things near you taken by other people with some descriptions. Nobody was declaring this app the next google.
Social network for mobile phones that is the next big thing???? I'm sorry but I don't buy this.
Facebook will clone this using their location service + photo sharing functionality and there you go. 41mlnUSD down the drain.
ad. 1 - we have a use case of group of companies (4 different companies 1500 people in total). That is why we will have this external user invitation feature. I think that this could be used for partners and customers in cases like customer knowledge base (support knowledge base).
ad. 2 - Chatter/yammer has problem with the activity stream (we've discovered this while working on Discourse and the next version will get rid of that problem). Activity stream just like in Facebook is ok when you read content you don't care about (like your network updates about what that had for breakfast etc.). If you have customer communication or any other important business communication there is no way that you'll not be frustrated with facebook-like interface after few days.
ad. 3 - Good point - we are thinking of the value prop for the HR dept. I think that karma could be a great tool for HR for people development rather then promotion decisions :)
I'm sorry - do you think that people on Wall Street were stupid when they were creating CDS and pumping huge speculation bubble around subprime mortgages?
I think that we have enough evidence that smart people make mistakes - actually much bigger and more expensive mistakes then anyone could have expected.
1. System will be open to external parties (customers and partners) - you can invite people per Topic (see my comment above)
2. Form factor - Facebook layout is not efficient - we are looking at something like much better looking HN
3. Karma and competence profile - we will by (just like HN) building your competence profile counting karma points and average karma per submission. We will also find out which topics you are best at.
This will be a system that is built to retain & share knowledge and experience. We are not building social collaboration (like Yammer).
Social collaboration (quote similar to Chatter but works better) is our other product - you can check http://www.discoursehq.com :)