Fake Startups Compete at SXSW

March 10, 2008 by Dane | 3 Comments
In Ecommerce, Humor, Ideas

As dedicated readers of the most popular business blogs are well aware, the web is positively awash in terrible ideas for startups. So many, in fact, that Waxy.org’s Andy Baio was inspired to create a contest to see who could dream up the most awful, short-sighted and unfundable business plan.

Bad idea: Image Search for the Blind
Bad idea: Presscast
Bad idea: Happy Net Box
Bad idea: PeopleIPO, home of the Individual Public Offering
Bad idea: Sickr
Bad idea: FlockdUp
Bad idea: MMOmmerce, the future of the future of commerce

Comments

Rich on March 11th, 2008 at 5:27 am

Now wait just a minute. Are these really BAD ideas?

Image Search for the Blind - There was a movie several years ago called “Proof” about a blind photographer who paid a sighted person (Russell Crowe) to describe the images the photographer took. Why couldn’t a web app do the same?

PressCast could be a web app that aggregates all the major TV newscasts in transcript form for searching for news stories and videos.

Net Happy Box - ecommerce site where sad surfers go and purchase anything and everything imprinted with the NICE DAY smiley face.

PeopleIPO - Hasn’t this already been done? Didn’t David Bowie sell shares in his future earnings years ago? Why couldn’t the average Joe? Joe presents his bio and goals and people invest in him. If he accomplishes his goals, his ‘investors’ benefit.

Sickr - easy. Web site for hypochondriacs. People chat about their medical ailments and others read them, thanking God they are healthy.

FlockdUp - ecommerce site selling everything flocked. (Flocked products really exist)

MMOmmerce - ecommerce site selling t-shirts, mouse pads, caps, hoodies, etc, with logos of the top MMOs.

So there. There are no bad ideas, just bad executions of ideas.
Dane on March 11th, 2008 at 5:38 am

Of all the ideas described, I think that Sickr definitely has the most potential for traction.

More importantly, it already has a ready made pool of advertisers (pharmaceuticals) who are already spending billions of dollars annually to promote their products.
Keith on March 20th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Well guy, I’m about to put what may or may not be a bad idea, and leave it up to my experience as a webaholic, that cat name James, he made $100,000 a year with one of the supid sites I ever seen.

http://tinyurl.com/yqgyz3