Are “Better” Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Analysis of Startup Evaluation [pdf]

Re:Are “Better” Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Analysis of... by danieltillett on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @12:42AM (#10077627)

Assuming you are correct then it should be possible to fool VCs by creating products that achieve traction using the age old trick of selling a dollar for 90c. I am sure they would never fall for this.

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Re:Are “Better” Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Analysis of... by graycat on Wednesday August 19, 2015 @09:25PM (#10089568)

Sure, in selling a dollar for 90 cents, lose 10 cents.

But, but, but, they plan to make it up on the volume!

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Re:Are “Better” Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Analysis of... by w1ntermute on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @02:08AM (#10077794)

> I am sure they would never fall for this.

I hope that is sarcasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupon#Business_model

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Re:Are “Better” Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Analysis of... by danieltillett on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @02:21AM (#10077821)

Sometimes I am a bit too subtle :)

I suspect the real business model for most of these high-growth-without-a-plan-to-make-a-profit businesses is really eyeball exhaustion. The big players like google and facebook can monetize eyeballs, but they can only do this if they have people on their platforms. A loss making business can grab enough eyeballs that they will significantly affect the bottom line of the large players. The large players have to respond by buying up these startups and shutting them down.

As long as the VCs don’t back too many of these types of startups then it should be quite an effective way to shakedown the large players.

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