Thanks for the break down. I've been intrigued by this opportunity for the past two years. Even purchased Localfindr.com in hopes of doing something about it but never developed the concept further in my head.
Definitely a sector to watch!
I would challenge you to ask yourself this: Look at one of the competitors, say Rentalic.com. What would you do different than them, product-wise, and marketing-wise ?
Re:Ask HN: Holy Crap I need an Idea
by aaronbrethorst on Monday August 16, 2010 @03:19PM
(#1608849)
imho, sites like this are great in concept, but the chicken-and-egg problem becomes more intractable the more "broad" it is. The trouble is getting just some traction, in just 1 niche. It almost seems easier again in my opinion, to conquer a specific niche/vertical first, then adjacent areas, one at a time (as opposed to attempting to do a land-grab but see nothing stick)
Re:Ask HN: Holy Crap I need an Idea
by aaronbrethorst on Monday August 16, 2010 @11:50PM
(#1610186)
I agree completely. If they saw opportunity, I'm sure ebay could clean up in this space.
1. rentalic.com - US startup, based in Silicon Valley, founder appears to have technical and business chops and some social networking cred. Some traction, and imho, the most promising.
2. neighborgoods.net - LA-based, founder does not appear to be very technical. Limited traction around the LA area.
3. zilok.com - EU-based, looks like they are trying to reproduce their EU model of the same thing to the US market. Some traction. Because of their EU background, it is likely that they may not understand subtle nuances / user-behavior/perception of US market, which may be their biggest challenge.
p.s. I've been thinking about this problem for a while.