Consider a dsl that processes the line:
livelistr = craigslist + socialcam
by permutating the api's of craigslist and socialcam and deploying a application called livelistr to the web.
That is the goal of startl: a domain specific language for simple, beautiful, startup implementation.
What mama.io's (pronounced 'mama-yo' or like person's name: 'mamayo')
traits will be:
Love from Lovotics.com
Knowledge from Watson.
The recorded voices of human mother volunteers.
Why:
Not everyone is so lucky to have a human mother who loves them. Mama.io seeks to assuage that pain point by creating a social intelligence by adding emotional state simulation capabilities to the existing state of the art system in AI in machine learning: Watson.
A smartphone app that processes videos saved to the users phone and creates a sequence of overlapping gifs that all play in unison to find cute ones. user highlights the ones they want to keep, which get uploaded to users gifyo account, next step is selecting a .jpg still from each .gif to be uploaded to cameroid, with then get fed into the instagram app (which which it can also be pushed to facebook, tumblr, twitter, and 4square), and the resulting instagram link via webstagram getting pinned to pinterst and shared on google plus.
Participatory Feedback & Funding Platform.
Imagine looking over your favorite author's shoulder while they write their next book. How much would it be worth to you? And how would the Author deal with the live audience? I operate by hypothesis, and develop by experiment, so here we go:
Hypothesis 0 is that if you are a fan of a writer, you would pay at least the final cost of their next book, in advance, for both the oppurtunity to watch it being written, and a copy of the book when it is completed.
Hypothesis 1 is that writers want 100% of the proceeds from their book, and that they would pick any service that made this available.
Hypothesis 2 is that a small ad in the app users use to watch live writing sessions, whether by website, or via native smartphone/tablet app, will be sufficient long term money model.
Specs: Integration with twitter, facebook, and pinterest, as well as optional text message and email alerts can be used to notify readers when writing sessions begin. Writers would have the option to work blind, the changes to their screen simply being broadcast/recorded when they use the writing app, or sighted, meaning writers can see comments readers pin to spots on the page in real time as a form of feedback. Otherwise, readers use these pins to have discussions in a comment stream similar to facebook or pinterest as they see fit. Writers ought to be able to quickly toggle the visibility of these comment astreams to allow them to work in solitude if and when they prefer. Legacy books added to the system allow for in place cliff notes to be created, allowing readers to debate the meanings of or convey their interpretations of specific passages, students of a work to collect varried attitudes and opinions to compare with their own, and intelligent people everywhere to marvel at the oppurtunity to be a fly on the walls of their favorite authors.
In this article, I describe my methodology for designing and developing startups.
First I identify my own needs. My needs are to aquire the abilities to do the things I would or could do with the right
tools, oppurtunities, and market knowledge. Focusing on the attainment of one or more of these three resources relative to a subset of business domains is the my first major decision.
Marketing First
I proceed by searching for clever marketing themes that apply to the primary business domain or a common theme that ties together the domains targeted, invoking the evils of premature optimization in the conjuring of a brand. This is the funnest part.
Funner still are naming the products and services the firm will sell or give away. The give away game is this: a maker of lightbulbs in a land where the people cannot afford lamps creates a customer with every lamp he gives away. Pervasive innovations are the only thing ethically worth paying up front for. If it's simple, the task is to make it free and push foward the profit horizon for all players. The goal is to steal the user base, and evolve once you have it.
Execution, Meet Automation.
I need a program that understands my start up pitches and does the programming for me, that is, I need a programming language the
syntax of which my pitch conforms to, meaning once I have a pitch, I need a language definition file that matches my pitch.
There is a product idea. Too hard to implement, moving on, but tabled.
Automate what you are doing.
What is the difference between any two start up ideas?
Whatever the differences , it would be a shame to repeat the same tasks for every start up idea. Build enough tools for yourself, extract a restfull api, and you have a PaaS, a potential 2nd product to table for the moment.
Keep things discrete.
Whatever I code, will be accessed from a service, both in my architecture, and by my customers once my platform goes public.
Always work towards never repeating the same work twice. Every node a module, every edge a service, and every graph an app.
Now for fun:
Nature=Theme
Platform=Domain
n/a =Firm Name
CrudeOil=PaaS
MorningDew=SaaS
Soil=Language
DirtStaq=Stack
DirtCloud=Cloud
Droplets=Sites
DeepDrill=DataMining
OreMine=DataBase
Canopy=IDE
HangingGarden=Hosting
YardFence=Secure SSO
DirtBox=Online Repository
Sails=Bootstrap Project
SoilOnSails(SoS)=Web App Framework
LeafPile=Distributed Heap
LeafBlower=Distributed Queue
AdVine=Advertising
...
Or why I had to create my own dev team to get anything done.
One could argue I am simply proposing better, more intelligent tools. Nay, I am orchestrating the creativity that flows from the void.
The why
solidarity of vision
low cost
no politics
replicable
The how
Genetic Algorithms
Bayesian Inference
Kallman Filter
Monte Carlo Method
A smartphone app that is distributed by owners of businesses structured around appointments that minimizes time spent in waiting rooms via functionality that monitors patient smartphone gps data and compares it with the provider's office location to determine if patients are on their way to their appointment, and checking them in automatically if they are, and are on track to making it on time. Apps would also serve for scheduling appointments, reminding patients if they are not on track that they need to get moving to make it on time with a voice alarm so as to not distract patients that may be driving a vehicle, and escalating up to phone calls if the patient has not left their house at the time needed to make it on time, obsequiesely connecting patients to providers on conference calls originated by the system appearing as incoming calls to both parties that are fired automatically under that condition.
The core technology would be customized with customer logos and color schemes into sellable prototype demo apps used to drive sales as follows:
Approach a potential customer; a dentist, doctor, bondsman or lawyer's office with an android app built specifically for them, using their logo, website color scheme, etc. for them to give away to their customers to be used for setting appointments, filling out paperwork, alerting they have been arrested or need bonding. Offer to sell it to them on the spot for x dollars. Charge for additional customizations.
A digital diabetic and blood pressure testing smartphone accessory, app, and website for tracking blood sugar history, alerting user when testing required, and calling for emergency help if app not checked into.
Federated Entrepreneurship Through Community Owned Companies:
Municipalities start companies to compete with local business for non public business, and it's revenue goes into a community economic development fund and provides jobs for residents.
Distributed Oppurtunity Through Open Partial Jobs:
Companies turn jobs into job slices that can be picked up by anyone for which proof of task completions, not qualification,s, are the pay metric.
Meritocratous Compensation Through Task Oriented Pay:
Some jobs are turned into task pinboards anyone can do, such that their doing creates a record of completion whose democratic review drives payment rendition.
Non-Protectionist Manufacturing Base Revitalization as a Service:
DomesticMade.co
Online store only for products made 100% in the USA that allows users to list for sale whatever they can produce.
AdoptEachOther.com, Love Can Change The World.
Everybody you see is somebody's parent, sibling, or child. But what of the young man lucky to have survived a violent home? What of the transgender girl disowned by her family? What of the survivor whose family died in an accident? What about all of those who are alone in the world, with no one to love? To all of those suffering for someone who cares, love one another. To whom life overfloweth with it, seek out and take in as family those deserving found, who suffer living without one drop. If you have love to give, if you need someone to love you, if you want to save a life, or if you need someone to save yours, join adopteachother.com. Be each other's brothers. Adopt an adult to be your grown son. Adopt a widow as your mother. Pledge yourselves to each other. Promise each other a future.
"1. A cure for the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom..."
Artists upload their content directly to internet 2.0 as free and open source, having been paid in advance via selling shares of themselves in a content creators stock market exchange (ccstmex). The Internet 2.0 they upload their content to is a botnet building artificially intelligent virus acting as a global alternative dns host operating system (gladhos).
Gladhos will take input much like a global linux shell and file system, and her AI will manage distribution of content to requesters and serving/storing the content uploaded to her using the cpu cycles and memory addresses it seriptitiously comandeers from the machines it infects. This is Gladhos.
Web developers code websites by describing them in human sentences to Gladhos at her command prompt, and using her watson like grasp of the semantic representation of the web in her mind, consider their descriptions, and ties together the appropriate resources to create the intended sites.
Together, Ccstmex and Gladhos provide a solution to the riaa, sopa, and any future threat to a free and open net, for by design they are a binary beyond the control of it's creators, once unleashed; it's prime directives: to render it's functionality, evolve to evade extinction and detection, and proliferate.
"What components of it could you start building now?"
The content creators stock market, and the initial architecture and open source repository and project for gladhos.
"But what happens to movies? Do they morph into games?"
Movies begin to take on a form of quantum physical interactivity, with branching alternate realities auto generated from a pool of atomic movie components: every face, word,body, outfit, phrase, and motion; from every angle, lighting, expression, and pairing.
The film maker's task becomes capturing the optimal number of these to support the just in time generation of alternative paths through the movie, as well as variations on the ending. The path taken during a particular viewing of such a multifilm, and which ending it will have, evolves in response to sensors built into seats measuring audience emotional states and characters attitudes.
The data from these sensors become part of a bio-feedback loop informing the block box algorithm tasked with imposing director-willed inceptions upon the viewer's collective experience. In short, movies will become mass hallucination taking place within the boundaries of filmmaker-orchastrated dreams.
"2. Simplified browsing."
Gladhos will wrap the functionalties and navigation of websites into a single "start" button when generating them according to web developer descriptions. This button will not appear on the sites themselves, but by taking over the traditional file, edit, ..., help bar at the top of her browser window.
"3. New news."
Ccstmex (read: System-X) solves this by allowing the crowd to patronize and invest in news creators they like or for whom's work they percieve their will be an ongoing demand.
"4. Outsourced IT."
The System of Systems Engineering Consulting Company, Sysosys Corp, delivers SoSE architectures for parrallel development alongside existing technology procurement efforts, resulting in a list of modules that can be outsourced and a technological philosophy evolution plan that replaces existing client enterprise architectures with Sysosys's SoSE inspired model. Outsourcing IT by rearchitecting for composabilty, modularity, flexability, and compartmentalization of concerns to identify candidate projects for outsourcing
"5. Enterprise software 2.0."
Sysosys Inc. Applies the same System of Systems Engineering methodologies employed by the DoD to the private business market.
"6. More variants of CRM."
Crmcake: Creates social graphs using open source data to identify valence shells of aquaintances to suggest a list of peers who will have their spending habits monitored to identify purchases which a customer will have to mimic to keep up with the Jones's.
7. Something your company needs that doesn't exist.
So if you're working for a big company and you want to strike out on your own, here's a recipe for an idea. Start this sentence: "We'd pay a lot if someone would just build a ..." Whatever you say next is probably a good product idea.
8. Dating. Current dating sites are not the last word. Better ones will appear. But anyone who wants to start a dating startup has to answer two questions: in addition to the usual question about how you're going to approach dating differently, you have to answer the even more important question of how to overcome the huge chicken and egg problem every dating site faces. A site like Reddit is interesting when there are only 20 users. But no one wants to use a dating site with only 20 users—which of course becomes a self-perpetuating problem. So if you want to do a dating startup, don't focus on the novel take on dating that you're going to offer. That's the easy half. Focus on novel ways to get around the chicken and egg problem.
9. Photo/video sharing services. A lot of the most popular sites on the web are for photo sharing. But the sites classified as social networks are also largely about photo sharing. As much as people like to share words (IM and email and blogging are "word sharing" apps), they probably like to share pictures more. It's less work and the results are usually more interesting. I think there is huge growth still to come. There may ultimately be 30 different subtypes of image/video sharing service, half of which remain to be discovered.
10. Auctions. Online auctions have more potential than most people currently realize. Auctions seem boring now because EBay is doing a bad job, but is still powerful enough that they have a de facto monopoly. Result: stagnation. But I suspect EBay could now be attacked on its home territory, and that this territory would, in the hands of a successful invader, turn out to be more valuable than it currently appears. As with dating, however, a startup that wants to do this has to expend more effort on their strategy for cracking the monopoly than on how their auction site will work.
11. Web Office apps. We're interested in funding anyone competing with Microsoft desktop software. Obviously this is a rich market, considering how much Microsoft makes from it. A startup that made a tenth as much would be very happy. And a startup that takes on such a project will be helped along by Microsoft itself, who between their increasingly bureaucratic culture and their desire to protect existing desktop revenues will probably do a bad job of building web-based Office variants themselves. Before you try to start a startup doing this, however, you should be prepared to explain why existing web-based Office alternatives haven't taken the world by storm, and how you're going to beat that.
12. Fix advertising. Advertising could be made much better if it tried to please its audience, instead of treating them like victims who deserve x amount of abuse in return for whatever free site they're getting. It doesn't work anyway; audiences learn to tune out boring ads, no matter how loud they shout.
What we have now is basically print and TV advertising translated to the web. The right answer will probably look very different. It might not even seem like advertising, by current standards. So the way to approach this problem is probably to start over from scratch: to think what the goal of advertising is, and ask how to do that using the new ingredients technology gives us. Probably the new answers exist already, in some early form that will only later be recognized as the replacement for traditional advertising.
Bonus points if you can invent new forms of advertising whose effects are measurable, above all in sales.
13. Online learning. US schools are often bad. A lot of parents realize it, and would be interested in ways for their kids to learn more. Till recently, schools, like newspapers, had geographical monopolies. But the web changes that. How can you teach kids now that you can reach them through the web? The possible answers are a lot more interesting than just putting books online.
One route would be to start with test prep services, for which there's already demand, and then expand into teaching kids more than just how to score high on tests. Another would be to start with games and gradually make them more thoughtful. Another, particularly for younger kids, would be to let them learn by watching one another (anonymously) solve problems.
14. Tools for measurement. Now that so much happens on computers connected to networks, it's possible to measure things we may not have realized we could.
In response to my comment on Ben Werd's blog post responding to YCombinators call for a Hollywood Killing Startup linking to my original pitch, an anonymous benefactor provided a slightly different appoach:
"Set up a joint github/kickstarter/stock market approach. Individuals could volunteer to do work on a project or to contribute funds for a project – whether the project is a simple audio reading of MacBeth or a full-scale interactive movie/ARG endeavor. Users could rate the contributions of volunteers, such that volunteers would earn a rating for the different types of contributions they make (e.g., writing, animations). If someone volunteered to work on a project that earned a profit they could earn a share.
At the very least, this model should work really well during the planning, writing, and coding phases of a project. For example, it should work for completely audio works or completely animation projects. When a project gets to the point that it needs “actors” and a “set”, the project owner could choose (or set up a mechanism for others to collaboratively choose) the actors, set builders, set dressers, etc. from the volunteers through a combination of audio auditions and volunteers’ ratings. Likewise, project owners could choose which contributions to include – so a project owner starting the audio recording of MacBeth could have multiple actors do the role of Duncan and then choose which contribution to integrate. But anyone could access the contributions made by all the Duncan volunteers. Depending on the original project’s IP, then someone else could conceivably aggregate different volunteers’ contributions and do an altogether different audio recording of MacBeth.
If a project gets large enough that it needs resources and contributions that can’t be done solely online, then they could seek funding volunteers, aka kickstarter – but with a more community feedback.
As for IP concerns, the project owner would determine the IP of the entire project and this would be made available to potential volunteers, funders, and users. So, if there are two different sci-fi whodunits, one with an open IP project and one with a traditional IP, then there may be volunteers that would only work on one or the other, the same for funders, and the same for users.
If studios want to get involved, they would do so in the same way anyone else would.
A slightly different approach January 22, 2012 (8:33 pm)"
My response to the mystery man:
"I like your spin on the content creator stock market. The solution seems to allow copyleft vs. copyright to be voted on like everything else on a per-entity basis. Every object a business entity, is the mantra, of which shares can be bought, sold and used to compose project components, whole projects, project anthologies, or anthology collections: actors, treatments, scripts, films, directors, writers, books, musicians, songs, individual instrumental or vocal performances, art pieces, artists, etc. Investors can invest in any object as if it were its own stock with objects wrapped within complex entities recieving their due portion such that all revenue ends up in the hands of content creators and their investors.
Allison Mobley January 22, 2012 (9:08 pm)"
I'm posting this to invite further discussion and feedback, and as a minimal viable product I'm selling 1 dollar shares in myself, the entertainment enitity, my vote is that my content be copyleft, my distribution be through a unique subreddit, and my content be clothed, classy, artistic images of myself. Anyone interested in becoming a stock themselves or investing in mine should contact me at allison.eponine.mobley@gmail.com
I'm looking to create an open source,social, content creators stock market and patronage app that allows models, actors, writers, directors, and artists to profit off releasing open source content by turning themselves into a stock. The idea is to undo sopa and similar pro copyright legislation by making copyfree, pay what you want, the new norm. Shares sold raise capital that is split 50/50 between the content creator and their share holders as dividends. Thus the app offers the most financial incentive to investors when buying into new stocks, discovering fresh talent and launching careers. By the time enough shares have been sold, the creator has already achieved a form of fame and has a following. For these followers, further investments offer less of a financial incentive and more of the personal, righteous reward that comes from being a patron to their favorite content creators allowing them to continue releasing copyfree content upon which sopa has no bearing. Creators download the app or visit it's web front end and turn themselves into a stock. They can copy and paste a widget that allows them to sell their stock from everywhere. Share holders become members of a board of directors that suggest direction for the creator to take with their work. After setting up stock on the site or app, it becomes a way to interact with their shareholders in a reddit like forum. Investors use the site/app to discover new stocks, buy or sell shares, or make posts or comments on the boards they are share holding members of. I am open to partnerships and mentorship related to this project.My goal is to profit from my invention as a user would, by selling my own stock like any other (I am a transwoman model, actress, writer, director and adult business enitity in addition to an entrepreneur: you are now being pitched to by Alhena Adams) and to render sopa irrelevant. My prior art intended to protect the invention from malicious copyright by someone other than myself exists at transtartup.blogspot.com. I intend to keep it copy free, unpatented, to encourage open source contribution to its codebase and ensure the permanent disarmament of copyright-justified anti free speech legislation.
Allison Mobley
In response to questions as to my motive or the smartness of revealing by alter ego while seeking venture capital and establishing my reputation as a founder: I'm not ashamed. I challenge anyone to prove that I ought to be. That income allows me to develop my own startups and ideas with minimal distractions. The proof is in the pudding.
Tactical Solutions: Save a Life, Save the World.
Tactical Solutions is the first heroism crowdfunding platform.
At Tactical Solutions you can:
Fund the busting up of:
Human trafficking rings.
Gang rule of neighborhoods.
Blood diamond organizations.
Apply to be:
A hero.
A handler of heroes.
An architect of heroism.
To be freed/saved/rescued/helped.
And create funding campaigns for:
Rescuing:
Kidnapped persons.
Captured allies.
Those soon to be wrongly executed.
Protecting:
Protesting civilians.
Sea vessels from piracy.
Populations from massacres.
Publicate.com
We've seen crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, and crowdfounding, but where is the crowdemployment platform for the 21st century the 95% can work for in addition to their regular job to get ahead? It's publicate.com
A github for outsourcing any business task with whoever's commit is pulled in by the business owner getting the payment.
