Y Combinator and 30 ideas or markets in which we are ready to invest. Free translation, part 1.

Today let's talk about startups. The initiator of this article was the material from the most famous venture investor, Paul Graham, who runs the Y Combinator Foundation (which we wrote about, and in Russia funds already appeared, which in one way or another copy its business model, for example, addVenture, JumpIDEA, inVenture). Now he described his vision of the market and pointed out thirty topics or rather outlined the range of interests and markets in which they are ready to invest. However, as a correct and successful investor, he is not limited to them and is ready to consider any interesting idea (which is indicated at the end of the material). Next, I will translate and try to independently analyze these markets, and also allow myself to add my views, pointing out additional interesting and promising areas. This is not a literal translation, so for those who want to learn exactly the original, here is a link to an English-language source .



1. A new model for the distribution of sound recordings and film (multimedia) . The existing system of working with copyright and the business model itself of labels showed its inconsistency or, at least, irrelevance and complexity for a wide market in conditions of availability of information. But this is also the most difficult market - on the one hand, consumers want, or at least all analysts think that this is the case, but it’s against those who are called upon to meet these needs, the record companies themselves. In addition, there is a third party, the artists themselves, with whom not everything is so simple. However, the fact that a serious struggle will start in this market and any breakthrough will be met with hostility, and the army of the cheering crowd of consumers is not in doubt. Come up with a new monetization scheme, develop software and a system for the exchange and distribution of audio and video content, of course, legally clean - and this market is in your pocket. By the way, what about movies? Do they evolve into games?
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2. Simplified browser - yes, this is such an unusual market, but nonetheless promising and large. Many people simply do not want and cannot deal with monstrous applications like Firefox or Opera - they just want to see grandson photos (on Flickr or YouTube), find a beautiful picture or read news, but don’t want to remember the URL, care about phishing, think about plug-ins and a thousand more trifles that make up the daily life of the "geek". The first signs like “social browsers”, for example, Flock, already exist, but the market is far from saturation.

3. New news . It would seem that this industry is so crammed with players that you can think of nothing? No, and here it is necessary and possible to think. Traditional media (meaning the newspaper and news industry) are rather cumbersome and conservative, but the user already wants something new, and often it is more than necessary. Now there are not enough dry facts, replicated from the mouth of one or two news agencies by all newspapers. People want diversity, analytics, cross-references and additional materials. We see the first wave, in the form of blogs (although you know that in this industry they often consider everything that is published online by people as blogs, but this is not so), the second wave in the form of social ratings and filters (Digg was only the first, now it's passed into the category must have for almost any project). What will be the next round in the market of news content? Perhaps your technology?

4. Outsourcing IT . Tasks that were previously performed by the state IT department are now often taken over by third companies or even automated online services. No, I'm not talking about custom development or system integration. The first wave was the emergence of CMS-systems, oddly enough. Now even completely non-core departments can do with one or two clicks what used to require the involvement of full-time developers and designers. Outsourcing in a broad sense - this is what awaits us now. And even more - tomorrow. It would seem that such - the creation and publication of forms online, with the analysis of incoming data? But now, any department can publish a survey form or feedback from consumers, without thinking about the technical nuances of markup and processing POST requests from the form on the server side. After all, for the company it is not important, but information. So allow those who need information to get it, and do your favorite work yourself, and even get paid for it (I mean, if you like to develop forms, for example). Seriously, it's about http://wufoo.com , but this is just an example of what can be done in this market.

5. web 2.0 for businesses . On this subject, a lot of things have already been said and will say. It is necessary to create new applications and systems for business, integrate the capabilities of modern web 2.0 there. It is also reasonable to focus first on the needs of small companies - it will be much easier to move to the big leagues (or you will see that you have enough profit from small clients).

6. More different CRM - although formally CRM-systems belong to the class of corporate applications, but they see a very large potential, so we select them in a separate market. Indeed, in an era when marketing is in the first place in many goods and services, CRM can make the system of sales and customer service much more efficient. Sometimes this may just be vital to your business, but in order to achieve the maximum effect, in my opinion, this class of applications still needs to be strongly developed and new approaches are introduced. And simply they are too complicated and expensive, so the future is quite possible, nevertheless, for online tools and open systems (Salesforce, SugarCRM).

7. Something that is required by your company, but it is not yet . Indeed, many things were created precisely in a situation when some company needed a product or service, but this was not on the market, and when they still figured out how to do it, they left or reoriented the company to a new market. This is the most favorable scenario - you yourself feel “on your own skin”, and not from the reports of marketing specialists and market researchers, what and how people, businessmen like you need, perhaps those who sit at a nearby table in a restaurant in your business. center. Ask yourself, for what you are ready to give a lot of money (and how much!) For which product, service or information, and then see if there is a supplier on the market with acceptable conditions and an adequate product. If not, why not create one?

8. Dating. Yes, this market has always been and will be interesting and in demand. However, anyone who starts a dating startup business should be aware of the differences between this type of service and other projects. If social sites like Digg or Reddit are already interesting, when there are about 20 users, then no one will go to a dating site, where only one or two dozen questionnaires exist. Therefore, as nowhere else, the initial focus on the audience is important. Don't dwell on acquaintance as such; the best thing is to find a solution to the “chicken and egg” question (meaning, in essence, how to initially attract an audience to a service that is only interesting when there are already people there).

9. Publication services ("sharing") photos and videos. Although there are so many players in this market, and more new ones are on the way, we have not yet come to saturation. So if you have the power and ideas, fight for this market.

10. Auctions. Despite the fact that now the word “auction” is strongly associated with E-bay, they are not only monopolists of the market, but also its brake. You can win the battle in the territory of the enemy, but you will encounter the same difficulties as in the dating market. Your weapon should be in the audience, and then in technology, and nothing else.

11. Office web applications. Everyone wants to remove Microsoft from this market, but there will soon be so many competitors that it would be better to have only MS Office. But there are no really good applications that would be transparently integrated into the existing infrastructure and provide the same features as regular programs. You can really try to do something that will appeal to millions of users in the market. Do not forget, by offering a plan for another Office killer, to tell why it is your application that will break through on the market, and in which it is better than what you already have (you did not forget that there is Google Docs, Adobe, Zoho and others).

12. New types of advertising. This is the largest niche of the market - in fact, almost all startups are focused on monetization through advertising. However, the market is still mostly only systems, largely copied from off-line advertising (banners, etc.), contextual advertising and link exchange is not so far removed from this. We just need something new in this segment and if it is successful, everyone will benefit!

13. Online training. We all criticize our education system (and there, in America, and here - in Russia or Ukraine, read the heated discussions on habrahabr.ru). Online systems can greatly assist in learning, often simplify or expand its boundaries, and for many it is the only way to improve one’s level. A very promising market for education for children - here the existing network has little to offer, but this is the very audience that is very important to reach. First of all, interest your parents, and then your audience! By the way, anonymity in learning is good - you can learn from the experience of others, learn something without revealing the personalities and lives of others, often people just feel shy about not knowing or not knowing something.

14. Measurement tools. I would single out the measurement of productivity (both people and organizations) and other similar tools - it helps a lot to analyze and build truly effective businesses, and what’s really there, entire countries. IT and the Internet give us a lot of data and capabilities, it remains only to properly manage them. Wakoopa is the first swallow, seemingly purely “geek” and made for the fan, but in fact it can be a valuable tool for analysis and even influence. Look around what else can be measured and analyzed, and then create a tool for this.

15. Security systems. Now the majority of buildings and equipment are always in touch, connected to the Internet or other data networks, their owners are also always in touch, so services are needed to combine all types of information and provide you with better protection of your property and information. Socialization of the web carries new threats, so there is a huge market for modern means of protection, analysis and prediction of danger.

Whew, for now, in the next article I will continue, and also formulate my conclusions. I note that this is a free translation, not literal, but rather conveying the essence. If you are planning a startup, look, maybe you are working on the most interesting and promising market? Then the doors of investors are open for you.

However, one should not do something precisely because the investor is interested in it. Let this be a typical marketing approach, but if you don’t burn with this idea and it’s not yours, from your heart, don’t do it, the startup will not come out.

PS Original article written for my blog: Alpha-Beta-Release Blog