As I suspected, my application for Y Combinator was not successful this time. In some ways, I’m relieved, I’m not sure if I was ready for the commitment of a full-on startup. So now I have time to focus on my work with SmartHippo and see what else I want to develop.
Any ideas for web based, remote businesses are most welcome!
Amazon EC2 has added two new instance types. Their standard instance has 1 virtual CPU and 1.7Gb of RAM for 10c (USD) per hour. The newly launched Large Instance has 4 virtual CPU cores (2 cores x 2 CPUs) and 7.5Gb of RAM for 40c per hour. The massive Extra Large Instance has a whopping 8 virtual CPU cores (2 cores x 4 CPUs) and a 15Gb of RAM for 80c an hour.
One of the beauties of the system is you can bring appliances on and off-line as you need them. You can even script your application to enlarge itself. However, the system is not without it’s drawbacks.
What if, instead of giving financial bonuses, a company offered holiday bonuses? If the company increases performance, staff leave 10 minutes earlier each day, or take one half day a month, or get an extra 3 days holiday each year.
I was considering the motivation of offering people more money if they work harder. I think there’s a fundamental flaw in that this model encourages staff to want more money. In my opinion, there aren’t many people in the western world who need more money. I think most people could benefit from more leisure time.
If we work harder, we become more efficient, we generate more with less time, why not give that time back? Why not take that time off?
Would this simple system work in today’s competitive employment market? Would you be willing to work for a company that offered you a bonus of time off instead of more cash?
I’m considering getting some new business cards printed. They’ll cost about £10 for 100 or £16 for 250. But here’s the all important question, do they look good?
Comments on a postcard… 
A friend recently told me about rakeback poker sites. When you play poker, you pay a small fee to the casino for the use of the table, this is called a rake. If I introduce you to Poker Website X, they will pay me a percentage of your rake. The latest affiliates offer to share that percentage with you, it’s called rakeback.
I think this concept will take off and spread to other affiliate schemes. For example, the travel related site BeWelcome.org could sign up as an affiliate with somebody like Expedia (an online travel agent). If BeWelcome receive 5% of user spending, they could split that with the user. The result as a user is a 2.5% discount on Expedia.
The same principle could apply to any number of affiliate schemes. From selling books to cars or credit cards. I think there’s a great untapped market here, particularly amongst existing community web sites like Facebook and MySpace. These sites could command impressive deals with affiliates and offer their users great bargains. It’s a win-win.
Using the purchasing power of 30m Facebook users to get better deals would be great for business on all sides.
I’m looking for niche “review web site ideas”. Say “cat and dog kennel reviews” for example, or “diamond dealer reviews”.
I want to start building a few user-generated-content sites to generate some passive income. I’m not thinking on the scale of flickr or YouTube, but more localised, specific, smaller. Something easier to manage.
I’m also interested in the idea of partnering with “experts” in their fields. I’ll handle the technology, they handle the content, we split the revenues. So all ideas for sites, people, or otherwise are most welcome, comments on a (cyber) postcard please…
I need some work done on my teeth, a root canal and probably a crown. Given that I’m going private here in Thailand, I decided to do as a good consumer does and shop around a little for the service. Comparing a few factors, price, professionalism, proficiency in English, standard of care, etc.
Were I shopping for a car, the process would be fairly simple. I’d go to see a few shops, meet a few salespeople, have them talk me through the pros and cons of the various vehicles they had to offer, then make a decision.
Were I shopping for a new accountant, likewise I’d meet a few professionals, discuss my particular circumstances, make some judgements, and then choose a practitioner.
However, not in the medical business. I’ve already been advised that I need a root canal and then a crown, so my questions are fairly straightforward. How much will it cost, and how professional do I think you are. Today I went to visit BNH hospital’s dental clinic. When I booked the appointment I said I don’t want to pay anything, I simply want to know how much it will cost.
Upon leaving the dentist’s office I was informed that my bill was 720 baht. After much debate with an overweight, rude, abrupt Thai woman, I finally accepted to pay 300 baht for the consultation as they’d already wasted too much of my time discussing it. I notice security had been stationed outside the door lest I should decide to run out on my ten pound bill!
In what other business do you pay for a professional service practitioner to attempt to win your business. Honestly, these doctors and dentists have got a scam going. Well, no more I say, to hell with BNH, they just lost potentially 30’000 baht of business for 2% of that. Rant over.