Whatever happened to the American Dream? These scenarios certainly don't sound like it. A lot of Americans (if not a majority) are in a similar situation.
A poor economy doesn't help either. I think part of the fear is not being able to find other work to pay the bills so many of us settle for the current situation... or work on startups on the side!
You are right. However, I don't think Yahoo's track record in integrating acquired companies helped them at all. Google is perceived as an innovative company where Yahoo seems to follow the leader.
Google's "opinion" for better or worse is fact. Let's hope they figured out a way to differentiate between genuine bad reviews and those with underlying motives.
Here is what Alexis had to say answering this question in the comments section of his site:
alexis ohanian said...
I believe the biggest thing was the dangers of dealing with both cellphone carriers (this is pre "AppStore," remember) who are notoriously closed and slow-moving as well as restaurants, which aren't typically very tech-curious (all the ones I spoke with were taking online orders via fax).
I would never purchase something like a TV or a laptop without thoroughly investigating it first. Could maybe be useful if you're looking to get a gift and are crunched for time. There should be a way to access the reviews though.
I would say start with small producers and learn from your experience.It's always better to make mistakes with the small players before swimming with the big fish.
In terms of your homepage and conversion rate, you have five call to actions with two sign up for free buttons. I would consolidate these to the one or two most important ones to make them more effective.
I would also mention somewhere that this is a marketplace for photos. There is a heavy focus on selling photos but almost none on buying them until the third box at the bottom.
Interesting concept. What's the business model here? Advertising? Maybe a premium service where you can choose which sites to review and be able to target certain reviewers for your own site.
This website is great. I was able to jump in and mess around with my website's home page within seconds after watching the video. I'm not a developer and being able to help out with A/B testing will be a huge help and one less thing our developers will have to deal with. Looking forward to using it!