My suggestion is instead of searching for an idea to build for the domain sell it to someone (you should be able to get a large sum of money for it) then take that money purchase a domain that correlates to an idea you are passionate about.
I think this route has two major reasons why it is a better idea than chasing an idea to fi into the domain.
#1) If your passionate about the idea you are more likely to pursue it and stick with it. You'll be more excited to go to work each day. You'l be wiling to take the ups and downs in stride.
#2) You already have in a sense an angel round from yourself. This eliminates the pressure of financing at first and allows you to focus on really knocking it out of the park.
How did you come about that name, did you buy it years ago, acquire it recently?
Are you going to show targeted ads that you sell or just a stream from Adsense or another provider? If you are selling your own targeted ads what market are you in?
If you are serious about learning set up a trading account with a small sum of money. If you are worried about losers then a paper trading scenario works too. Then just learn the basics and keep learning from doing. You can read all the books and watch all the videos but as with most things in life actually getting involved and hands on will be more valuable than anything.
What stage of life are you in? What portion of you savings is this?
I Ask because if you are young and have opportunity to earn / save more, I would say yourself. If you are older and this represents a significant portion of your nest egg I would have other suggestions.
With your app it kind of sounds like you have a chicken / egg problem so you may want to just open it up to the most users possible so tat it is the "best it can be".
In the past we have tried both and I've found being more restrictive allows you to iron out things (most of the time unforeseen) before a full scale launch but you lack the large user base that you would get by just opening it up (Signup to be notified lists in my opinion and experience leave a lot of users out cold who don't come back).
In addition, larger betas can get you more traction quicker and also provide insight into new markets and uses for your app you never thought of while smaller betas on the other hand create a good core group of early adopters (because you can give them more attention) that if taken care of will help to champion your cause and spread word about your product.
Yes but the regular deadline has passed. You can apply late I believe but chances of acceptance are much smaller.
You can alway apply late ad get going on your idea and if you are not accepted apply on time for the next cycle with development of your idea already under way.
Pick something simple to start with. Build it and get satisfaction from launching something and the confidence that goes with it. Then up the ante and repeat all over again. Before you know whats going on you'll be in the middle of it all.
I think unfortunately for YC the noise level will rise significantly. Before the start fund YC wasn't about money but rather building great products around strong individuals / teams. The funded believed in what they were doing and YC believed in them and together they walked a path toward success. While that won't change going forward, I think there will be a lot more people who apply and aren't as passionate or haven't thought about their ideas in as much depth but see money at the start of the rainbow as a way to figure it out.
Whats their reasoning for the shares that were not vested transferring to the other remaining players. Wouldn't they just be unvested and thus irrelevant.
If not I'd like to hear their reasoning on this.
I think the three of you would have a higher percentage of the available shares (since some would have been unvested when others left) but still the same number you were originally granted.
Simple example each of you got 10 shares of a possible 70.
Since 4 of the people left without vesting you should now have 10 of 30 possible.
I would agree with this wholeheartedly. They may have a big user base but the engagement per user is very small and most of those users rarely visit.
If you compare average time spent on site in both:
Visits per user per month.
Average time spent on site.
vs say a facebook, these numbers are not even close.
No doubt there is some value here and maybe linkedin hasn't figured out how to engage the users to unlock it, so if you have a great idea on how to do this you could probably move into the space and capture users (and billions).
But, the lack of direct competition would suggest nobody really has a great idea on how to do this and coupling that with the lack of hype lnkedin gets the me too clones in the space have not arrived yet ( a la groupon and the army of social buying clones ).
Its not impossible and they don't necessarily reject you because you are a single founder but they view being a single founder as a disadvantage compared to multiple founders because it makes it tougher to survive startup life and getting through the difficulties and up and down cycles.
Don't let that stop you from applying though. Maybe you will break the mold.
I would just say make sure she knows she is loved and appreciated. Its hard because all the attention will be on the baby from you, from her, and from anyone else that comes around.
You know her best so make some special time for you and her. For my wife and myself we found special time during the odd hours of the night when baby was feeding to just sit and talk and be together even though we were exhausted.
It really is a magical time and sharing it together makes it even better.
My suggestion is instead of searching for an idea to build for the domain sell it to someone (you should be able to get a large sum of money for it) then take that money purchase a domain that correlates to an idea you are passionate about.
I think this route has two major reasons why it is a better idea than chasing an idea to fi into the domain.
#1) If your passionate about the idea you are more likely to pursue it and stick with it. You'll be more excited to go to work each day. You'l be wiling to take the ups and downs in stride.
#2) You already have in a sense an angel round from yourself. This eliminates the pressure of financing at first and allows you to focus on really knocking it out of the park.
How did you come about that name, did you buy it years ago, acquire it recently?