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Ask HN: Is my project a potential startup?

10 points by spotted_at ↗ HN
I am working on a project called spotted.at. http://spotted.at I am not really sure what it is. I just wanted to do some cool shit w/ HTML5 location stuff and node.

I have a habit of finishing projects and not ever launching them because I just did to learn etc... I don't know if I should ditch this and go start another for fun or if i should stick with it. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

When non-geeks ask what it is i say its a quick and easy way to locate people in your area that either have what you want or want what you have.

To geeks I say: spotted.at is a realtime hyperlocal social utility that connects people based on proximity and intent.

What's there now

1. click "I Have" and put a pic or email of what you have then send it

2. It will show up on the map and be searchable by any user in the area

3. Whatever you have in the search box when you click I have will be used as the description

4. If you use app from phone you can see other people in area looking for what you have (updates in real-time; thats kind of cool IMO)

What's next

1. More user interaction (e.g.: chatting)

2. Fixing video (currently only works for HTML5 video tags)

3. Adding data from twitter & fb to search results

4. Add game mechanics

5. Building out the finders fee affiliate style program

--thx

7 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 27.8 ms ] thread
markstansbury
I'm not gonna mess with it at work, but it sounds like a cool project. Keep going.
spotted_at
Thanx man. Its probably best not to use from work because people post up some really odd stuff. That was my main reason for adding the search screen and not just having a map. I didn't want it to turn into chatroulette. My hope is that people tag things properly so only people looking for X will see X.
markstansbury
Well... I just saw some news special on how Craigslist has become a hub for prostitution. So you'll have that.

You'll just have to keep policing it. But I don't think most people will mind a bit of NSFW content.

exline
Hmm. Doesn't seem to be working with Chrome at the moment. I tried the 'I want' and 'I have' with no luck. Possible user error, but there's not a lot to screw up with the user interface. When searching, I never see a map.
spotted_at
do you get an error?
exline
"Uncaught Error: Page does not have permission to access location information using Google Gears"
gyardley
What worries me isn't anything about the feature set, it's this: I don't know if I should ditch this and go start another for fun or if i should stick with it.

Doing a startup can really suck and the difference between success and failure is often just a stubborn, pig-headed refusal to quit. This is why people say it's so important to be really, really passionate about your startup's idea.

I think you'll know when something's your startup when it's something you care about so much that there's no possible way you can stop working on it. Your project sounds like it could be a successful startup, but it doesn't sound like it could be your successful startup.