it’s not going to be very hard to solve the problem technically (you’d be wrong, of course, but that’s besides the point)
Actually, I would say that the problems twitter is solving aren't terribly difficult. Now, doing it at such a massive scale is very difficult. But I think a large portion of twitter's success is that their solution seems rather easy to implement at small scale.
AirBnB in my opinion is no longer a "Twitter Startup." Maybe at first, but now they've proven people will sacrifice some level of comfort to save money, which in my opinion took a lot of gumption. This now proven disruptive model (sacrificing some comfort/certainty/social norms to save money) I think is only beginning.
I think this article isn't describing startups so much as startup ideas, and/or very early startups that have yet to demonstrate the elusive product/market fit. Once you've proven that your Hoverboard works, and that it really is a Hoverboard ("an idea that, if it works, will practically sell itself") then it isn't really a Hoverboard anymore. And once your Twitter concept has users and a viable business model it isn't a Twitter anymore.
Ironically, AirBNB is no longer a Twitter startup, but Twitter arguably still is. ;)
Good point, although I'd argue Twitter has shown its product/market fit (political strife/breaking news/Bieber).. Also, I agree, my comment is off topic, but I'm a bit tired of poor little AirBnB (now valued at $1 billion) not getting credit for sticking their noses in and bravely creating a new market.. PG might agree w/ me http://www.paulgraham.com/airbnb.html
AirBnB is great if you have time, but there is something to be said for the zipless convenience of just booking a room with a hotel. It is a genuine pain to go back and forth with a few different people to get a room. Unless they have some sort of solid state, instant/confirmed booking option, it's better for casual travelers and sublets than business travelers.
I sense that we could construct an amusing zoo of subcategories here.
e.g.
The Oyster: A species of Hoverboard that appears to magically parse natural language or generic web data but which on close inspection turns out to be a slick-looking wrapper around a rat's nest of Perl regular expressions which are being frantically updated by a harried group of hackers to deal with each "edge case" as it arises.
The Turk: Like an Oyster, but without the regular expressions.
The Esperanto: A Hoverboard that promises to help non-programmers write programs by using "natural" syntax that is "just like human language". See e.g.: AppleScript.
The Gift-Horse Engine: A Twitter that is in fact virally popular, but only because it bribes adopters by giving away something below cost in an unsustainable way.
Ali G: "Its a hoverboard" (holding a skateboard with no wheels)
Investor: ".. but it doesn't do that"
Ali G: "Well, it doesn't do it yet. Thats where you come in - with your science"
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 43.7 ms ] threadActually, I would say that the problems twitter is solving aren't terribly difficult. Now, doing it at such a massive scale is very difficult. But I think a large portion of twitter's success is that their solution seems rather easy to implement at small scale.
A lot of articles seem to try and classify all startups into 2 or 3 types which is honestly pretty silly.
Ironically, AirBNB is no longer a Twitter startup, but Twitter arguably still is. ;)
(May all be obvious, just my $.02)
e.g.
The Oyster: A species of Hoverboard that appears to magically parse natural language or generic web data but which on close inspection turns out to be a slick-looking wrapper around a rat's nest of Perl regular expressions which are being frantically updated by a harried group of hackers to deal with each "edge case" as it arises.
The Turk: Like an Oyster, but without the regular expressions.
The Esperanto: A Hoverboard that promises to help non-programmers write programs by using "natural" syntax that is "just like human language". See e.g.: AppleScript.
The Gift-Horse Engine: A Twitter that is in fact virally popular, but only because it bribes adopters by giving away something below cost in an unsustainable way.