23:18Chris Dixon at Startup School 2013
From Y Combinator · Published Jul 23, 2014 · Watch on YouTube
TL;DR
Chris Dixon argues that the most successful startup ideas are "good ideas that look like bad ideas" — they appear unattractive to incumbents and mainstream investors because they contradict conventional wisdom, are dismissed as toys, unbundle incumbent functions, originate as hobbies, or challenge social norms.
Key insights
- Good ideas that look like good ideas are already pursued by large companies; entrepreneurs and investors work on the "leftovers" that others think are bad.
- Google succeeded with a contrarian business model: getting users off the site quickly (no "stickiness") when incumbents like Yahoo valued pageviews.
- Airbnb was dismissed as a weird niche (staying on someone's couch) but became a near-replacement for hotels.
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