Project Skyway
revealed the members of its second class today. They picked a smaller group, only four companies this time.
YumZing (
http://www.yumzing.com) "find the best dishes" rather than just finding a restaurant. Seems plausible, but the challenge will be making it distinctive from sites that *do* find a restaurant--- and building up a big enough network that people want to use the site.
Political Harmony (
http://politicalharmony.co): help voters find candidates that match their opinions. Also help political campaigns poll and target younger voters. This doesn't seem like a winner to me. Should be feasible to launch for the 2008 cycle--- but, the area where I find I need the most help is local races where I end up having to visit candidates' web pages. How much value can they really add for state and national races? Two dominant parties tends to devalue the benefit of finding a good match, unless you abandon strategic voting.
Energy Resource Insights: might be promising. "Westlaw" for energy programs, collecting scattered information on conservation, energy production, etc. The founder has some background in business and energy consulting; it might be a challenge to switch to SaaS without some strong technical leadership as well.
HypeSpark (
http://hypespark.com/). Deals and freebies for endorsing companies to your social media network. I hated this idea in the form of
ImDorse last cycle and I don't feel any better about it this time. It's bad enough Google and Facebook want to monetize my social network--- I'm supposed to do so as well? Rest assured that if I promote a link it's because I'm genuinely enthusiastic about the product, and not receiving any kickback.