Earning off Google adsense is not a business, it is a hobby. Very few startups manage to squeeze a reasonable profit off Google.
Advertising is, of course, a feasible business. But no one (this especially applies to geeks) clicks on Adsense ads anymore because they are so used to seeing them. My suggestion is to develop a custom ad delivery system, or manually post sponsored ads (just as TechCrunch does).
Use "I" because it's more personalized. The excuse for using "we" is simply that the service may seem professional; hence, building more trust. That might actually be true, but unless you're building an online bank, it wouldn't matter.
I initially worked on my webservice alone, and decided to adopt "I" on every possible location. I managed to build a dedicated community around the website, and later on decided to use "we" to denote the community as well as myself. Now, when I say "we thank you for participating", I mean "me and the community...".
Of course, if you've more than one founder (like I do now), you should use "we". Be consistent with the terminology in order to avoid confusing the end-user.
Revenue earned vs. number of ad spots on a site is probably an inverted parabola; after a certain point is reached, each successive ad spot actually reduces revenue along with pageviews.
As a side note, here are several good case studies for adsense users:
https://www.google.com/adsense/success
I talked about choice and the sensory overload it often causes. We have reached a point where the only type of cell phones we can't buy anymore are cell phones that are just a phone. The suppliers, however, cannot be held responsible for this. Afterall, they are simply trying to satisfy the users constant demands. So eventhough this mental toxin often makes us feel miserable, it is preferable by consumers over having less choice. And this fascinates me.
I am contemplating writing an article about choice and relating it to Web 2.0. Here is an excerpt from another article I wrote that relates to this: "...if a choice is present, perfectionists spend a ridiculous amount of time over simple decisions. Such is the mentality governing users of today's social networks. We are caught up in a web of choices; indeed, the core reason behind MySpace's success is that users rule. MySpace might suck, but it gives its users ample of choice. Once a user has invested an hour of their life customizing their profile, they are not likely to leave the site anytime soon."
I had the chance while in France to visit Futuroscope by luck. When I found my self in this Cosmos attraction, a huge sphere room watching the universe as a spectator like you are among the stars, has caused me one of the most undescribable, fascinating feelings in my life.
I advice it highly, if you ever find your self in France, go to Futuroscope!
Most of the attractions are in AMAZING 3D!
Looking up at the nigkt sky has that effect on me too. What makes it worse is that whenever I mention it to anyone else they clearly don't understand why.
About 300+ teams have applied to TechStars so far. I am guessing for YC the number is at least 500. From this large pool, only about 13 teams will be selected by Y Combinator. So I am sure there will be some good startups even within the ones that are rejected by Y Combinator.
TechStars could also judge their applicants on a criteria different from Y Combinator and catch good startups where YC might not.
The word on the street is that most startups, however, wouldn't choose TechStars over Y Combinator. First, the initial investment is lower. Second, they aren't original nor do they have the reputation that Paul does. In the end, though, it all comes down to which program maximizes success for startups. For that, David had this to say in an e-mail "Our investors have funded several hundred companies over the years, far more than Y Combinator has done. Y Combinator has Reddit to point out. Our founders point at Newsgator, Technorati, Feedburner, Dogster, and tons more as examples of our past experience."
I don't think anyone hates TechStars, but startup's would have had more respect for them if they had at least taken Paul's permission for rewording and copy-pasting the questions :)
We don't only accept 13 startups. There just happen to be 13 in the current batch. Our policy is, and always has been, to accept as many as we think are good enough.
And incidentally, that claim about funding hundreds of companies is characteristically bogus. That number must come from all the investments made by VC funds during the time Brad Feld et al worked for them. That's like claiming that because you worked for Microsoft for a while, you wrote millions of lines of code.
And even so the big winners they "point at" are not much more valuable than the companies YC has funded, despite the fact we're only 2 years old.
The only reality that counts is what's already in the prospect's mind. Coca-Cola came before Pepsi, so even a century later, it continues to dominate the market. Aside from being displeased, YC shouldn't feel threatened by TechStars; Y Combinator is ahead of its competition by leaps and bounds especially since it was first in their prospect's minds. For startup founders and bloggers, TechStars will always come off as the "clone".
There is understandably some heat between us and the replicant. Wouldn't it be a good idea to just send David an email (David[@]coloradostartups.com) to reach some common ground? This might just be an opportunity to expand Y Combinator beyond Boston or Mountain View.
Every market is going to have multiple players (Pepsi vs Coke, Microsoft vs Apple, Goldman Sachs vs Fidelity, Google vs Yahoo); competition is healthy and usually indicative of a solid market. While there may be some heat between YC and TechStars because of the Application Form, they're both great additions to the Venture Capital Field.
Both teams have great members and mentors; PG being at the top of the list for YC, Brad Feld being up there for TS. An aspiring serial entrepreneur will do well to learn and be accepted by either company, of that I'm sure.
I'd have to say that currently Y is considered a "brand" now with Mike constantly mentioning the companies on his blog, Y with a strong community, and PG was the first to introduce this concept.
However,if an entrepreneur had the honor of being accepted into either Techstars or Y Combinator, I'm sure he/she would work their butt off not only for themselves but to represent the program he/she is in. Multiple players foster a very healthy competition.
We'll just have to wait and see which program selects the better "animal" entrepreneurs for this round. The success of a startup involves not only the people heading it, but a large part depends on the entrepreneur themselves and the ability to implement or create something useful. How very exciting!
Interestingly, Larry Page was reluctant to publish this infamous research paper when it was first conceived. Much of Larry's thinking was inspired by Nikola Tesla's life; a genius whose inventions were often mocked upon and stolen by Thomas Edison. It was Larry's research advisor who convinced him to publish the paper.
lol@"Sorry, many services are unavailable due to a local network faliure beyond our control. We are working to fix the problem and hope to be back up soon. 12/4/97"
I was in love with Electrical Engineering. But reading Paul's essays upset me because it was so true: After four years of banging my head on the books, I would be expected to get a job in a cubicle for the rest of my life. While designing circuits and solving mathematical equations is quite orgasmic, it has its down sides too.
Inspired by Joel Spolsky and Paul Graham, I decided to leave University to develop a microISV product. I realized that selling microISV products is fun, but not very scalable...and it almost felt like doing a job. That's when I decided to tackle something big; a social network for geeks.
I would like to some day go back to University and study Neurology or Mathematics. But for now, pursuing my startup is much more enjoyable. Thanks Paul, Joel!
Not everything, though, is as blissful as it sounds. There are times when I wish I had taken the beating and went along with the standard template. I haven't told my parents that I have left university to pursue the startup dream...it wouldn't be wise to tell them unless they felt the opportunity cost of pursuing a startup is greater than getting a job. So every other day, they believe I leave off to study at my University when really I just go sit in the library and code Shuzak (our startup) :p This way, they will be really happy if I got accepted into YC but not disappointed if I didn't.
The consequence of having left University is that I am now super determined to make this successful; I have burned the ships behind me...so if our startup drowns, so will we.
It helps to get out of the closet to tell your family and friends. Their support helps a lot plus there's no turning back once you've tld those around you. If you don't tell anyone it's easy to go back to school or work when things get tough and no one will be none the wiser.
My parents pestered me every weekend about my GPA until past few months. Slowly they have come to terms with the idea that I don't care much about school - and that my GPA probably sucks.
lol, thanks zaid...I take it that wasn't a compliment? I learned quite a lot of lab work simply from building a solar car ( http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~hec/pictures.html ) as a side project. So , in University, I was able to maintain an okayish GPA because I managed to do good in labs.
Advertising is, of course, a feasible business. But no one (this especially applies to geeks) clicks on Adsense ads anymore because they are so used to seeing them. My suggestion is to develop a custom ad delivery system, or manually post sponsored ads (just as TechCrunch does).