WebInno16: First Impressions

Posted by John on January 28th, 2008

This is my first post. It’s so exhilarating. I thought I’d post some of my thoughts and early observations on some of the presenters for WebInno16 on Tuesday night 1/29/08. It’s at 6:30PM at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge, MA. Keep in mind, I have briefly gone through the sites and browsed the Walkthrough/Tour/FAQ sections. I will return tomorrow night with a post to see if my thoughts have changed and who I felt exceeded my expectations, or those who unfortunately did not meet my expectations.

MakeMeSustainable is a very novel idea. In fact, it’s a great idea. Unfortunately, I don’t see it working. It’s true, GREEN is in. In fact, the hot new MacBook Air even has a blurb about how green friendly they are. It’s got these nifty graphs and percentages and visual keys to indicate how much you’re saving the world. The unfortunate thing is, I think the average person is lazy. Few people are going to go out of their way to go to a site, look through all the interesting stuff and take the time and effort to go through with it. Sure some may, and even get into it for a little bit. The honeymoon is short though, and the appeal will wear off. As for going out of your way to join another community, it might be better served as a Facebook App. Don’t get me wrong, I hope this site will work, I just don’t think it will.

Would I join:? Not likely

SpotScout is an interesting concept. It’s also been done before. Companies such as mobileParking LLC and ParkingCarma have done this concept. I’m not going to down the pros and cons of these companies, but the idea has been done before. It’s the whole scenario in which we drive, we can’t find a spot, and yes, you are my answer to linking my problem finding a spot and your service finding a spot for me. And the same paramount issue is about information that a spot is available, and parking in that spot. Oh, I would absolutely love getting a text alert that a spot is open, only to find that it’s been taken…. 2 hours ago. This idea is a tough one to execute. SpotScout, just like MakeMeSustainable tout the “green is good” motto of course. But the twist on this company is, it’s the “ebay” of parking spots. That’s a great idea, but just like uBid, if you don’t have a wide enough user base, why sell there? So if adoption of this site doesn’t increase at a rapid pace, the usability is defunct.

Would I use it: I’ll give it a whirl.

So to be quite honest, Urban Interactive seems the most intriguing to me. That doesn’t necessarily mean best, but in my opinion, it might have the most potential. And I unfortunately have not heard of any companies with similar business models, so it is also the most unique out of the “main dish presenters” that are presenting at Webinno. Let’s get down to business. Right off the bat, the homepage has a quote from the Boston Globe, “It’s a blend between ‘The Amazing Race’ and the TV show `Treasure Hunter.” I mean, that alone caught my eye. First, I thought this was some sort of Geocaching website. I’ve never tried geocaching, but it looks fun. I simply don’t have the time, but seems like it would be entertaining. Back to this site, so it’s not really geocaching. It’s more of a set theme adventure. The activity could be a mystery or spying on an “agent”, all that good espionage stuff…

Basically you get a cool phone to use for the game. That’s actually what caught my eye the most. An iPhone or Nokia E61. But you use the device and with your team you do the adventure and solve the crime or mystery. There are these improv actors along the way that contribute to the adventure as well. Now the business guy I am, I was thinking…. what’s the business model? My initial thought, ooh the adventures might have product placement or some sort of advertising model. It took me all the way to the registration page where I found out the price, $60 a team. Team is a max of 4, so $17 a person. Hmm, there’s a lot I can do with $17. But honestly, I really wanted to try it, when it’s warmer that is. It’s kind of like that guilty pleasure like watching Bravo or MTV shows. It looks kind of dopey, but it also looks fun! As Matt would say, Web2.0 is all about the free.

Would I use it: I think it might be fun to try!

Let’s see what impresses, and what doesn’t tomorrow evening.

Tags: Boston Startups, Web 2.0, WebInno