Tech Crunch is a good website. Sometimes the information is useful, sometimes it’s interesting, sometimes I think Michael Arrington and his posse are on crack. This just might be one such time.
I am not sure if we are in a bubble, I doubt it. I see pockets of bubbledom, last year we saw it with Video file sharing platforms, that bubble went away with the YouTube sale to Google. Web 2.0, whatever it was, also burst once people found out that this was no shortcut to quick riches and most by-products of Web 2.0 were not, in itself, companies, but applications or features that would not really be able to generate revenues.
All that is nice and dandy, but sometimes I see things that are simply insane.
Case in point: last night, Nick Gonzales wrote about a “startup” that is seemingly a stupid product with no business model. Dubbed, The Efficient Crank Call Tool, this product would allow to:
You type in a phone number and tell it how many times you would like the service to call it. The service will then call the phone that number of times.
the point of the post, Mr. Gonzales said:
But there’s a point here. People complain that we don’t cover enough startups here on TechCrunch, and that more (or all) that submit profiles deserved to be covered. Most aren’t anywhere near as idiotic as this service, but applying a filter does have a purpose. We see stuff like this every day, and just this once we thought we’d share one of them with you.
The first comment was on the 26th, at 9:33pm, echoing the juvenile nature of the product.
The 13th comment questions the stupidity of said product, arguing, if there is merit in it?
The 18th comment questions whether TC is running out of ideas.
The 25th comment introduces the inventor of this product.
The 43rd comment argues “maybe there is a business model” here.
Eventually, the 51st comment shows an interest in investing in said product by the morning of the 27th, at 7:49am.
That, my friends, is freaking crazy.
Subscribe:
March 27th, 2007 at 10:52 am
What is really freaking crazy is anyone thinking I was serious…. Didnt you see the specific request for the phone number?
Basically I was asking (in a public forum) for the phone number of someone who created (in essence) a crank call service.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Thanks Vijay.
After seeing your comment and before writing my post, I had noticed that you were CEO of a company, and I presumed since CEOs can’t possibly have a sense of humor, you might have been serious.
Sincerely,
Ash K.
CEO,
http://www.WatchMojo.com