Definitely, I think it's the main thing I heard from speaking with investors; you have to be really authentic and the problem you're solving has to be personal.

It was what really helped Airbnb and Etsy make it through the struggles of building a true sustainable marketplace that impacts peoples lives. If not, it's just like another corporate job.

Feel free to check out RAVN, would love to hear your feedback. You can use my invite code JWU.

Awesome. Glad I got in.

RAVN is the easiest way to discover and book fun activities. Use invite code HACKERNEWS to get a sneak peak.

If you're interested in checking out RAVN, you can use invite code "HACKERNEWS". Just for the HN community.

We just finished the incubator program with i/o ventures (http://ventures.io) I think it's certainly a different experience that you would get from YC.

The biggest reason why I wanted to join the i/o class was because of how small it is. i/o only brings on 5-6 start-ups per class which really helps let them focus on making sure you succeed. At any time, we can get a sit down with the partners to bounce ideas off of or just chat and hear about their experiences.

And they're completely honest about their opinions. I remember when we first joined with our original idea (we pivoted twice), Jim flat out said I'm not a big fan of your idea, but I know you guys will succeed somewhere down the line, and that's why I wanted you guys here. And 4 months + 2 pivots later, he's excited about what we're working on now and the potential it has.

One of the best parts was if we ever needed advice around a particular topic: SEO, scaling, customer acquisition, sales, PR - one of the partners would introduce us to a founder who knows everything about it. The best way to leverage advisors and learn from them.

The i/o space is also amazing. I love the fact that it's like a second home. Whenever we're in the city we drop by to catch up with everyone there. And even after the program, everyone still hangs out there.

I think all of the incubators bring a lot of value to a start-up. It really just depends on what you're looking to get out of it ...

I am still waiting for the day someone takes down opentable. I'm at an incubator right now, and one of the partners had suggested we compete with them head-on because they operate so traditionally, especially with their equipment and high fees. There is definitely room for someone to take them on with a new software based model, but I think most start-ups are probably afraid of the sales effort and skills they'll need.

I'm invested in the hospitality industry right now and their profit margins are razor thin at 3-8% for those that survive. Of course on top of high sales it's not too bad, but most say that they were better off before opentable.

Nice to see, clearly I didn't read that when I applied =)

I like the comparison of the arts industry to the technology industry. The same can be said for finance and consulting industries. I feel there has been a complete loss of the apprenticeship and mentoring model because of the growth of information. When you discover that the majority of people are selfish, it really turns you away from mentoring. I want to help people that are willing to give back to the next generation and 'pay it forward', but most people take the help and just leave it at that.

Craigslist allows posting through it's api for housing things, guessing that's how airbnb does it.

If you've ever used thumbtack, a marketplace for services, they have an auto post to craigslist as well that is pretty interesting.

I would actually be interested in not how did you get your first customer, but how did you get the ones after that.

We launched just like the usual via TechCrunch and Wired, so we made our first dollar and got our first customer quite quickly.

Now we are dealing with the struggle everyone else has which is how do you get your next customer after the PR blast.

"We launched just like the usual via TechCrunch and Wired, so we made our first dollar and got our first customer quite quickly."

>>IMHO, That is your problem, I would think. Customer development is something to be gradually worked upon. In fact, You will have to pay your dues sooner or later. If not for the first customer then for the later ones.

I can just imagine that reporters are just going to be flying in and out now so they can get some create articles and stories from all of this

I hope so. $11,000 is a fine price to pay for a well written story about personal freedom. Hell, why aren't there dozens of Kickstarter journalism projects for this?