Valleywag
Jason Calacanis recently penned a post titled "Startup Handbook: How to identify and deal with the slow masses, knowledgeable skeptics, and savvy dreamers." In the post, Calacanis explains that the reason no one understands Mahalo, his human-written Web directory, is because it's just that good of an idea. In his words:
A negative correlation exists between how good your idea is and how much the slow masses will understand it — at least in year one. Don't worry about this, they will get it in year two or three. If it's a good idea they will actually love it in year two or three and not even remember the fact that they ever doubted you.Mark it on your calenders. In June 2008, we're all gonna love us some Mahalo. Meanwhile, if you're a hater, you're likely in the class Calacanis calls the Slow Masses. Here's how he classifies that sort. (Look for when he compares himself to Steve Jobs).
You can identify these folks because they: 1. Typically work three levels below someone who is innovative. Their boss might be innovative, but most likely it's their bosses boss who is the real visionary. 2. They have probably never created a company, and if they have it was probably years ago and it failed. They have no interest in starting another one. 3. They say things like "I don't understand" and "why don't you do INSERT LAST YEARS TREND HERE instead?"Thanks, Mr. Calacanis. Finally, we understand Mahalo: It's a search engine for slow people.
How to handle the slow masses in year one: Don't worry about these folks in year one, they are not that important. Steve Jobs doesn't worry about these folks when he launches a new product like the iPod, iPhone, or MacBook Air. He knows they won't get it year one.
Comments
Brilliant recap of what Mahalo is. A slowly updated engine for slow people.
I do think that human filtering is the next step to dealing with information overload, but it needs to be done via recommendations by people with authority on each topic, not a small team of Web guys. In that sense, I'm trying to figure out how Mahalo is demonstrably better than Wikipedia. How can it possibly overcome the raw analytical machinery of Google or the sheer number of people editing Wikipedia on any given topic?
Remember portals? "AOL Keyword: CES2008." Oh look, some content with a bunch of links. That's what Mahalo reminds me of.
I'll be happy if they do something that completely blows me away, but I haven't seen it yet.
Can somebody please explain to me why this thing is any different than dmoz.org? How about the dozen or so other attempts at this same kind of site dating back as far as Disney's GoGuides, Zeal, and Wherewithal at the turn of the century? It didn't work back then, and it won't work now...
I guess cloning something built in 1999 is what passes for "web 3.0" in some circles...
@shiwsup
We couldn't agree more, which is why you can add links to any page on mahalo (or create one if it doesn't exist).
The twitter page is a good example of this.
[www.mahalo.com]
Hey Nicolas, this post doesnt have nearly enough topless older/hairy tech men. sayin!
So the iPhone is a bad idea?
@SwatLax: Well, apparently nobody got it in year one.
Where are the pictures of the puppies? I don't like Mahalo stories without them.
"The value of our business and associated future success just cannot be captured on things like financial statements."
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