I agree completely random is not good. I meant random in the sense that there is not a set agenda and you are meeting them for the first time. But yes, there has to be some context. In these meetings I have done 100% of the people have been in tech.
Dig the post. The title is definitely a good way to get some clicks. But I would disagree that your first 3 examples are "stupid" things to say. They at least have some basis and are absolutely great challenging statements that can lead to awesome discussions.
Awesome post, just did a pretend Hackathon with a friend of mine and it turned out great! Deadlines and structure really force you to work efficiently and to prioritize.
Information and search is usually easier and more comprehensive on the original site. With that said, there has to be a good reason for me to visit an aggregation service to view that information. For me this site doesn't do it for me. All your doing for me (in the housing category) is plotting Airbnb & 9Flats on a map, which since there are only 2 sites doesn't add a ton of value for me. I would rather go directly to Airbnb to find potential housing because more owner information and more powerful search options.
Again, I think aggregation adds true value to consumers when you save them from visiting 10+ websites, but not from 2 or 3.
As Jared touched on I believe all 4 companies mentioned (Uber, Lyft, Tesla, Zipcar) are all "world-dominate-y" ideas, they are just in different categories.
In addition to the "can't find a cab" problem, Uber & Lyft sell experiences. This user experiences will be their biggest asset as they expand into other cities.
I agree with the author in that many businesses don't see much RIO on their social media marketing efforts. However, I would tend to think that is more of a reflection of a poor social media strategy as opposed to social media being worthless. Additionally, the article mentioned a brand ran a huge social media campaign and accumulated massive increases in likes, but this did not translate to an increase in sales. Social media is about scaling relationships, not about accumulating likes. The brand may have increased their likes but may not have done an effective job of building meaningful relationships with their customers.
Sorry if you took my comment as a dig at Christians, I was merely stating an observation based on the data we collected. I personally encountered a handful of Christian musicians who stated our use of vulgarity and drug references were the reason they were not interested in our product. For example, we also had some female musicians who were not excited about our video because it was geared towards guys. not a dig at female musicians
Billing info was authorized, but not captured until the end of the sale period. Similar to what Kickstarter does. Amazon is really the only option (that we could find) that would allow that type of flow.