What if you could expand your own thoughts by collecting everyone else’s and connecting them to your mind? IMINDI wants to help you do just that by creating a “mind map” that connects thoughts and ideas.
The startup presented today during the Collaboration session of TechCrunch50. You can watch the video of its presentation here.
IMINDI’s mind map is chart showing thoughts and those that branch off from them. Users can click on thoughts to see which thoughts on connected to them. IMINDI calls it the “journey of thought” that will help connect people and share their information.
The service, which launches today, can be used integrated into other sites like Facebook or Yahoo. However, it exists mainly as a standalone site.
Expert Panelists
Don Dodge:
“What’s the business model? IMINDI says it will create a database of thoughts without a search engine that will have commercial messages will be able to enter the company’s “goldmine program”. It’s an advertising model.”
Answer: If you think about Google’s business model, essentially they are selling us a search engine, but they are selling a database of thoughts to their advertisers. To sell this database of thoughts, they had to create a search engine. We are building a database of minds. We have built a system that will allow people who have commercial messages, they will be able to enter into the GoldMinds program. Advertising centered model.
Mark Cuban:
“Maybe I’m missing something, but that just sounded like the biggest bunch of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my life. You want millions of people to create a virtual decision tree, and create a virtual mind meld, and then get advertisers to mine the virtual mind meld. Why would you want to invest the time?”
Answer: There will be a percentage of people. There are certain people who like to do this sort of thing, and certain people who don’t. Hopefully we can get a critical mass.
Mark Cuban:
“Let me give you a suggestion, don’t make it a mass application, make it a corporate application,. Then all you have to do is find one kindred messed up soul in an organization and you can sell them anything.”
Don Dodge:
“This is rocket science applied to the wrong science. Apply this science to something that people care about and the enterprise is where people care about it. If you try to solve this problem by helping guys score with girls, but this generalized kind of thing isn’t going to work.”
Kevin Rose:
“Tags and tag combinations are useful when you’re tying data to it is useful. But this doesn’t pass my basic, will my mom and dad use this test. All I see is a bunch of my own personal map of what I’m thinking and there doesn’t look like there’s any data attached to it. I’m fairly geeky and I think that’s WAY out there and I wouldn’t want to do this. I think your best bet is to create something on top of delicious.”
Roelof:
“I’m investing a lot of time and I don’t know what’s at the end of the tunnel. You need to have something really really compelling because people are really lazy, which makes us efficient.”
Wow…no love from the experts!
I would like to ask:
If millions of people are writing blog post everyday, why is it difficult for them to write an Imindi graph?
If one needs to write a blog post for half an hour, it only costs 5-minutes to write the same thought down using Imindi service. So why would be more “lazy”?
Is the one using half an hour writing a blog post lazy? or Is it the one who spend 5-minute blog his same thought using Imindi lazy?
Please look at these posts to compare them by yourself. Plus, you should not forget that Imindi connects varied thoughts from different people that current blog services cannot support.
http://yihongs-research.blogsp.....uture.html
http://yihongs-research.blogsp.....rning.html
Yihong
Yeah, ignore those guys. Or learn from the fact that certain people won’t “get it”. Anything you can do to help those sorts of people understand would be good. I also recommend trying to integrate useful applications into your service that takes it a step or two behind mind mapping.
Get an API going for other sites to add metadata/thoughts and there’s a chance it will grow regardless.
I think you got hit with panelists who weren’t visionaries.
Good luck!
Isn’t there already a few software does this? I used a free one before at work for innovation sessions.
To the best of my knowledge, not yet. Maybe there are something similar in looking, but in the fundamental we are different.
Great idea, great future, if they have patent application. Potential is so huge and WEB4.0 no one would dare validate it. If it is just feeds pulling on feeds then they have nothing.
Would love to see some A.I. mixed into it. However since there may not be any real complex patented algorithms I do not see how they can create real value.
Their PPT was total shiit. You do not get a huge opportunity like that and come to the party with a friggin (F-) PowerPoint presentation.
It was such a disgrace that I think it was almost an insult to the panelist. Like saying look, “I have no time to create a fancy slide for you not so smart people, so I will just take 5 minutes to cut and past something for the show. As my speech and super high I.Q will sell my product, not some dumb PowerPoint”.
That was what I got, and maybe that is why they got no love. Show some respect for the opportunity you got.
Yihong Ding,
I like the idea and concept. I will be making contact with you very soon. Do not give up. Sometimes the best products get zero ratings initially.
thank you, Anti. Actually, I am not the founders so I am not so upset. What i do feel unhappy is that such a brilliant and great adventure be treated like that at the stage.
I know the founders quite well. Besides that both of them are really good and indeed visionary ahead of many of us, they have produced a fantastic service that may lead us to a future that few other services may bring. What I do feel sad is whether silicon valley has been a place treating truly innovation so rude.
Certainly, I agree that these two co-founders made a few mistakes (as you have also mentioned). But, however, you can disagree and not willing to fund the company. All of these are understandable. But humiliating true innovators directly on stage like that, it is nearly unforgivable. I have to say (and indeed I hate to say) that let God curse the soul of Mark Cuban though he might have already been on the cursing list.
By the way, I would be very glad to receive your email.
cheers,
If you read what I said you would have seen why they did that. No one wants to make what could appear to be the biggest new idea know. So kill it, then see who can get there ahead of the crowd using another method.
It is almost like people reading each other minds but via the net. The concept is out of the is world. It is also like Wikepedia on steroids plus Google and god knows what else.
I think it was intentional. Like who the fuck think these dudes think they are. Thinking they are smarter than everyone in the room. To be honest the presenter also spoke down indirectly to the panelist, kind like in a English snobbish way. Huge risk, especially to Americans who really do not like that crap. Add to that a shiity power point that is like a total slap in the face.
I think IBM would be a better fit, if they have an actual software or patent pending app. that creates some barriers of entry. Otherwise it is wide open, and those guys were really talking Web3.0/4.0
This is really clever, but you have to look at it from a different perspective.
If you have mindmaps of tons of people, then you’ll be able to create solid marketing and advertising campaigns based on the way people think. You can use it subliminally even. For example, if you’re trying to invoke a feeling of “need” for a specific product then you can analyze the data and discover what things are strongly associated to it. Then craft a marketing campaign that shows all of those things without actually saying “You need this”. Lame example but you probably get what I’m saying.. It’s elementary marketing.
There are also two other important dimensions to this. If they collect demographics of their mindmappers, then they’ll be able to see that the different age groups think differently and have different associations and know how to target them. Same for location, gender, ethnicity, etc.
There is a time portion to this too. Over time they can see how peoples associations for products, or things change. For example, iPod didn’t mean anything 10 years ago, but know is associated to lots of things. Similar to Google trends.
Interesting project though…
I think if they use this program and map the insane mind of criminals and it would help explore the mind of criminals and find tracks and thinking where they would break the law or where they would hide the kidnappers so that the cops can find them.
Or if you can use it in a real life war, you enter the characteristic of the mind of the other opponent and you can track his mind map and see what his next move would be as a guide.
If they can really do that then i find the FBI ,CIA the US Army would pay billions for this program.
Seriously, i want to invest in these guys. If IMINDI can reply to me, I want to know whats the smallest amount I can invest in them? These IMINDI guys are smart.
I think you need to watch less TV.
having known about imindi, i was blown away how un-visionary the panelists were.
yes the presentation sucked. but i was shocked at how dumb smart guys can be when it involves anything outside the box.
We clearly had the wrong presentation, but no disrespect was intended.
You know to think of it it is almost like building a new Internet search engine based on the human mind. I am only curious if it really exist. Kind of like the Japanese demo “Imagine”, “Join Us”. Is this smoking mirrors?
It certainly would be a killer ad on app for google, so if they have a real deal then google could pay US$500 mil to a bil for it. Or Microsoft could pay US$2 bill who knows. But that is if they have a product that cannot be replicated within 2-3 years. If not then they better take US$100 mil and walk.
This Mark Cuban person did was tacky, beyond belief. It was like telling a twelfth grader “You’ll be a failure in life.”
F.U., Mark Cuban.
I am from India, and I think this short-sighted idiot named Mark Cuban (I don’t know what his claim to fame is) shooting down iMindi is another example of Saturn swallowing its own children in order to remain in power. The future of the Internet is most likely not going to come from America. Does he not know it? So why did he try to kill the best of the American bright ideas? Is his money blinding him? Can Techcrunch50 get some better, impartial judges? The whole thing is so stupid!!
Jayvant. Do not worry for us. Mark Cuban was a blessing in disguise whether he intended to be or not. We will come back stronger and wiser because of the experience.