Tim O’Reilly Gives Amigo the Thumbs Up
I interviewed Tim O’Reilly on Friday for Vitamin, and at the end of the conversation we had a chat about Amigo.
He swore to secrecy :) and I told him what the idea was. He said “Wow, now that’s a great idea. I can’t believe that hasn’t been done yet. How are you planning on marketing it?” I told him about our marketing strategy and how we wanted to get certain vertical markets for the closed Beta. He gave me some amazing ideas and tips. He also said it was important that we get enough people in on the Beta, so the potential opposition would be discouraged from trying to launch a direct competitor.
It’s not every day that I get free advice from one of the industry’s sharpest thinkers. Thanks Tim!
Endorsements don’t come much bigger than that! Can’t wait for Amigo.
Comment by Tom McQuillen — June 19, 2006 @ 9:07 am
Sounds great, can’t wait for the beta (if us loyal readers get invited!)
Comment by James Deer — June 19, 2006 @ 9:53 am
We’ll put out a call for participation when the Beta is ready. If Amigo is right for you, you’ll be welcome to the Beta! :)
Comment by Ryan Carson — June 19, 2006 @ 10:12 am
I meant to ask at @media if there was a prize for guessing what Amigo is? I think I have an inkling.
Comment by Andy Croll — June 19, 2006 @ 10:33 am
Guess away! We’ll throw a free Survival Kit your way if you’re correct (after we annouce it, of course) :D
Comment by Ryan Carson — June 19, 2006 @ 10:42 am
I think it’s a way of matching developers and designers to each other for web projects. A marketplace for web site / app development, I assume for sub-contracting work mainly hence the friendly Amigo?
You could look at it as a mechanical turk for web apps?
Comment by Andy Croll — June 19, 2006 @ 11:13 am
Andy - Good idea, but no :)
Comment by Ryan Carson — June 19, 2006 @ 11:59 am
No more smug face for me.
Comment by Andy Croll — June 19, 2006 @ 12:15 pm
I hope that closed beta includes the loyal followers of your site!! ;)
Comment by Brandon — June 19, 2006 @ 12:40 pm
I think it’s an ad scheme, like a user configurable Deck system. You pick the amigos whose sites you’d like your ads featured on, and they do they same. An ad community, if you will.
You pay to list your ad and you get paid for ad clickthroughs.
Comment by matt — June 19, 2006 @ 12:52 pm
Matt’s idea seems to make sense with Jason’s original logos (including the billboard)
I wonder if it’s adverts of personal / professional services (or even classified ads?) on a network of advertiser selectable sites, allowing bloggers another revenue stream. Craigslist vs the deck?
Comment by Andy Croll — June 19, 2006 @ 1:39 pm
I concur.
(extra points if you know the quote above)
Comment by matt — June 19, 2006 @ 1:50 pm
Ryan.
Congrats. I wish you all the success in the world. Nice to get some O’Reilly love.
Comment by Kendall — June 19, 2006 @ 2:07 pm
That is huge!
Affirmation on an idea is always a huge sigh of relief. Especially when it comes from such a great source.
Comment by Hal! — June 19, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
Kendall - Thanks man :)
Comment by Ryan Carson — June 19, 2006 @ 2:55 pm
matt - catch me if you can. also from the simpsons where lennie and carl discover “conquer” is word of the day but they pronounce it “concur”. funny as hell.
deck vs craiglist sounds good!
Comment by stef — June 19, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
Nice one stef. Your bonus points are in the post. :)
Comment by matt — June 19, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
Hey Ryan, nice one!
I know what Amigo is. The information’s out there if you know where to look… ;-)
Comment by John Topley — June 19, 2006 @ 4:52 pm
Interesting. Now keep your mouth shut! :)
Comment by Ryan Carson — June 20, 2006 @ 4:14 am
Is it computer software in the form of a web application that helps email newsletter owners find advertisements for their newsletters?
Comment by satin stain — June 20, 2006 @ 4:32 am
Hmm, I also found out what Amigo is. It wasn’t so hard to find, just some searching… ;)
Comment by Lauri Vuorinen — June 20, 2006 @ 10:39 am
Okay, now I am getting even more curious about Amigo…
Comment by Geert — June 20, 2006 @ 12:11 pm
As soon as it was pointed out that the information was out there… I went and found it.
Interesting idea Ryan, and I don’t know why no-one is doing it… Guess I miss out on my freebie though!
Comment by Andy Croll — June 20, 2006 @ 12:44 pm
Would those in the know please not give the game away, it’s hardly fair on Ryan and everyone else that has put work into both amigo - whatever that is :P - and the blog!
Aren’t the best ideas always the ones where you think, Why has no-one else though of that?
Comment by Alan Wallace — June 20, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
I would just like to state for the record that I’ve not given the game away to anyone.
Comment by John Topley — June 20, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
Alan, we’re not giving the game away at all. If Ryan is going to masturbate in public then he shouldn’t be surprised if people wanna have a peek ;-)
Comment by satin stain — June 21, 2006 @ 5:26 am
http://webdb4.patent.gov.uk/tm/number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=2422627
Comment by Anon — June 21, 2006 @ 7:23 am
Of course you are right!
That’s what Amigo is. Well done all you sleuths out there. We’ll be posting more about the idea soon.
Comment by Gillian Carson — June 21, 2006 @ 8:18 am
That was definitely giving the game away…
Interesting idea btw.
Comment by Geert — June 21, 2006 @ 11:29 am
@ John Topley, Satin Stain
i didn’t mean to imply that you guys had given the game away, nothing wrong with a bit of fun!
I was thinking more that someone like anon was going to do something silly just link to the idea…. It’s a great idea and I can’t believe no-one has thought of it. Good luck.
Comment by Alan Wallace — June 21, 2006 @ 11:55 am
Alan, it is a great idea and one that I’m looking forward to using in some capacity.
My earlier comment, giving the game away, was in repsonse to Ryan’s about Tim keeping quiet about the idea. Seemed funny when Ryan had earlier documented the trademark application. So the idea is/was already out in the public domain.
Whilst I love learning about the development process, and in light of the low barrier to entry for this business model, surely it would be wise on Ryan’s part to keep schtumm until the app is developed and fully launched?
Comment by satin stain — June 21, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
“…surely it would be wise on Ryan’s part to keep schtumm until the app is developed and fully launched?”
I disagree. It’s fine to keep quiet in so much as it builds intrigue and is (was) kind of fun for this site, but in terms of business advantage I don’t think it’s important. Ideas are cheap, it’s the execution that matters. That’s why VCs won’t sign NDAs based on ideas alone.
Also, I’m not sure that the barrier to entry for the Amigo idea is so low, given the headaches around the payment model that have been well documented here!
Comment by John Topley — June 21, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
To be completely honest we had totally forgotten that we put that phrase in the trademark application and that it was available online. So, I’m sure this is a case of learning from our mistakes which is what this site is all about.
But when we actually discussed it, it seemed like a good time to release the idea anyway as the beta is just about ready.
Comment by Gillian Carson — June 21, 2006 @ 2:52 pm
network newsletter advertising isn’t a new concept - check out http://www.thinktarget.com/content.aspx?p=na
Comment by Mike — June 26, 2006 @ 3:07 pm
Hi Mike,
Thanks for posting your link. We’re not saying that the idea is new, just that it’s well suited to the web app format and we think we’re the first people to do that.
Comment by Gillian Carson — June 29, 2006 @ 3:17 pm