Tnooz is this week unveiling TLabs, a new channel on the site dedicated to the little guy, the bedroom-coder or the fledgling business eager to get in front of its peers.
TLabs will be used to showcase ideas, functionality, tools, business startups, skunkworks projects within large organisations, innovative design, software and beta products hitting the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.
Central to the TLabs project will be a series of regular articles featuring companies less than 12 months old, allowing them to demonstrate their product or idea via video or slideshow, as well as responding to some of the key questions the wider industry will be keen to have answered.
Over time Tnooz will continue to follow these companies, charting their progress as they attempt to establish themselves in the marketplace.
“Few things in business are more exciting than fresh ideas from teams of people with the vision, cleverness and fortitude to dream them up and get them done,” says Gene Quinn, Tnooz CEO. “TLabs is a test market for travel tech ideas and a place to road test new products and services.”
If you are a young startup with technology or the web at its core or an established business with something cutting edge or innovative to reveal then Tnooz wants to hear from you. Further details available via email.
Cheers!
Love this!! Absolutely needed in our industry. Kudos to Tnooz for taking it on.
Hey, we’re excited about this. As a start-up ourselves, we relate:)
Ha!
I hope the tech needs of the small outfits like the B&B s will get some attention as well:-)
@ Guido,
You are a start-up with Happy Hotelier Travel2.0 strategy
See you soon at ITB
What about the TwitterWineTast?
Cheers
Claude
What an awesome way to let my competitors know what I’m doing before I can finish it so they can steal my idea, pump more money into it than I can do so and finish before me, effectively putting me out of business without any recourse because I have no money to take them to court for stealing my idea and also because I voluntarily put it online for everyone to see.
So many awesome possibilities
@christopher
someone got out of bed the wrong side today, methinks.
no really, I didnt, I just think that it’s the perfect forum for having your ideas stolen, since when did the free software, open web and open social networks also mean, open business plans and getting shafted?
the whole idea is great, collectively pat each other on the back about how amazing your next totally cool idea is so someone else can copy and clone it.
don’t get me wrong, I like forums where you get to discuss the next greatest thing, but the problem with that when you rely on the idea for your next business plan is that if you are telling everyone what you are doing, they might agree and have more money than you and have some people just sitting around waiting for something to do.
what then??
discussing your great ideas that have no possible business future sounds a good idea (no sarcasm), but discussing what you think might make you a handsome profit with a bunch of strangers who might just be there to prey on you does not sound like a good idea.
@christopher
All very fair comments. It’s simply a dilemma for startup, nothing more than that.
Moral of the story – if companies feel the same way as you, don’t bother engaging in it.
But if every startup felt the same way, big media brands such as TechCrunch, which do a great job of showcasing startups and building events around it, wouldn’t have a business.
Or the Seedcamp principle, in fact. Not many winners, everyone showcasing their ideas, etc, etc.
The counterpoint: featuring in something like TLabs might open up opportunities to partner with other companies and/or widen the ability to get funding.
Some see laying open their ideas to the wider world as a threat, others might see it as an opportunity.
true, I accept your points with a little explanation.
I think it’s great that when you’re on the road to success (or not, depending) you can tell people what you want to acheive and do, when you’re in a seedcamp, it’s because someone is bankrolling your idea, when you’ve got investment, you can talk about it.
when you have nothing, sitting in your room, then lightning strikes, you have a super awesome idea that’ll change the world, telling everyone MAY be a really bad idea, developing the idea, improving and refining, putting before a seeder, or investor, getting investment and then doing PR to tell everyone in the industry what you’re going to accomplish is a GREAT IDEA.
there is the difference, I totally agree with you and the principle, but I just say that you should first get something signed and paid and then talk all you want, but don’t give away too much and remember that it’s your crown jewels you’re talking about, be careful who you tell.
my father used to work in the chemical industry and he said once that as a requirement you have to spell out, your chemical formulas for everything, without any secrets, reason is that people have to know these things before you start putting them into tablets for people to eat. He said the way the chemical industry worked was that you spell out your chemicals, but you describe don’t put so much effort into explaining HOW you create those chemical compounds.
the chemical compounds are not important, just like knowing it’s written in php, python or ruby is not important, the parts that are important is knowing HOW you wrote it, in detail, explaining everything or too much, will be the death of you.
@Christopher,
Even so there is a risk for your ideas being stolen, at the end, what matters is the execution.
Other people had the idea to create a Facebook or a Kayak before them. But those companies were better at executing them.
An idea at the stage of concept should be shared with a restrained audience.
But as soon as you’ve launched something (launch asap) ideas and projects should be shared as much as possible as explained by @Kevin.
Like the really good “wikinomics” book explained, everything which is not core related to your business should be shared and given to everyone.
Human is a society animal and that’s by sharing and exchanging that you will learn.
@Christopher – Also notice that Kevin was not speaking about the business model but about ideas, functionalities… things which are always better to confront.
A business model and financial info should remain private (even so some companies share about them like Mint or Archiduchesse) but as soon as you’re officially running. spread the news as much. Exchange as much and learn and teach, you will always benefit from it
@antoine my point was that if you are sitting on a gold mine, you don’t tell anyone until you’ve started pulling up the gold.
“An idea at the stage of concept should be shared with a restrained audience.”
yes, agree, and this TLabs is maybe *NOT* that restrained audience you mention, that is what I am saying and the whole point behind what I said. It could be a forum of predators waiting to find the next big thing and hijack your idea, so be careful what you tell people before you moneterize it. not predators from TLabs, but just imagine, if I was in the industry, I would sign up so I could see what others are doing and then cherry pick the ideas I approve of. cheap R&D.
“Also notice that Kevin was not speaking about the business model but about ideas, functionalities… things which are always better to confront.”
yes, after you’ve got your investment, talk all you want, but before that, you’d be wise to keep silent. just like we are doing.
As a fellow enterpreneur, I don’t think keeping everything under wraps is the way to go, nor is it “going public” too early. But you must know that to maximize chances of success you should create demand before your offering is ready, or you will sit on a complete product for months before demand builds.
If you take a look at the TLabs articles written to date, they tell a story, but not the full story. They are creating awareness and upcoming demand.
If you feel that your idea is easily replicated, then is it such a great idea? I.e. once it’s out, won’t bigger companies with more money and resources “steal” the idea?
I’ve got to go with @antoine on this one. Anything can be copied, and the scary part is how quickly and cheaply it can be done. I used to think the idea was the hard part. Now I know it’s the execution. Plus, most of the startups featured on TLabs, TechCrunch, etc. are in public beta so I don’t see where the secrecy is here. Speaking as the founder of a startup, I can only say I wish TLabs was around before we launched.
thats pretty much the point I was making, it’s not the idea, it’s the execution (perhaps more importantly, the time of execution), until you can obtain some profit from your idea, don’t tell anyone, because the second you do, it’ll be copied and your profits are down or lost.
the secrecy is pretty bloody obvious, they all have the investment necessary to go forward, they have reached the point I was describing, that you first develop the idea in private, when you get funding and earn some money, tell people, but don’t tell people whist you’re sitting at home still working at pizza hut, or you’ll be working there for a lot longer as people will steal your idea and come to market before you can.
Chris Dixon posted a pretty good piece on this last year:
“In terms of the risk of someone stealing your idea, there are at best a handful of people in the world who might actually drop everything and copy your idea.
First of all, most people will probably think your idea is stupid. This does not mean your idea is stupid. In fact, if everyone loves your idea, I might be worried that it’s not forward thinking enough.”
IMHO, he has it right…
http://cdixon.org/2009/08/22/why-you-shouldnt-keep-your-startup-idea-secret/
@christopher – I think you’re making this way more difficult than it needs to be. TLabs is an “Awesome Idea” for companies that want to take advantage of it. If you have something you feel is better to keep under wraps, than don’t talk about it to TLabs, or to anyone. This is a decision for every company to make regarding their own situation.
actually, I just made a simple point, which got debated a lot and of course that leads to more replies and more repeating
of course it’s your decision, I personally would keep my ideas to myself until someone gave me funding, but thats just because I believe my idea to be a possible game changer, but it depends on the execution of that idea whether I make my monies or not.
I think there are lots of good points here. I am currently self-funding a web startup with a partner. Our site will launch shortly as AutoSlash.com. AutoSlash will help consumers get a great deal on a car rental.
I won’t go into details here since we’ve yet to launch, and like Christopher, I am somewhat sensitive to releasing info on what we believe to be a game changer in this space.
We have no interest in seeking funding at this point, but I still see TLabs as being a worthwhile avenue for getting the word out about our new venture. There comes a point in a startup’s lifecycle where the value of the exposure outweighs the drawbacks of potential copycats.
I also agree with some previous poster’s who said that a major component of any successful enterprise is execution. I wholeheartedly agree with this. While I certainly wouldn’t go revealing my “secret sauce”, I’m pretty certain that even if I did, it’s the execution of the idea that would be the primary determinant of success.
I look forward to sharing my new venture with the folks here when the time is right. I encourage others to do so when they feel it’s right for them. It’s a very personal decision, but I will make one final point. If someone has what they think is a great idea, and they never do anything to bring it to market, then what’s the point? If they either can’t or don’t know how to develop it, then maybe someone here can help. Remember… 50% of something is still way better than 100% of nothing.
Jonathan
I think TLabs is an awesome idea for start-up founders such as myself. Personally, I have read each and every one of the showcased companies with great interest not so much looking for ideas to steal, but rather looking for potential partners who can perhaps, sometime in the future, provide my company with an added value of some sort. I think I may have already found one which I intend to contact soon.
On the other hand, five years (almost six) into working on this start-up, I have learned the very hard way that keeping it secret while searching for funding is an extremely difficult task. Investors never sign NDAs and there is always a chance (big or small) that an investor to whom you send your business plan will like it and forward your business plan to someone else to attempt execution.
That’s how I think entrepreneurs should approach TLabs. As a fantastic podium to talk about your idea and get industry feedback, potential partners and perhaps even potential investors from within the travel industry. On the other hand, use this gift with caution and imagine, while writing your piece, that anyone reading it may be a potential competitor.
Kudos to TNooz for TLabs!
Hi
I think it may just pan out to be the platform for travel startups
Kudos to Kevin.
Deeps