Well, you dont need pwd to piggyback into a user's account. Since the userID/pwd validation is theirs, they can bypass the validation if they want based on some prefix or suffix in the userID field.

I wonder, how would someone interview a doctor. Asking him more of theoritical questions ? Or asking him to do practicals, which I believe might be completely off the books depending on the situtation :). Anyways, there are 1) people who pass the interview very well, and cannot perform the duty on the job. 2) people who do fair on the interview, but are very well executors of the duty. 3) People who really become the backbone of the feature, and become the go to guy for everything and anything, they may or may not perform at the interview.

A live Ustream channel, for this, with questions being accepted from twitters would be appreciable.

I just signed up with docracy, but as soon as I signed up and visited the next page- Test Signing Document (Non-Binding)

There is some spanish/french content, which I think is from the web design template that you used. You should think of removing it.

'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, noster periculis dissentiunt eam in, cu vivendo splendide sea, vidisse phaedrum mel ea. Vis ne paulo corpora suavitate, salutandi theophrastus vel ei, facilisi mediocrem deterruisset cum ex. Mandamus expetenda vis ad, cu dicit offendit constituto cum. Ad eos wisi pericula assueverit, in eum soleat insolens convenire. Has oratio aperiri aliquam ei, mei ex nostrud comprehensam. Summo quando eos ut, mundi maiorum cu sed.'

That's placeholder text.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum

This is Latin, not Spanish/French. I'm surprised an HNer wouldn't know that.

ha ha dotben :). I had the same opinion, but I refrained myself thinking that these might be some students who are pretty excited with their school project or something. Ofcourse I second you, but if this was a way to test twitter bootstrap, or just checkout their own capabilities with web development, then great. As far as market is concerned, I have never felt a need myself, because I never stayed with roomies.

The problem itself may be small but the number of potential users is fairly large. The majority of Americans live with other people. This would probably be more useful for people living with friends rather than for families, but that's still quite a large number of people.

Utility = Size of problem solved * Users

Do you have a good plan for how to get users other than counting on TC and virality?

I'm not sure if I buy that.

If a product or service solves a small problem, what would make users transition from what they're currently using to solve that problem to this new product? There has to be some sort of incentive because inherently, we're all lazy and don't want to go through the entire process of switching existing systems.

Honestly, a simple group messaging app (or even email) + using Billmonk solves most/all of these problems. That's what my three roommates and I are using and there haven't been any complaints. As well, the more roommates, the bigger the need has to be in order to convince everyone to use this new system. The smaller the number of roommates, the even less necessary it is to have a new platform to manage all these affairs.

I think this is a cool weekend project, but would I call this a startup? I don't think so (at least, not by the definition Eric Ries uses in The Lean Startup).

The utility formula is a fact of business.

Utility = Users * Size of Problem, just as Revenue = Volume * Price

Except that utility isn't always measured in pure revenue, as you can have ulterior revenue streams (advertising, selling data, etc.).

Whether or not users make the transition from the status quo to the new product is independent of size of the problem. It's different in each specific case.

I wasn't making a statement as to whether or not this was a good idea or can qualify as a "startup". I was reiterating the true statement that solving small problem for millions can be equivalent in value to solving one single large problem.

I would rather say, a 45- 60 secs max, video with a screenplay, would be just awesome. If you can tell the pain of whiteboarding the tasks, or roomies arguing over the tasks, and then the advantage of using GoodMate. This is a pretty simple idea, but a damn needy one.

Cheers!!

The funny thing is that we buy what comes in new, and don't really know the purpose or use of it. iPad to me makes sense if you are an avid browser, and a reader, or type in few short emails a day. First came iPhone, and then came various keyboards which can be blue toothed to the phone. Dude!! the iPhone has a touch keypad, and its not for typing in long emails. Use the gadget for what it is meant for.

Something that I come across browsing on a system at my friends place or at work, but really want to come back to it when I am home. Some URLs I want to bookmark and some mark them to read later.

This is a great comparison on UX for any app or start-up. What i really want to show the user when he lands up on a page, and what next. This is like the Coca-cola add, where they dont sell the brand, but show a soda bottle with Coca-Cola (in small) for a short duration. Engage the user in what you want, no need to sell the brand-name. He will praise you more if he likes your work :).