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Apps to Build in a Bad Economy
As I'm sure you know, the U.S. economy is experiencing some trouble right now. It's all anyone is talking about, and that's only when they aren't screaming or crying about it's impact on their investments. I think it's safe to say that no matter the impact of any government intervention we are moving into a long period of economic problems. The free ride is over.
So what does this have to do with Embought? Plenty, and while I will touch on that in this post I also want to talk about how this economic problem could be a benefit to all budding entrepreneurs out there.
In the case of Embought my plan is mainly the same as it has been, continue to grow the capabilities of the site and make it easier and easier for people to save money and donate to charity by shopping online. The most immediate way that the current economic problems effect Embought is that there will be a lot of people searching harder for deals, especially this Christmas. At least that's my hope, and sometimes you've just got to have hope.
Frugal Customers Mean Frugal Applications...
This idea of the newly frugal consumer extends far beyond Christmas shopping on Embought, there is literally no limit to the things people could be interested in saving money on now. Over the summer there was a lot of interest in applications that would help you find the cheapest gas in town. Apps like Gas Buddy and GasBag make it easy for users to find cheap gas near them. This trend of small money saving apps is something that I see growing as more and more people become money conscience.
My idea in this space is an app that computes the cheapest overall grocery bill from each of your nearby grocery stores. Not necessarily what store has the cheapest Fruit Loops but which store is going to save me the most money over all of the items that I normally buy. Not only would this be great for it's users but it would incentivize grocery stores to offer coupons through the application. If GroceryTown is always coming up second to CheapFood then they might be interested in giving your users a 10% off coupon to drive people their way. (If anyone is interesting in building this application send me a message through the contact form and we can talk ;)
Or Maybe it's Time for the Big Play
Building applications for a more budget minded consumer base is great for the near term but there is another strategy that takes a longer view on the situation. You could look at the current economic situation and decide that the "easy money" is going to be much harder to come by for the next 6 months, 1 year, or possibly more. If that is the case this could be the perfect time to put your head down and really get to work on that big project you've been putting off. You know the one I'm talking about, it's the project you really want to work on because it might just be the next big thing but instead you write Facebook Apps, and iPhone Apps, and Web Apps because that's where all the focus is right now. For me the long term project is in AI, about as "un-easy money" as you can get. I know that it's going to take me years to get my project into a releasable condition and maybe that's exactly what we need to be thinking about right now. Maybe we should all start working on the "next big thing" that's going to change the world and usher in the new new era of the Web.
At least until the easy money comes back and steals us away again. by Brandon on 10/9/2008
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About Us
Embought is a shopping search engine that donates 50% of all profits to charity. learn more.
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