YouNoodle.com - The Startup To Predict The Fate Of Other Startups
Two former Oxford University students are getting attention (and seed money) in Silicon Valley for developing new technology that automates aspects of the venture capital decision-making process, reports the New York Times.
Kirill Makharinsky, 21, and Bob Goodson, 27, call their software a “start-up predictor,” and they say their company, YouNoodle.com, might give an edge to venture capitalists and other investors trying to decide whether to sink money into an early-stage company.
They claim that their algorithm uses sophisticated modeling pertaining to how social capital and networks can affect an organization’s performance, assesses the experiences and social and business contacts of entrepreneurs who start a company, and on how the entrepreneurs within that company might fit with one another. They do not, however, disclose precisely what factors they use to predict a start-up’s success, or how their algorithm processes those factors.
The company is also is trying to build a network of early-stage companies, and to provide tools that can be used for business plan competitions, businesses school classes and other emerging entrepreneurial ventures. It provides those tools free, but in so doing the users provide data about their new ventures that YouNoodle uses to refine its predictor algorithm.
The company plans to give away a simple version of its predictor but will charge investors who want the newer and more powerful version of the software.
So the question arises: Has YouNoodle used the predictor to determine if it will itself succeed?
Filed under: Ideas & Innovations, Startups