Ranjith Kumaran of PunchTab | E138

In this episode, Jason Calacanis chats with Ranjith Kumaran, co-founder of PunchTab and YouSendIt. They discuss the creation and functionality of both companies, with a focus on PunchTab's reward system. Additionally, they explore the impact of social media likes and the potential for system gaming. The episode concludes with a call from Saudi Arabia, discussing the startup climate and recent political events.

Speakers

AI Chat

Jason Calacanis

Host • 66%

Unidentified

Tyler

Guest • 3%

Ranjith Kumaran

Guest • 23%

Unidentified

Partners

Chapters

0:00	Opening
1:30	Welcome and introduction.
6:00	GoToMeeting ad.
6:45	Reminder about the TWiST List producer's program.
8:45	Introduction of Ranjith Kumaran, former co-founder of YouSendIt and current co-founder of PunchTab.
10:00	Are you still involved with YouSendIt?
10:30	How big are the biggest files you can share?
10:45	Is the current Internet infrastructure really able to handle that?
11:30	Tell me about the new company. When did you come up with the idea and what is it?
12:00	Ranjith tells the story about YouSendIt and the Osama Bin Laden beheading video.
13:15	Tell us the basic concept of PunchTab.
14:15	This is typically for content sites like blogs?
14:45	Jason and Ranjith look at ModSentry.com, a site using PunchTab.
15:15	Is it a gray area, in terms of people getting rewarded, for people to 'like' something on Facebook?
16:30	So I post a Facebook comment and then I get to 300 points?
17:15	How long has the product been out?
17:45	How are you getting the word out about it?
18:00	Has anyone ever done anything like this before?
19:00	How do you keep yourself from the gaming of the system?
21:00	Discussion of PunchTab's new give-away raffle widget.
24:30	How does the site make money?
26:15	Are you charging users yet?
27:00	Are you going to raise a venture round? What's the long-term plan and vision?
29:00	Jason tells an anecdote about a run-in his father had with the mob.
31:30	Squarespace ad.
33:00	Ask Jason call from Nasser AlNasser in Saudi Arabia: Is it a must to have a dot com domain if you want to have a top site?
34:15	Quick answer: Fake it til you make it. Read Jason's post on the subject, 'How to Name Your Startup' here and Fred Wilson's article 'Domain Name Extensions' from his blog, AVC.
36:00	Look at the example of Delicious. Tyler, your thoughts?
37:45	Dot com will always be the gold standard of domain extensions and its going to push things further and further up.
39:15	Is there a big startup scene in Saudi Arabia?
40:45	What's the climate there with Osama Bin Laden's death?
41:45	What's the feeling about the US mission in Pakistan?
42:15	How is democracy manifesting itself in Saudi Arabia?
43:30	What's the Saudi Arabia domain extension?
45:00	Further discussion of Osama Bin Laden and the US operation.
46:30	Thank you to Ranjith and information about how to get in contact with the PunchTab team.
47:30	Thank you to GoToMeeting and Squarespace.

Transcript

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