So you think you’ve come up with the next Flickr, but you’re not entirely sure about the execution, or whether people will understand the premise, what does one do? While it’s true that you could turn to your friends for advice and feedback, they may ultimately lack the technical acumen or intestinal fortitude to give you the kind of pointed critique that will help take your web design to another plateau. This conundrum is exactly where KillerStartups.com comes in, the site describes its vision as, “Tapping the wisdom of crowds to find the next internet big thing”. This is the online equivalent of the cinematic pre-screening, a chance for designers to share their vision in its earliest form in order to glean from objective third parties what is currently working well, and what could be corrected or deleted. I was inspired by Paul’s blog about this website and I decided to investigate the idea a little further….

So how does it work, you ask? The site allows would be site developers to post a link to their website as well as a slogan up to 120 words and a 300 word description of the sites functionality. Also required are an explanation of why you think the site is the next “big thing”, as well as information about the creator, any funding received, the number of employees currently working on the site, whether the site has generated any revenues to date, and whether or not the developer is seeking investors. The administrators of KillerStartups.com will then select up to 15 sites per day which will be posted on the site and open for review. Reviewing the site is left up to internet users who give the site a numerical score as well as listing commentary and criticism.

Though the premise behind KillerStartups.com is quite clever, I find it wanting in terms of the actual commentary being put forth by users, which to this point seems overly simple and often lacking constructive information. Typical is feedback along the lines of, “I loved it”, or “A cool networking site”, which is important in that it relays that the site is being well received, however it provides the developer little with which they can use to improve the design or usability of their site. However, having your site posted on KillerStartups.com is a win no matter what the rated feedback, as any manner of exposure for a fledgling site can be beneficial, simply put, the more hits received, the better.

So were I to encounter the site posted on itself my rating would have to be as follows, “An excellent concept that fosters a collaborative online community, and seeks to create an environment where parties come together to shape the online landscape today and tomorrow. However, more rigid standards for online rating would ensure that feedback received is both relevant and constructive and not simply an all encompassing statement like, ‘way cool’ or ‘needs work’”. The idea behind the site is for developers to find out exactly what needs work, or what makes the site way cool, but the simple fact that KillerStartups.com exists is a positive step toward the increasingly collaborative vision of Web 2.0.