pb

5 ms·

1.
by pb 6y ago
I tend to agree, and have always made a point of telling founders that their startup will most likely fail, because that's what startups do. Here's a good thread: https://twitter.com/immad/status/13356694
2.
by pb 6y ago
Yeah, it's so easy to convince yourself that you knew all along that a company would succeed, which is one reason why it's helpful to keep actual notes. It's also a great example of a company that was not popular on Demo Day.
3.
by pb 6y ago
I love watching these videos so many years later. Great examples for anyone considering applying to YC!
4.
by pb 6y ago
The best known treatment at the time the infection is detected. That can be as basic as rest and hydration, but hopefully we'll have something better down the line.
5.
by pb 6y ago
I agree that data is good, but the data you linked to seems to be for Italy only. Perhaps they had adequate PPE? I'm kind of skeptical of the idea that the doctors and nurses in the United States are simply reacting out of irrational f
6.
by pb 6y ago
Perhaps you should contact these medical residents to remind them that they'll be "just fine": https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/terrifying-privilege-resi... I also see a fair number of younger people o
7.
by pb 6y ago
Thermometers are better than nothing, but unlikely to stop the spread because of asymptomatic transmission (easy to catch the virus from someone who doesn't have a fever). This is why I think directly detecting the virus is essential.
8.
by pb 6y ago
It's a fully automated solution, like an airport kiosk or a subway turnstile. Maybe I need to make that more clear?
9.
by pb 6y ago
The saliva stays inside the tube for that very reason. The test specifically identifies the virus, not the antibodies, again for the reason you identify. Currently most public buildings are closed, so adding ten minutes is a big improvement
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by pb 6y ago
I'd love to hear more! Part of the reason I put this out is to encourage other people with technology for fast, easy, cheap testing come forward. Is your protein test able to detect as soon as people become contagious? That's wher
11.
by pb 6y ago
Exactly. More testing is good, but actually stopping pandemic will require orders of magnitude more testing, which in turn requires a different approach to testing because the current way we do testing can't scale.
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by pb 6y ago
Yes, he is the best I've found. This proposal is still at least an order of magnitude more testing though :) (on the order of 100 million tests/day, not 1 million tests/day)
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by pb 6y ago
No, I mean the door to the office building, shopping mall, or other place where groups of people gather and potentially transmit the virus.
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by pb 6y ago
That's why I think testing at the door is the more straightforward way to start. We can reopen factories, office buildings, even shopping malls, but no one gets in without passing the screen.
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by pb 6y ago
I have not found any mainstream sources that advocate screening everyone every day (which is very different from simply doing "more testing"). Would love some pointers if I'm wrong.
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by pb 6y ago
It's daily screening for exactly that reason. Is there something I should change to make that more clear?
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Showing the power of startup women’s health brands, P&G buys This is L (YC S15)(techcrunch.com)
67 points by pb 8y ago|26 comments
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by pb 8y ago
There is no comparison between the two. Martha Stewart was running a real business and made the mistake of talking to police without a lawyer -- that's very different from running a giant sham operation that defrauded many.
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by pb 8y ago
My guess is never. I can't imagine any company that would want her on their board.
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by pb 9y ago
Yes, we absolutely fund companies at the idea stage, and often companies will pivot mid-batch -- in fact, one of our fastest growing startups from last year did exactly that. One of the things I hear most often from our founders is that the
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by pb 9y ago
What's wrong with burgers? Expensive restaurants often have really good burgers.
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Y Combinator's quantum computing 'spaceshot' scores $64M from A16Z, others(bizjournals.com)
4 points by pb 9y ago|0 comments
23.
by pb 10y ago
I suspect the Waymo miles are not really comparable to the Cruise miles since Waymo seems to mainly test around Mountain View vs Cruise in SF.
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by pb 10y ago
VCs don't get to take their profits until after the company exits. If they invest at a high valuation and then it IPOs at some lower price, there is no gain and the VC gets zero carry.
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by pb 10y ago
That's a false dichotomy. Just because something doesn't end the way you would prefer doesn't mean that it ends fruitlessly. It is possible to enjoy and gain from the work even if the project or company isn't ultimately
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Welcome Aaron, Gustaf, Lyle, Immad and Marcus(ycblog.ycombinator.com)
67 points by pb 10y ago|10 comments
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by pb 10y ago
If I believed that Clinton was going to start World War III, and that Trump would stop it, then I would vote for Trump despite all of his nastiness. In reality, I believe Trump is much more likely to start WWIII, which is yet another reason
28.
by pb 10y ago
Again, if you had invested in the three companies that he calls out in that post (on the day he posted), you would have made good money. If you shorted the companies he was calling out, you would have lost big. So there is indeed signal in
29.
by pb 10y ago
Facebook sure seems to get lucky a lot :) I don't need to cherry pick because DHH only wrote about 1 company. Also, given that fb is now worth $370B, you could have invested in all four companies and still made a lot of money, which is
30.
by pb 10y ago
https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2585-facebook-is-not-worth-33...

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