thomasptacek

6 ms·

1.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Advice? I bet you $10 she will not say ``No''. You'll even get ``buying signals''. If I were you, and I wanted to learn more than I wanted to sell? Ask ``why would you want to invest in my company'' and pressure her for a real answer. Sale
2.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
You're not a bootstrapper. You're trying to get VC. You're an aspiring VC-funded startup.
3.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Three comments. (1) Reads like "case-in-point" for Norvig's argument that the GoF patterns are artifacts of less expressive languages. Most of these examples battle clearer, more effective idiomatic alternatives in Ruby. (2) Yet another mi
4.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
With an inherently smaller addressable population of users ("all businesspeople", as opposed to "all people, and any cartoon characters they like"), LinkedIn probably needs to be more aggressive about capturing some of the value third-party
5.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Sorry, my fault for being incoherent. Look for the word "coup" in "Submarine". Viaweb injected a factoid into the, uh, press-o-sphere. Reporters love new factoids. What I see work, over and over again, is companies manufacturing surveys or
6.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Again amusing that people disagree, and think that a questionairre which allows for "WhatSpace? WhoBook?" should advertise algorithm selection on a splash page.
7.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
It's amusing that anyone would disagree with this.
8.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Schwartz. Perfect example. The government-issued PR firm for Boston companies. Competed with 2 companies simultaneously repped by them. Saw, maybe, 5? trade press hits between the two of them. We didn't do much better, because we were also
9.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Too many questions, and why on earth do your users care that you use SIMULATED ANNEALING? I've actually used SIMULATED ANNEALING (for graph layout) and I don't even care.
10.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
There's a nationally syndicated radio show about your product? That's awesome.
11.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Slashdot is a PR venue.
12.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Have you ever worked with a PR firm that was actually worth the money? I've worked directly with 4 in the past and got fuck-all from it, but we're handling our own press now and kicking ass.
13.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
If he stopped doing it after the rejection, then the criticism is hugely valid.
14.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
If, holding talent constant, a developer costs $100k in the bay and $65k in Ann Arbor, Michigan, then Ann Arbor startups have a pronounced recruitment advantage. That's all I'm saying. The conventional wisdom is, "go to the Bay Area, it'll
15.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
I understand, and am not arguing with you. Whatever you want to call them, that "second round of folks before later" is harder to hire than the founders. They're employees, not principals, and you can't bullshit them.
16.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
I think you should ask questions of the conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom says one of the reasons to move a company to the Bay Area is that it's easier to hire developers. You should question whether that's really true. I gave so
17.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
You're making a lot of sense; I'm just saying, my experience was that it was harder to hire in the Bay Area than it has been for me to hire in NYC or Chicago, where I hire now. It's also obvious that developers are more expensive to hire a
18.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
This is really cool, thanks. I had no idea about Windylabs and ChicagoBeta. Unfortunately, it looks like ChicagoBeta has flatlined since early summer. Any other pointers like this? Isn't this the problem Facebook is supposed to solve? =)
19.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Just to reiterate, an idea that goes from 100% to 25% based solely on Paul Graham is not a good idea. To restate the original point: I feel like some of the people on this forum approach starting a business the same way they approach applyi
20.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
"We know because we make people move for Y Combinator, and it doesn't seem to be a problem. The advantage of being able to work together face to face for three months outweighs the inconvenience of moving. Ask anyone who's done it." Hello,
21.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
By the way, you didn't say they WOULD give up their dreams. You said they SHOULD. Thank you for introducing the idea of BATNA to the discussion.
22.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
I am utterly skeeved out that there are people in this forum who think their "chances of pursuing their dream [startup]" are lessened by not getting "funded" by YC, and that their "chances of success" with that startup are significantly red
23.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
My perception, from experience, is that it's actually harder to hire in the Bay Area than, well, anywhere else. Anyone with a modicum of talent that you interview in Sunnyvale can pull a $130k/yr job out of their back pocket, and the BigCo
24.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
It really freaks me out that there are people on this board who think the BATNA for a founder in the YC negotiation is "give up on their dream".
25.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
If the preponderance of evidence is that her defense lied in court, $9,250 sounds low.
26.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
Not really. First, they have very little to gain from keeping .NET closed: there are strong open-source replacement projects for the "proprietary" framework classes, and .NET assemblies don't really protect source code, even when obfuscated
27.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
No it's not. Reading CIL code in the Reflector is often better than reading it in Visual Studio: the Reflector is an amazing little tool with one of the best integrated cross-referencers I've used. I'm guessing you've never actually used it
28.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
A QOS router (1997 called, wants its etc etc etc) with 2 research network customers (estimated recognized revenue from both deals: -$20,000, including services), and a dark fiber startup. Revolutionary. There's a strong response to this sta
29.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
No, the original post called them criminal. Which is an asinine argument.
30.
by thomasptacek 19y ago
It is your phone after you pay for it. But if you want it to work, using Apple's software, you have to abide by their license terms. They weren't secretive about them.

More ›