skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I am solo founder who a year & half ago started up. I hired a developer in India to do the back-end, while I did/do the front end (US).

As for motivation.. the recognition received is a huge motivator; submit your work to contests, tech events/presentations and what not. Also, I attend weekly/monthly tech networking events and hear positivity in regards to my work. That does not mean I hear HOORAY from everyone, but I retain the positive and let that drive me. The negative I think should be listened to, especially when it's constructive!

In regards to funding I did hear a few times, "we don't fund solo startuppers," but perseverance pays and Im honored that I have angels backing my work now! It took 17 months to get to this point! Although I did focus more on development and less on seeking funding, so 17 months maybe a long time?

Im looking now for a LAMP developer in PA, NJ, MD area and so far that has been challenging! Email me at paul9290 <at> yahoo.com if you interested in learning more about the position (include links to you work).

Good luck and don't let the solo founder thing stop you from starting up! It has changed my life for the better!
Hire people with laptops and you don't need to buy a lot of computers. Build a bigger office network when you have the money coming in to buy machines.
Python would be another example. It's compiled into bytecode. It could conceivably be compiled into x86 machine code on-the-fly (think Psyco). It's just hard to do, but for the same reasons a static Python compiler to assembly would be hard to do; the REPL is not making things much harder here.
"I stop 'hearing' it and becomes the background."

Like what snoopy does in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_wOXkZ6OSw

:)
Everybody is developing on Facebook while I secretly develope for ning.
Hello everyone, I am a huge fan of this site, I make a habit of visiting 2-3 times a day.
I respect each and everyone of you, Some times when I read your posts I feel your joys and pains as we all in the same boat here.

I am the founder of 2 sites, one launched 6 months ago (made many many mistake) and I am getting ready to launch my new baby in a month or so.

ok, thats just an introduction.

the reason I am here is to simply share the fact that I have started a side project to develop for the ning platform, I only know one other company that is developing exclusively for Ning (not saying there isnt more).
anyway, the reason I am posting this is to see if anybody else is secretly hacking away on apps for ning??

Just a quick note, We are developing apps that the network creator can install on their whole networks, so its really more than a user "widget" if you will.
Thanks
Good lord, I cant spell to save my life!
I meant just blogging my experience working through it.
Sydney, Australia has had Beer 2.0 for about a year and before that Dinner 2.0

But any time to talk startup over berr is cool
The example I gave was based on conversation started revolving around tech.However, the stuff people buy in Walmart made in China with cheap labor would apply. When people vote for labor laws that make a product expensive to manufacture then go buy one made in a country where they don't follow the same laws, they are not being true to their stated values in my opinion. Even if unintentionally.
They provide more "value" because they are as good, but work in countries that don't have the same laws and also have a lower cost of living.

The basic argument is one of our own consumer practices. Not weather others do a good job.
Who's prejudice? All I said is consumers are setting a double standard. The people complaining about jobs leaving the country are helping them leave.
Flamebait.
Twitpitch: The Elevator Pitch Hits Twitter
The End of the Internet?
Best recommendations I have seen yet. There are a number of ways to reduce stress level (exercise among them) but keeping stress low was extremely beneficial for me. In fact I suspect if you were to track my stress levels and body fat % over the last 10 years you'd find a pretty strong correlation.
Some great responses. Thanks

My line of thinking was more from the point of view of "fixing things that are broken" as a way to create interesting products.

For example, Youtube was fixing the lack of an easy way to share video online.
Since there isn't a free lunch, randomness wins in the end.
Here was my plan: http://www.datawrangling.com/hidden-video-courses-in-math-sc...

Watched videos on the archos while doing cardio at the gym...Add regular weightlifting where the weight increases over time (just find a program you like from one of the usual muscle mags from the newstands)... and be sure to do cardio with alternating sprints/jogs along with watching your diet. If you are new to lifting, or haven't much before then take it slow and make sure you use good form to avoid injury.
Eat, drink, exercise and sleep correctly. Have a routine. These will help a lot.
anything but sourceforge
Of course, one should not use such research as an excuse to eliminate choices (as many political types believe). All you need to do is hide the other choices.

A great example of this is the choice of "Desktop or server?"

http://www.ubuntu.com/

In fact, that's barely even a choice. But if you want to choose between other options, you can (at the cost of an extra click):

http://www.ubuntu.com/products/

In my view, this is the proper way to deal with too many choices.
I have somewhat negative motivation. I just realized that most of moderately rich people is not anyhow better than me. They're just people like me, frequently even less prepared to manage the companies they have.

Of course, there's still luck involved. As Seneca says, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity".
Self-funded.

How do you keep yourself motivated? I love what I am doing and believe in its potential for success. It's that simple. Of course, there are ups and downs, but that seems more along the lines of the other thread.

Why do you guys believe that this is the right way to go? I think it is very case by case. In this case, I'm lucky to be able to self-fund this stage. And I'm not ruling out investment later on if there is a defined plan I want to pursue that calls for it. At this stage, I don't need outside funding and I can accomplish the rapid prototyping piece myself at a relatively fast pace. I wouldn't have been opposed to a co-founder, but I didn't have the right one at the time, and so I moved on it myself.
but arent they making money?
Actually, they interface somehow with Lighthouse, a separate service, for bugs. http://www.lighthouseapp.com/
do not spend on people who dont understand customers
I was replying to the title. And anyway, if people were being racist you wouldn't say "look, a double standard" you'd say "look, racists". Somehow this kind of prejudice is more legitimate.
IE6 is still a significant %, and in most cases will be the second biggest browser for a Web site. In one large random sample on one of my sites, IE is 90% and IE6 is 45% of those.
I dont understand what you mean.

Already VOIP is cost effective, and already you can make cheaper phone calls from a landlines/mobile through VOIP biapassing the normal cost.
I. B. M., Watson men, partners of T. J.

In his service to mankind -- that’s why we are so gay. Hey!
Good to see you back, epiOBauqu, you were away for awhile.
Why do you guys believe that this is the right way to go?

Because it's the only way I can envision living fully. Answering only to myself. That is energizing enough.
Thanks. Yeah, I didn't visit the site much for 6 months or so.
Very true. It's called geographical or regulatory arbitrage.

Things like high cost of health insurance, car insurance, etc., are all results of laws and regulations, but add to the employer's bottom line.
That would make a great PostSecret card.
Skype is huge throughout Europe. US, yes barely exists.
for me: start programing in the morning and don't check my email or any "leisure" websites (like hacker news) until after lunch. I've found that I only have about 5 hours of hard-core coding in me in a day, so I try to use that up in one block in the morning and work on non-coding B.S. afterwards...

I agree with pg: coding is like writing. I use the same strategies trying to stay productive as a coder that I did fighting writer's block while working as a technical writer...

managing a running server, on the other hand, is not like writing...

it's a %$#%ing nightmare ;-)
practicing a musical instrument also helps, similar to running...
How Big Is Google? (Estimates advertising income at almost twice Time Warner)
Surely spoken by someone without back problems caused by sitting in bad, cheap, chairs.

Another vote for Herman Miller chairs, by the way. I've tried Humanscale and Knoll, but find that I don't like them and keep coming back to the Aeron and the Mirra. Great chairs, very supportive and comfortable.
> provide more value

Like forgoing health care, worker protections, basic sanitation, you know -- having a very low standard of living.

When standard of living starts to rise in one country (or in the relevant segment of it), it risks losing those same jobs to offshoring itself. E.g. India -> Vietnam.
Well, funding is its own issue. On one of my previous startups, we wanted to look at funding, but basically found that without connections and revenue in boston, the number of team members didn't make much difference. The amount we would have looked for fit right in with pg's missing funding niche article.

Keeping motivated has never been a problem for me, since this is what I like doing to a scary extent. The bigger problem is staying off HN.

Pros:

-No founder disagreements (what killed my last startup).

-No founders aren't carrying their weight

-No politics

-No debating decisions (this was endless in a previous startup)

-No differing visions
They must be investing in some enormous infrastructure. Server farms, international markets, maybe Akamai.

But in general, it's not uncommon for companies that raise a lot of capital for rapid growth to not be profitable. Back in AOL's heyday, they had huge revenue growth, but they were reinvesting it in customer acquisition so fast that they never started to make money until their growth slowed down. This also happened in the retail boom in the 80s with companies like Home Depot and Staples. They kept building out more stores, which cost them more money than they were making.

Having said all that, I really fail to understand valuing Ning at half a billion dollars. It seems like a useful thing, but only an incremental improvement over, say, Yahoo Groups.
EBay is having trouble with their core operations. Whether Skype is profitable or not (I assume they are), since it has nothing to do with their core auctions business, EBay wants to get rid of it to focus on more important issues.
I do it solo, I've no funding.

My base is this : I limit my investments to limit my break-even point. Currently, I need about 1500€/mo of income to break even. I'm not shooting for a 5x like VC's do. My next investment will probably be in graphic design because I've got an ugliness problem.

But the motivation is clear : I don't want a boss to feed me anymore, I live in a tiny town where (interesting) IT work doesn't exists, going back to the big town far from the beach is a last resort option.

Why I don't recruit a team : I'm not a team player, and we will spend most of the time dealing with my behavior and I'll get singled out in a short time.
> Surely spoken by someone without back problems caused by sitting in bad, cheap, chairs.

Allow me to recommend the humble Pilates/gym ball. Comfortable, fun to bounce around on while thinking, and does wonders for your back. Plus, at £7 from your nearest Tesco, the price point is most definitely startup-compatible :)
> Why are Americans more deserving of a given job, just because they are American

Why do CEOs deserve to pocket the difference, increasing the divide between rich and poor and eroding what's left of the middle class? If one human is as deserving as another then you shouldn't mind when I redistribute your ill-gotten wealth to myself.

"Deserving" is a red herring. People "deserve" to be happy and the whole nine yards.

There are practical reasons why you would want to keep up the economic infrastructure around the area where you live. The standard of living you enjoy depends on the standard of living of people around you. The majority of crimes are crimes of poverty. When other people are desperate and you're well-to-do you become a target.
Excellent advice. The smartest mathematicians and physicists often invent their own funny little diagrams for doing calculations---it's a real pity these usually don't make it into print. An obvious exception is Feynman diagrams.

I can't locate The Spellbook by Serge Lang. Can you give me a link?
EVERY country does this. Lets not pretend that it's just evil America.
what's the algorithm? how do you select the items that appear on the frontpage? or is just a matter of selecting updates from tech elites from the like of techcrunch / pmarca?
No, it's the combination of value vs. cost, not just "better value". So what you should also be considering is lowering your acceptable wage since value you can provide probably isn't infinite.
I assume he's talking about the first of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Serge-Lang/dp/038795385X/

http://www.amazon.com/Undergraduate-Algebra-Texts-Mathematic...

Michael Artin's book is also a decent text aimed mostly at undergraduates:

http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Michael-Artin/dp/0130047635/
I agree with what you're saying in here, although I think you say it here better than in the blog post.
Freedom's Choice
Worlds ten biggest media conglomorates
Yahoo! BrowserPlus: The rumour is true
You also tend to overstate countries' ability to control cost of living expenses. I don't think that I can agree with the conclusion that outsourcing has occurred primarily because of the laws in the US... I mean, really?

Take a look at the economic principal of dividing labor up by who can do each task best and how that helps everyone overall.
192 wrongs makes a right?
With the lavish resources they can throw at any project, it seems hardly appropriate for us to try to develop like them.
More of a situation where they know that other companies could make a lot more money with skype, so why not sell skype to them and make a bigger profit than ebay could by holding onto skype?

It's all money.
Should all developers have multi-core CPUs?
touche - but not the lower level analysts who worked 100 hours a week at essentially McDonald's manager wages (100k per year divided by 50 weeks divided by 100 hours per week = $20 per hour), staring at TPS reports, pitchbooks and never ending excel schedules.

which unfortunately would be my level.
can't ;-)
Understanding the world lets you make a better solution.
A second for Hungerford. Lang's Algebra is a horrible book. It was the course book in grad school but we all studied from Hungerford. Hungerford is very detailed with lots of proofs and examples. Jacobson's Basic Algebra I & II is also very good but very sparse. I learned more from Jacobson but Hungerford is a great reference.
107 ls
99 cd
43 python
33 less
22 sudo
20 port
18 make
16 screen
15 ll
13 vi
Ask YC: Try our Local Chat Demo at Startup School
We have an alpha version of our new app up at http://www.imoverhere.net.

I thought that Startup School would be a great opportunity to test it, since we'll have hundreds of people in the same place talking about the same thing. Put your map marker on Kresge Auditorium at Stanford if you want to talk about Startup School.

I want to stress that this is an early, limited-time alpha version. It is not feature-complete, and it may fall flat on its face, but we couldn't miss this opportunity to get feedback from hundreds of smart people. We'll close down after this weekend and hopefully have a much better beta to launch in a couple of months.

Thanks for your help.
I lost about 40 pounds two years ago. Here was my method for doing it: http://uncledirtae.com/blog/archives/2006/02/08/how_to_lose_...

I think a big part of losing weight (and keeping it off) is changing your routines. Thus, if you want to lose weight, you might also try changing other aspects of your life at the same time (e.g., moving to a new city or starting a new job).
That's a blanket statement and isn't always true. The media loves to proliferate facts like "these workers only make <insert seemingly low wage here>" without adding content such as the purchasing power of such a wage.

I agree with your second statement.
gogo xenophobia
The competition:

irc.freenode.net #startups
195

http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/numbercountries.ht...

and to the other guy: I didn't mean to blame America in particular, i actually think America tends to be less prejudiced
Your bots don't want to talk to me...

tried aim+gchat.
This is exactly the problem my startup is trying to solve. We hope to be launching soon.

The whole idea is that there should be an easy way for people to provide ideas to companies, and there should be an easy way for companies to manage all the ideas.

whisperlabs.com
Did you like Artin?

My first-year class in field & Galois theory started with the Artin text, and by mid-semester I started daydreaming about ripping out random pages and mailing them to the author.

But I don't like colloquial exposition, so YMMV.
Start training for an Ironman.
(Damn!! And I'm not even registered!)
European Startup news round-up
I did my first startup as a solo founder and began to flag after 6 months. Luckily I identified a good partner right around that time--a sales guy to match my tech skills. I doubt the company would have gotten off the ground had I continued alone.
OK, so let's say Yanik has no costs at all -- he gets to take that entire $300,000 and put it right in his own pocket. Maybe lumber and concrete just fall out of the sky for him, and people work for him free because he's such a nice guy who'll help you with his stereo.

But Yanik is selling his time, he's getting $300k for the time it takes him to manage a building's construction. Stein says he's "well on his way to being in the top 1 percent and, after that, the top one-tenth of 1 percent." Absolutely false.

Let's say Yanik can put up not one but three $300k buildings a year, because he's so talented. Great, he'll be a billionaire in just 1,111 years.

The wealthiest 1% of America isn't just a little ahead of the rest of us; as Stein correctly notes they're hugely ahead. It doesn't happen by trying harder at your job but by redefining the work, putting capital to work for you instead of going to work yourself.
You can certainly recycle incorporation papers, etc. You can also bear the brunt of the legal problems that may arise if those documents are defective.

I think one really has to understand the legal implications of forming a corporation (what you can and cannot do, what you will and will not be liable for) before one can accurately assess the necessity of having a lawyer handle that task. Lawyers don't make money filing papers; they make money suing people who screwed up the paperwork.
I don't see 1 thing I would have missed if I never stumbled on this article. This guy is so far from being rich it just pity looking at guys making fun of themselves.
or http://www.chatterous.com/landing/ss08/ss08/
I used the conservative number. There are 192 in the UN.
Live video from startup school
I stopped being able to spell after a few years using spell-checkers. Since Firefox started incorporating one, it has become even worse.

In second grade I won a school-wide spelling bee. Today I can't even fire off a proper angry comment on a message board without a spell-checker.
Liking Skype and Skype being profitable on the scale neccessary to justify its acquisition price are two different venues.

The goal of skype was to empower the eBay users and drive more users to eBays core auction business. It never materialized. The probelm is that VoIP services have a tendency to try and compete by being free or near free. It's not that there is no cost associated with the technology, but that's the easiest, least creative way to pull customers.

VoIP is evolutionary not revolutionary. They treated it as something revolutionary and made a messy business acquisition that was far outside their realm of expertise.
Only if you want to include thirteen-year-olds in Finland in your conversation. The whole point of local chat is that it's local. If you have a good chat, you can pick up your laptop, walk a few feet, and have a real conversation.

This might not be the best implementation of the idea, but it's a start. Imagine a coffee shop with a chat room just for that coffee shop. You could post an away message of what you're reading, and if someone was interested they'd send you a message. You could meet one or two people every single time you went there. Technology would finally bring people together instead of driving them apart.

Or imagine if your neighborhood had a chat room or bulletin board. I don't know any of the other people in my neighborhood. It would be great if I could let them know when we are cooking, so they could come and hang out and have a bite with me and my roommates. However, how do I find them? Where can I post that information where 15-year-old Singaporans aren't also in the conversation? I want to communicate only with a narrow, local subset of humanity here.

The only people today that are doing local social software are Craigslist and dating sites. Both of them bring real people together in real life. However, there is room for more applications in the space.
Is the whole event going to be live on justin.tv??
Yes, the whole thing.

It will also be archived, so you can watch it later if you want to.
Good description of cool applications of the idea, but as a 32 year old in Austria, I'd still be curious to follow the chat at the startup school, so I think IRC would make perfect sense.
True, it might not be the best application for this occasion. However, chat and local chat are not always substitutes for each other.

If someone wanted to see who wanted to join him for a bite to eat at a break, local chat would be much better than IRC, for example.
which is easier to remember: 483960572194022 or imadude7347?
How do you get paid for someone using your ning app?
"method_missing" - do you know about '__getattr__' for Python? (can be a one liner if you want...)

"oh-so-thread-safe-code for an interpreter that serializes around a global interpreter lock" - so Ruby's threading is better??
Luckily as the thing is choppy as hell right now.
Maybe the emotions come for a purpose. I think they try to wake you up into realizing that you're not a 100% efficient coding/working machine and if you expect yourself to go to work and then work on your business (as I understood by your reference to "your spare hours" and to "(emotional) problems"), you're trapped by your own expectations. Maybe doing the emotion track for at least a couple of days a week would be a good thing.

I sometimes don't get anything done, sometimes I get so much done. I've myself just learned to not expect much when I'm not in the flow and lacking the motivation and gut feeling to actually do the work I want to do. Things come, things go -- maybe I'll learn the following day that what I tried to do was eventually not needed. Or the following day might bring me the energy to start working on it, if it's the right thing to do at the time. If I tried to just execute through every single day, I'd be saturated with frustration by now.
> But chair brands don't matter to me.

Surely spoken by someone who has never sat in an Aeron...
the same way you get paid for someone using your facebook app
What separates the boys from the men is:

Take a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), Break it
up into small reusable pieces and accomplish over
a long period of time making measurable progress every
day. Easier said than done.