skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
As someone who's been turned down 4 times from YC without getting to the interview stage, I'd say do reapply in 5 months. Don't fixate on it, definitely do stuff in the meantime, but I think you should treat it as just one more thing you can do to maximize the chance of success for your startup.

The big advantage of applying isn't so much that you'll get in (I've kinda given up hope of that happening unless a buyout is imminent, a la Fleaflicker, and at that point we wouldn't need them). It's that it gives you a regular point to check your progress and see how what you've done stacks up against what you said you'd do. My experience - with 3 consecutive application cycles - is that we're basically doing exactly what we said we'd do in the first application, just 60-80% slower than we anticipated. That's very useful data when we're planning future milestones.

It also gives you a chance to revisit your assumptions and make any necessary course corrections. For example, we had a founding-team issue that PG brought to our attention with the first application that we corrected between app 1 and app 2. Several of the competitors we were initially afraid of have not materialized. The market as a whole does not seem to be developing as quickly as we thought it would, though it does seem to be developing. That's very useful data when we're trying to budget finances and decide whether it's time to go for outside funding. We have the excuse to take another close look at our competitors and see what they're doing wrong and what they're doing right.

It's easy to go full steam ahead on coding and then miss fundamental changes in the environment that render all your coding useless. 6 months is just about the right period of time to revisit your assumptions and see if it's still worth doing. You should be doing this anyway as a business, but YC gives you an excuse and a deadline.
Food prices are skyrocketing. The financial system is melting down. Energy, of course, is more and more toxic, and costly.

These are the problems we're being challenged to solve? The first two appear to be random fluctuations-- possibly very bad ones, but due largely to speculation and chance. The third is something investors and founders are working on energetically right now.
Would you have answered this job ad?
Hey, don't knock the VB-- there's a goodly number of coders with serious programming juju (like Brianbec, for instance) who consider VB.NET to be their language of choice.

But I get your point.
Yeah, that is more of a "this is possible" thing :) In "real life" i use the same size screen, but with the right third consisting of an irc window, REPL, and terminal; and the other two-thirds 2 or 4 files of code.

Still cluttery, I guess... but I love it ;)
I'm sorry, but you've completely ignored the comment you're replying to to make an unsubstantiated point. Nostrademons pointed out current research that states clear demographics interested in advertising. Jakob Nielsen's research presents generalized findings that don't contradict the research Nostrademons is referring to.
AdultFriendFinder.com sold to Penthouse for a half billion dollars.
Bah. Getting rejected by YC is not the end of the world; and getting accepted by YC is no guarantee of success. At the end of the day, if you don't truly believe in your startup, then why are you doing it?
The Death of Television
Metacafe Founders Ditch, Reportedly Cash Out Their Shares For $5 Million
Paper: 3G iPhone smaller, lighter than existing model
There was actually a blog post making this argument a while back. I think it may have been submitted here, but I can't find it because news.yc only lets me see my last 180 saved stories. It goes through the numbers though and makes a pretty good case that getting "only" 2,000 subscribers is actually extremely difficult. (There was something vaguely similar submitted only a month or so ago, but the one I'm thinking of is from much longer back.)
So, who'd he hire with that?
Never take programming advice from a guy who still has books on 'BASIC computer games'.
McKinsey Surveys the New Software Landscape
Yes, but it's harder to use an entry in the OED to send real-time messages to your opium supplier on the outside, coordinate your escape attempt, rob a bank, or open security holes that will allow Russian mobsters to 0wn the paper dictionary and use it to send out ads for authentic-whalebone penis extensions.

(That would be a funny steampunk novel.)

But, yes, this is the guy I had in mind when I said that you have to consider the question on a case-by-case basis.
Subscribing to RSS Theory
People whose idea of a customer support program was an Emacs Lisp script.

http://bc.tech.coop/blog/060304.html
MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters (Updated for 2008)
"Everybody serious about doing software should make their own hardware." Steve Jobs

That might no longer be true as PPC died, but anybody serious about doing software should experiment Mac OS and the application ecosystem around it. What surprised me the most was the fit between the Apple market and some applications that have no equivalent in Windows/Unix. For me Scrivener was a dream I had.

There's a lot to be said, and it's really interesting to compare the platforms, but not in reply to a post of a smart guy who finds counterintuitive to install in Mac OS.

Hey Matt you don't have to live with applications that have 20+ buttons in the first 2 rows of the interface.

And I also think u can keep the controversy tone of your posts without being dumb. You were in a great path.
better than most of the random valuation speculations I read on Techcrunch

By any chance do you mean:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/damning_with_faint_praise
I'm not done with Fleaflicker yet. It's still my top priority. But yes, the thought has crossed my mind. Nothing more than that though.
I'd still disagree. Empirically, it seems that career success in programming happens to people who approach a technical problem in a novel way (eg - ZFS, gmail, Asterisk, off the top of my head). Communication is important, but it is secondary.

Of course, if your definition of career success is ascending through various ranks of management, I can see your point.
Hey, why is pretending to be an elf lousy? World of Warcraft is fun as hell if you have friends to play with.

It sure beats being a verbose Internet windbag who doesn't code.
It's certainly better than most of the random valuation speculations I read on Techcrunch.

Very, very debatable. A back-of-the-envelope estimate on Techcrunch only wastes your time once. This endless stream of eternally-updating back-of-the-envelope estimates threatens to waste your time over and over again, as Fake Steve laughingly points out.

The problem with these guesses is that they're dynamic, and the up-and-down movements in the guesses are essentially pure noise, which you are now being encouraged to inject directly into your brain. If tracking hourly movements of actual stock prices is a waste of time -- and it is -- than this is an even higher order of stupidity: It's a waste of a waste of time.
Yes. But their existence, and validity as traveling technique, are still to be proved.

The plant seed, or bacteria spore, analogy invalidates the claim that inter stellar travel is impossible for living bodies. Inter stellar travel is thus possible, even without energy source available on the way.

We also have to call back in question our assumptions on how a contact would happen and how the ET would look like.

The abduction data is on this aspect very interesting because no one could have predicted such a contact scenario. Note that I don't pretend it's true, but the thing is that there is a striking piece of evidence on this subject which out rules the theory of false memory. It is the Betty Hill star map that Joachim Koch recognized as to be our solar system. This interpretation makes much more sense than other interpretation for multiple reasons and the killing detail in it is that Betty has drawn in 1962 a ring around Jupiter and the ring was only discovered by Voyager 1 in 1979 !
Vertical ad networks: What are they, and why did Cox just buy Adify for $300MM?
Strangely enough, I know someone who got a PhD studying behavior on dating sites. She worked with a few dating sites and had access to their data. She also came up with clever ways to mine data from sites that didn't give her explicit permission. You're right in doubting the 10:1 ratio - it is more like 20:1 to 100:1 depending on what site you're on.
someone who is very rich now
YC has a problem. YC has money. Sounds like a business opportunity.

Somebody needs to implement a Questions Requiring Thought (QRT) system. There should be a way to note questions during the interview that would require a lot of thought before a smart answer could be given concisely. Interviewees would leave the interview, put their thoughts together, and make a concise video of their answer. YC could review these answers anytime. I bet for 1.2x the time they're spending now, YC could get 2x the information.
They F*!$ you at the DRM: MSN Music Abandons Users
Yes, and also healthy teeth and shirts made out of sustainable fibers.
Standing versus Sitting
"That is, when they're not too busy partying."

Stopped reading there, that is just stupid. So people are supposed to feel guilty because they party now?

My suggestion: stop breathing, that way you can save Co2 output of your country and aid the developing countries who will be the first victims of the climate change.

Sorry that I can't express my anger in a more sophisticated way. I just think contrasting world problems with party pics is an incredibly cheap shot.
good find.

was a seattle a big startup hub in the early 90's? What else was there besides MSFT in the tech sector?
Thanks for that suggestion - I will be sure to read it.

I wonder why the question received so little feedback :\

In any case, I will try that read and hopefully my questions regarding framework based apps will be addressed.
The quote on that post mentions pg as an Emacs users, but he's used vim for years.
Correct. The answer is to put your comments on a site that is easy and worthwhile to log in to. Like this one. :)
Ask YC: What is/are your favorite book(s)?
What is everyone reading these days besides web stuff? It would be great to put together a list specific to the HN community. Fee free to include non-programming books.
Probably not. Clearly, he has unrealistic expectations of success. Who would buy things on the internet?
I only say that because it seems few groups continue to build their product into something of quality after being rejected by YC and its sad. A prevailing view is if they cant be funded by YC, then there is no point in continuing.

Its almost as if YC could foresee this would happen with certain groups and it turns out true. Why does it seem all groups who are funded by YC continue to build something and all who are not, dont? I am exaggerating about the sharpness of that division but not by much.

It might often be because the idea is so early stage that it is easy for the founders to get derailed before following through with its execution. It might also be viewing YC as a requirement to be successful rather than one option.

You alone decide if you are willing to work until you bleed in order to build something great. So dont waste too much time thinking about things which could get in the way. I would really to see more founders pick themselves up after rejection and go on to release something stellar.
I'm sorry, I just don't follow you. In any major city there are scores of independent solo graphic design and engineering firms. There are also scores of indie firms who design, manufacture, and distribute products.

Built-to-flip startups are a special class of company who avoid most of the work of distribution, promotion, sales, and billing in favor of maximizing the investment value of their product. Again: if they thread the needle and sell that package to Cisco, they win. If they miss, they die.
If you really want to get fancy, check out these desks: http://www.biomorphdesk.com

You can get them with quiet motors that enable you to go from sitting to standing at the touch of a button.
I didn't misread the article. I disagree with it. While he mentions improving communication skills in the general sense, specifically the article seems to be about presentations and public speaking. I don't think this is the most important thing you can do to improve your career.

In fact, within the spectrum of interpersonal communications, you are probably better off learning how to schmooze on a personal level before you hone your presentation skills.
A good Ted Talk to look at concerning this is Bjorn Lomborg's talk on cost/benefit and global priorities:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62

It turns out there's a huge cost/benefit ratio to solving things like access to clean water, malnutrition, and disease. The cost of tackling problems like this is just a fraction of doing things like adopting the Kyoto protocol, and the potential for increasing the economic potential of many countries is very high.
perhaps you should try the online demo:
http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/demo_admin
and read this:
http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/examples/static/web2py_vs_others.p...
The thing here is that big, immediate and obvious problems are almost never solved in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley is good at two things:
1) Solving small problems
2) Solving big, lingering problems that most people don't even realize are problems.

I work for a medical device startup that is hard at work trying to solve big, immediate and obvious problems (heart failure, hypertension) that kill millions of people a year. We're in Atlanta, not SV. Other medical device companies are in Boston, L.A., or even Minneapolis. None of them are in SV. I wonder why.

SV really only does three startup industries well: Software, Computer Hardware, and Green tech. And even the third is pushing it. If you're looking for innovation outside of those three areas, you should look outside of Silicon Valley.
I hate to plug, but I will plug nevertheless:
http://cadmium.avecora.com/

My micro-startup for targeted advertising on Facebook, but easily scalable to other social networks.

Unfortunately, it hasn't been getting the attention that I would desire, but nonetheless, there it is. :/
Probably not (much to my regret). The only distinguishing factor is Bezos' name, and that is obvious only in retrospect. I see too many ads like this everyday for any one to stand out. Anyway, I'm going to console myself by saying I would've replied and seen them in person, and immediately realized they were onto something huge, blah blah blah
I was thinking "sweet" and then I saw the name and started laughing.
I saved myself the trouble this time around of applying and I found it to be a liberating experience.

Filling out the YC form, eding it over and over again, getting excited, waiting for decisions on who they are going to interview, then the let down of not getting to the interview stage is too much for me, a nearly paralyzing distraction to serious endeavors.
Except for the fact that one of Atwood's articles is on Hacker News at least once a week. So, who is submitting these articles?

Atwood definitely does write about simple ideas, though. His blog is packaged to be consumed for programmers of all skill levels. As a result, it's often a little bit mundane for those with higher levels of knowledge.
Compare:
"You must have experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think possible. You should have a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or the equivalent."

with:
"Requirements: BS or MS in Computer Science or equivalent (PhD a plus). Several years of software development experience. Extensive experience programming in C++ and/or Java. Enthusiasm for solving interesting problems. Experience with Unix/Linux or Windows environments, C++ development, distributed systems, machine learning, information retrieval, network programming and/or developing large software systems a plus."

The first is from Amazon, the latter is from Google.

Great companies grow where top-notch engineers meet exciting market meet confident coworkers with high expectations. :-)
It sounds like despite their founder-status, they were largely removed from positions of responsibility within the company. They were disagreeing with the decisions being made, weren't meshing well with the new management, and had fully-earned the value of their equity in the company.

So what's wrong with them leaving? It seems like it's better for everyone. If the new management is right about the strategy being implemented, they'll do better without dissension from the founders. And the founders are now free to put their talents to use on new projects, where they aren't restrained.

pg: Do you know anyone at Benchmark Capital or Accel Partners who might comment on this? I'm curious to know how VCs feel about this situation in particular, and in general on what are/aren't legitimate times/reasons for founders to leave a company.
BASIC Computer games are cool, but "Moving to VB.NET"???
I hate to say this, but I'm also in a rush to start a/some startup/s.

Some have the following ideology with relation to startups: you snooze, you lose.

The fastest products to the market are not always the best, but they are what they are: the first products to the market.

Search for a HN post made the other day about your 1.0 and what features you should launch, and timing launches. Very insightful. Edit: here it is. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=175249

For now, I'm staying undecided on this, and I'm going to see if there's a moment where I just say - Let's make this 1.0. Maybe that will be the right time. And yes, I realize that start != launch, but they're all the same idea.
Yes, but Knuth, jwz and many other famous people are Emacs users.
What you're objecting to is a straw man. No one is requesting that you should become a monk. But maybe just a little more energy and resources directed towards global problems might be a more balanced position.

There is even money to be earned in doing so. (The Grameen Bank is a good example. So is Dean Kamen's new distiller.)

See Bjorn Lomborg's Ted Talk on cost/benefit in solving global problems!

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/62

And lastly, as Abbie Hoffman used to say: if someone ever says something to get your goat, they struck gold!
Private Equity Valuation: How-To
How to spend 12 productive hours as blogger
Am here talking about my self,which i think fit with most of you,because i got this schedule arrangement, based on what most of bloggers talked about,and recommended.
Don't agree, That book is from 1978. I am personally very proud of some decades old BASIC books, although I would be more worry about the "more BASIC computer games" :).
In any case, nowadays before buying a book you have many options to know in advance if that book is good enough, I recheck every book I buy, actually have lots of them and only a few were bad.

Computer book fan
Guy Kawasaki's books are great.

I actually own 0 programming books and a bunch of books on business and entrepreneurship. As my good friend @dangrover says - sometimes the books are crap, but they motivate you to build stuff. And some of them might be great.
He was obviously looking for the right people for the right OS and programming languages at that time for highly scalable communication systems. Would be interesting to compare that with job offers of competitors of that time (who were those, btw?).
Am I the only one that thinks this will kind of suck?

Smaller and lighter != better. I'd actually prefer the current weight and size of the iPhone becuase its heaviness makes it nice to hold, and it is a great size.

:/
Breaking into Xing territory!

A good move.
That does seem consistent with what I've seen, though I hadn't consciously realized it.

I still have trouble seeing how this philosophy can work for something like Word or even Firefox, where the content reorganizes itself to fit the window - I could swear Macs don't always make a window full-screen in these scenarios. And you can still move a "maximized" window, which is also annoying.

I'll keep this in mind next time and see if it helps me.
Seth's Blog: Signal to noise
The emotional pulse of twitter
Twistori: A Twitter Zeitgeist Social Experiment
I actually believe that there is a "rush" from the market opportunity standpoint, which explains why I am spending time on YCNews to learn about the ongoing activities from a younger generation of entrepreneurs (even though I myself am much older than a typical YC applicant). I have been writing about the two corner stones of this unfolding trend, "narrowcasting" which is the ability to profitably distribute customized products and services to a small population of customers, and "entre-sumers" which is the perfect union between the creator and the consumer of technology.

My personal opinion is that for the younger generation of entrepreneurs, there is no better time to start startups than now.

http://gigaom.com/?s=denny+miu
Also see:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=85840

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=56618

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=156137

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45082

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41532

There are also many threads regarding books on specific topics(machine learning, parenting(as hackers), AI, etc.). You can check http://searchyc.com/ to find them.
Coupled with an Aeron, this makes the perfect investment of your VC money for the entire team!
just from browsing the apple store I've noticed that the amount of games available on the mac has increased to a decent number.
Amazon enables this to a certain extent already:

http://www.amazon.com/E-Commerce-Service-AWS-home-page/b?ie=...
Google is doing mail!?>!?!1?!111!!!
emerge world!
Definitely. I'm working through TAOCP, and the exercises in that book are incredibly useful in stretching your brain in ways that day-to-day coding simply will not.

That said, I think the reason that I enjoy Knuth so much is that he is a mathematician; admittedly, I'm biased, as my formal education background is rooted in mathematics as well. The nice thing about this is that Knuth not only knows what he is talking about, but that he doesn't tend to skip fundamental steps. Nor does he play the notation games that are so often found in computer science texts.

Speaking of 'notation games', why do they use 'equals' for 'set inclusive'?

So, yes, to learn how to program in language X, the Internet is probably a better resource than the average book. But to learn how to program well, a proper bookshelf is invaluable.
i keep thinking you're richard stallman ;-) .. was the username intended as such?
Has anyone considered that gaming has made it's way to the mainstream about the same time Apple has? Seems like the two met halfway...
That's pretty neat. $1295 is a bit steep for me though.

I'm pretty happy with my current desk. The top is just a 68"x30" (or so) wood piece from Ikea, with legs from Ikea as well. It's very sturdy. And, while it's not beautiful like the Amish desk, it does possess its own spare elegance.

It has no drawers or shelves or anything fancy like that. For storage I've just stuck a couple mobile file cabinets underneath.

Instead of using a keyboard tray I just put my keyboard in my lap, which actually is very comfortable and leaves me space in front of my monitor so that I can sketch ideas.

The total was around $200. It's not a stand up table but I think it would be fairly easy to just get some new legs and bolt them on.
Free US ZIP Code Database as CSV
If anything the ad could discourage some because, not knowing any better, it may have looked like Bezos was one of those people who thinks you can make a late project finish sooner by working sweatshop hours (3x more hours to finish in 1/3 the time).

Everyone asks for "communication skills" and everyone says they're the best and that their shit doesn't stink, too.
How to Plan Software like a Pro