skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
1. When I first logged on to facebook, it asked me something about my email contacts. I just said ok. Next thing I know all these random high school classmates who I have no interest in ever seeing ever again become my "friends". All I want is to have an easy way to cut them out of my life without pissing them off. I'm talking about a way of getting rid of "friends" without insulting them...perhaps they could stop seeing the updates to your profile. However, I don't mind the loss of privacy as much as having these spammy "friends" clogging my profile and showing up all over the interface...

2. I do watch. I watch Internet TV but not regular TV, mostly because it means I can watch any chapter of futurama I want whenever I want. I see two banner ads that probably slow me down 1 second 10% of the time---this is infinitely preferable to trudging through eight minutes of ads for every twenty-two of content. I watch stuff at tv-links.co.uk. Of course, I wish I didn't watch Internet TV at all because I think watching TV is bad in principle.

3. news.yc is just fine.
Meat Space Still Matters In A Web 2.0 World
...For instance, the VC firm Y Combinator requires recipients of its seed money to move to either Cambridge, Mass., or Mountain View, Calif., for three months. And not because Y Combinator provides office or living space (it doesn't)....
In the light, but when it's dark outside. When it's dark inside, the brightness from the monitor gives me a headache.
Disqus (owned by a YC company) to launch new commenting features
Disqus is going to launch two features to help blog readers track the most interesting comments on a blog or other web site.

Forum and blogging software has been around for many years, but there's still no easy way to find the best comments within a web site or from across web sites.
I'm one of the guys at Tandem and am glad to see the discussion here. As some posts have pointed out, we explain our approach in detail on our site: http://www.tandementrepreneurs.com. To clarify things a bit more...

1.	We're not a VC. We're all entrepreneurs and love building businesses. We put in our sweat first and foremost and happen to invest sufficient capital as well. We only invest our time and money where we can add value.

2.	We offer deep business development and technical skills and an extensive network. We work as the extended team so the startup can stay small but still have the right quality and quantity of talent.

3.	We love the YC approach of supporting entrepreneurs and drew inspiration from their model. That being said, there are some key differences. Namely, we get actively involved in each business. We invest funds to carry the company for two years to a potential exit or to a high growth trajectory. And, like YC, we leave open the possibility of a small, early acquisition as exit. As we all know, this is a likely outcome these days, even though the VCs don't like them.

4.	Because of our involvement we can get involved with founders whose plans are still nascent, and sometimes we'll help put founders together on a business. To us the entrepreneurs are more important than the idea itself.

5.	We typically look for technical founders who have a knack for understanding what their users want and then delivering it quickly. We don't encourage outsourcing development unless it's just for commodity components of the overall service.

6.	We don't consider anyone a "reject" because a fund passed them by. We'll evaluate each team and business on its own merits and go for it if we like the people, think we can add a lot of value, and believe we can build a valuable business together. Obviously, each group of founders has to decide the same on its side.

7.	Tandem is brand new, but we have a lot of experience at building startups. We've made two investments thus far and with three principals only plan to do about 6 per year. In many ways, Tandem is a startup itself in that we're breaking the traditional model, having a blast, taking encouragement and support with open arms, and proceeding full steam ahead regardless of what certain "established" parties in venture finance say.

8.	We are happy to entertain folks that have gone through the YC process as well as those that are entering it. In fact, we're attending the YC demo day next week.

Best of luck in building your own startups, and we'd love to hear what you think about Tandem. Feel free to contact us if we can help.
Hmm... actually you can probably do precisely that.
Passion is emotional/hormonal and therefore age is a major factor. People do crazy, irrational things when they're younger, just to entertain their buddies.
DHA and EPA from marine algae instead of fish are available now (google it). Algae is where the fish get it anyway.
Your new business model sounds interesting. I went to your website and noticed the many disclaimers about using email to get in touch with you. What is the best way to make contact with you? (I'm a cofounder of streamfocus.com)
Leaving open the option of an early acquisition is a difference from YC?
I used to think darkness, but it turned out that quiet was the active ingredient in darkness.
10 Secrets of a Happy Marriage
How to Disagree and Persuade Without Offending
Great questions!

1) No, I do not find Facebook relationships meaningful. I got sick of FB after I hit about 200 "friends". I ended up getting a ton of notifications & spam and it was all pointless. I'd rather spend an hour with someone over a beer than spend an hour going through messages on FB. So I gave up on it and never really missed it.

2) I don't watch TV period. I have no spare time and if I did, I'd spend it reading a book rather than vegetate in front of a TV (of any kind).

3)... no comment =)
That's the thing about being young -- you can fool yourself into thinking that whatever form of scientific, artistic, programming, mathematical, or entrepreneurial achievement you're working on is "really cool" and going to get you some action.

Only one thing on that list actually works, and that's why so many guys are in bands... and why the Rolling Stones are still touring.
It goes without saying the value YC adds even to the companies you do not fund.

I was talking more from an entrepreneur's perspective -- they wouldn't be as disappointed if they didn't expect the funding in the first place.
> pg was absolutely classy,

Definitely.

> and we really realized that YC was cheering for us even though we didn't get funding.

...Except I look more at actions than words. In these days of a pool of billions of dollars being sunk into start-ups, if an investor won't put in $15k, that's pretty telling of their opinion.

(Yeah, I know, the value is in the advice, and their limited time is the deciding factor. Still, investors who are really rooting for you will put their money where their mouth is.) Acting nice is insurance in case you do turn out to be a big deal -- always keep your options open, don't burn your bridges, it's a small world, etc.
How about the premise that younger people are less tied down by "spouse and kids" and mortgage, etc... I think that younger people have an advantage with this regard, but then again, those who are more "tied down" may take more time to analyze a market opportunity because there is more at risk.
3. This one bugs me. It seems like smaller reddit type communities work best, but every social news site I've seen has only a few big feeds that the entire community has to use. I think the way to fix reddit/digg is to just open it up so anyone can create their own social news community, invite like-minded people (or not like-minded people, whatever they want), and have a mini-social-news site with stuff that interests everyone.

Then we could have social news sites follow kind of that same model that mailing lists and message boards and IRC channels do.

reddit has been saying for some time that they were going to allow user-created subreddits, but still haven't done it...
As far as point number one goes, I'd say to aim for a quick yes.
They're Xbox colors.
VH to YC Founders: Ping us if you want additional help with your term sheets
I think the reason men do less dramatic stuff after they have kids is not just that they don't need to impress women anymore. After all, women also get less done after they have kids. The kids themselves are a big part of the reason both parents get less done. Maybe the main reason. And not just because they take up all their parents' time. Once people have kids, they often think of their kids as the most important thing in the world. And that means whatever project they were working on before is now at best number 2.
If he's talking about interpreted server-side code that's not very realistic. The third party has total physical access to the machine. It's pretty hard to have the code run and remain encrypted at all times -- impossible in most cases. The closest real thing you can do is obfuscate your code, which can make things painful for you as well.

If you're a US company and the third party is as well I'd just rely on copyright law for protection. If they're a foreign company it's more difficult.
I wish the most promising startups got snatched up on demo day. In fact investors are so slow that even the most eager generally take around a week to put together a term sheet.

My hope is that as t approaches infinity, demo day will approach an auction. But t is still pretty far from infinity.
One nitpick: They talked about the "zone-out" button, which students are supposed to press when they've zoned out of a presentation. There are two show-stopper problems with that.

One, having zoned out reasonably much in my undergrad career, I can tell you that zoning out is not something that hits a threshold, and then you realize "I've zoned out." That is, unless you're consciously zoning out, in which case you consciously aren't interested in the material, in which case you would never press the button, since you don't want the professor to get mad.

Two, that assumes that everybody has a laptop (generally, only 20-50% do), AND, even less plausibly, that they're all looking at the professor's presentation with their browsers. (probably 1% of all undergrads would ever do that)
Quiet is the most important but even when I can't get that it still helps me to be in a dark and cold environment. It's calming.
A mortgage.
No, didn't mean to imply that. I know YC enables early exits and is different from a VC in this regard, just like us. I think the difference is our very active involvement and funding level. I was trying to point out that we leave open the early exit option even while providing approximately two years worth of funding. Will make a small edit to clarify...
The best way to reach us is by email. If you send something to apply@tandeme.com or info@tandeme.com, we'll all get it. And we try to read everything and respond.
I second the mate. I love espresso and would drink it all day if I could, but it often leaves me feeling dehydrated.

Mate has mateine, by the way, not caffeine (mateine is a stereoisomer of caffeine). I don't know it has different properties and that's the reason or if it's the plethora of other constituents, but in my experience mate gives me a mild, persistent buzz all over my body as where caffeine goes straight to my head.
One of my favorite writers talks about Argentina's obsession with beef -- and mate, incidentally -- at http://www.idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_d...
Not working on OS X + FF
Ah, c'mon, it provides some value right? What did you do when you saw this? http://milliondollarhomepage.com/ =)
Excellent start-up idea...
An app that let's facebook users create their own facebook apps.
Lisp in Small Pieces for Small Prices (less than $4!)
Yeah, I decided to make it case insensitive to avoid confusion. It seems most non-techies aren't aware of the GB vs gb distinction (and not to mention the uber-geeks who insist on gibi and kibi and all that :) )

If you want gigabits, you can explicitly write "gbit":

http://instacalc.com/?d=&c=MSBnYiBpbiBtYml0fDEgZ2IgaW4gb...

Thanks again for all the feedback guys!
Alexis of reddit fame tries Lisp:  "i thought lisp would be fun to learn"
Google gives Linux its patent protection
This is an important one. The brighter the light, the more I feel "worklike". To a point, of course, but 700 watts equiv. is as high as my office goes.
"... I think its openness is one of its major strengths ..."

It's not as open as you thing. Try passing an url to someone from facebook. You have to log in. Don't have an account? Too bad. In this respect it's like a gated community with guards out the front. Got a pass?, No. Move along ~
http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/06/17/itsTimeToOpenUpN...

"... social news is a lousy idea unless a narrow focus is maintained ..."

True. It's difficult to regulate I'd add regulated by peers and overseen by a BDFL.

"... Then again, you guys aren't a bunch of 'average Americans'. ..."

American? No you drongo, I'm Australian.
Yeah, but then you had to eat sardines. ;)
You should be banned from Le Tour De France, luckily YC doesn't dope test. We are in a tainted generation of coding.
It's not My Aquarium, that app is run by Greg Thomson in Canada. He's doing fine managing it on his own. I blog about him here: http://blog.clutterme.com/2007/08/facebookcamp-toronto.html
Honestly, it would be much more convincing if you used proper grammar and/or punctuation. At least make an effort otherwise you're coming across as sloppy. Especially if you want to hire people.
Applicable in all walks of life. I have a feeling I was just had by link bait. Du-oh.
isn't this how skynet got started?
Sounds very positive. The really important thing that isn't addressed very well is how you want to add "sweat".

Most entrepreneurs are interested in having the final say. Real control over product development, marketing, etc. Is your attitude that your team is there to help when necessary but otherwise hands off or do you insist on being involved in day to day operation?

Would you mind clarify this a bit more?
> In these days of a pool of billions of dollars being sunk into start-ups, if an investor won't put in $15k, that's pretty telling of their opinion.

Non-sequitur. YC doesn't have those billions.
I'd much rather see a facebook app that prints "Hello World!";

Simple, AND useful. Seriously. Awesome.
Dan Kaminsky just killed OpenID with unveiling of his attack suite during Blackhat conference
Just look at the ilike.com team! Wow
Not a typical startup I guess
Isn't that around what the YouTube guys took on their Series A? I'm sure the circumstances are different for every startup, but raising an inordinate amount of money too quickly probably means you're needlessly diluting yourself. I agree with staying lean, as sometimes raising too much money can breed complacency.
A Great Web Developer is a Great Application Developer
Right, it's about the "monkey number":

http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/06/11/dunbars-numbe...
The Rails Blues
Nothing - if I'm that tired, maybe it's best to get some sleep. I'll have some tea once in a while, but it's not something that really wakes me up or gets me going.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5899

Still think it's crazy?
Translation: "I don't know how to read the log files or figure out what's going on or ask for help in #rubyonrails, so I'll just completely ignore that PHP is 13! years old, whereas Rails is two or three, and just write this blog post instead."

Seriously, Rails has brought me nothing but joy. I'm going to release a community site next weekend and if I experience these mysterious voodoo troubles I swear I'll eat my words, but it's been rock solid so far. Rails just makes so much sense.
Attention and sex
Awesome video talk of Scott Berkun at Ignite Seattle 3
Markus Frind: ...we will be building up a large team of 20 to 30 employees over the next few months.
Slides are available online, in some strange proprietary format: http://www.doxpara.com/?q=node/1149 .
Right mouse button doesn't work = Worst gallery so far.
Free startup tips ebook
Future of Corporations: Results-Only Work Environment--Focus on Output, not Hours or Face-Time
"Achen says he would never go back. Orders processed by people who are not working in the office are up 13% to 18% over those who are. ROWE'ers are posting higher metrics for quality, too. Achen says he believes that's due to the new office paradox: Given the constant distractions, it sometimes feels impossible to get any work done at work."
Outsource Tasks, GMail, Yahoo!, ZipCar, etc to India - $30/mo - Coupon BETA for a free month
Convince them why they should:-)
Good talk. Although by about 3 minutes into it, I was kind of expecting the punchline to be that sex wasn't mentioned at all in the talk, but yet we were still paying attention to him simply because he titled his talk "Attention and Sex". :-O
A NIST guide: Tell the story of your business compellingly
Yes, it looks like it's a blog with similar content to that of Steve Pavlina but aimed at a younger audience.
Actually, at this point, I'd like to know if anyone has a link to a similar guide but more focused on written than in-person presentations.
Starting this company required a significant capital investment.

What's the best thing for someone with a capital intensive idea to do?
Awesome, thanks for the feedback :)
step 1: decide on the minimum grade you want for each class
step 2: work harder for an A than a B and likewise for a C
step 3: do the work
rinse and repeat.
oh BTW, as someone that had to grade uni students, having someone harass you for every single point on an assignment that was only going to generate 1% of your final mark does not endear you.
I don't know too much about them (I'm about to sign up right now) but I think one could start a similar service on a YCombinator investment.
What do you mean? Fresh, lightly grilled sardines (with boiled potatoes dipped in their grease) is far and away my favorite food. Maybe you only tried them canned?
I read somewhere that you're better off eating carnivore fish because the DHA and EPA are more concentrated than in herbivore fish or algae. Unless you're talking getting them from pills, in which case I guess it doesn't matter much.

P.S.: You should still avoid big species like tuna or swordfish, since they have high concentrations of mercury.
did you save the much longer post you had here before?

I think filling out a Y Combinator application for a company building a platform that allows the outsourcing of simple tasks that require an email/phone call would be a great exercise. That app would be the best place to put ideas about why an improved copy of this company could be very profitable/liquid.

Beyond personal assistants, you can create interchangeable overseas office workers.

Email's in my profile, anyone can email me that would like to collaborate on said app. I think we could try and build a demo screencast for YC app submission. We'd assign equity in any resulting company by using the Cambrian House model of defining specific tasks that give you a certain amount of equity.
I'm not a social conservative, but divorces do sort of raise an eyebrow - much like the presence of a stable, long term partner vouches for an individual.
I have a Tetris too :)
http://frank-duffner.de/noTWebApp_tetris.html
I've got a different capital intensive idea that could be very profitable. It's in biotech which has a lot of things that truly are capital intensive, like proving product safety to the government.

Synthesize 7-hydroxy-mitragynine and get it approved by the FDA for the treatment of severe chronic pain. It takes many millions of dollars but there's an enormous market for a new painkiller that is as powerful as fentanyl and measurably less addictive.

Oxycontin is pretty much taboo after the enormous settlement they paid. There's always money in the legal drugs business. The patent holder for formulations of 7-hydroxy-mitragynine would need to be much more responsible about marketing than the Oxycontin suppliers. Mitragynine alkaloids are atypical opiates that are less addictive than the opiates in the poppy plant.

7-hydroxy-mitragynine is the main active alkaloid in kratom, but kratom is not currently approved for sale as a drug or supplement in America. Getting it approved as a supplement would take millions which no kratom vendor other than wholesaleshamanicherbs has.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate#Chemical_composition...

It's the other alkaloids that contribute to the effects that are different than coffee.
They prefer to fund smart people who can build profitable services.
"... best ever venture capital advise I've seen ... 'Demos are not a requirement - the potential investors can visualize the product' ..."

the best I've heard is "you are (probably) going to fail".
PG told me in our phone rejection that we hadn't solved the design problem of making computers ridiculously easy to use whereas I thought we had. We didn't make a clickable/video demo because it seemed unnecessary, a click through demo just would have been flashier. The partners moved on right after I showed them my pictures and started comparing our product to Yahoo. We spent the entire interview defending this point instead of talking about the real issues.

I think my company might have got funding if I had opened the dialogue with "We have a product that will change the world and that the world needs. We are capable of developing a demo that will allow us to raise large amounts of money. Where do you disagree?" PG has said that charisma counts for a lot during a YC interview which it does because it lets you dictate the course of the discussion.

Please email me if you'd like to hear my GUI ideas/talk about simplified UIs.

My YC interview was ultimately one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. If I had an hour to interview instead of 15 minutes, it could've been different. It makes me sad that I didn't get the chance to collaborate with Blake Ross on our similar products -- he was designing an interface for 50 year olds and I was designing one for 80 year olds.His platform was a whole lot better than mine though.

Of course, I think we got really lucky in getting the interview.
I made a really good case for our company in the YC application and I think our idea is something that was on the YC partner's radar as something they had discussed before we even applied.

One of our partners was the absolute perfect paper candidate. He was a senior triple CS-HCI-cognitive psychology major at CMU with almost a 4.0 and a Microsoft internship + CMU research. He got an A in CMU's 15 credit "build a Unix-like kernel with a partner" class. He did it in four years. He owns Paul Graham's lisp books.

After the applications were turned in, I got an email from Paul and a call from Jessica asking us if we were really serious about committing to this as undergrads. I told Paul that we all were ready except our truly perfect hacker friend who had one semester until he graduated. Without this friend, we weren't really qualified for YC, but they were gracious enough to give us the interview anyways. Without YC's support, my other hacker friends/partners weren't willing to drop out of college. One has another year in PSU's CS program and the other is my partner on our current biotech ventures.

Perfect hacker friend is starting a PhD program at Indiana University Bloomington where his research interests lie in computerized teaching. He turned down 115k at Cisco. I am sure he would drop out if someone offered 200k/year to do something very interesting in a startup environment, which is probably a bargain for someone with his ability.
Maybe the next step after that would be to keep the results-only part but ditch the top-down corporate oversight, letting everyone work on whatever they wanted and keep nearly all the upside. Oh, wait...