skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Oops. I guess I've commited some UI faux-pas.

eser.org is a website where you type in the topic you want to chat about, and you chat about that topic with other people.

"topical chat"

I also wrote a search engine that will reccomend similar topics. So, if you typed python, it could have reccomended 'software design'. However, this only works when there are chat topics for the search engine to parse. However, there are none now because the site is only a few hours old. Major problem.

Second major problem is that people are asking for a list of active chat topics on the front page. A top-level-index of sorts. Something like reddit, I suppose. I wanted to avoid doing this because I felt it would clutter up the homepage. However, it sounds like it is the right thing to do.

So, job #1: add a list of active chat topics to the homepage.
What happens when VCs believe Alexa numbers
I am just about through with Johnson's "Why Everything Bad Is Good for You" and I would like to get in on a discussion of the book. I am a senior citizen and fascinated with the arguments he proposes, mainly because I can verify the truth in them from observing the interests and "smarts" of my grandchildren and great grandchilden. I plan to read the book a second time to absorb it better. Also, I plan to watch the "Sopranos" and see how his comments apply therein.
He's coming to startup school too. Speaking at startup school, in fact, so you'll see the speaker's eye view of some of it.
The #1 Site is awesome!
I think something is different about databases since then. You can, for free, install a database in part of an afternoon that has excellent library/framework support and tools. That makes a big difference. If you're going to use Ruby on Rails, for example, you will have to justify why you don't want to use database software.

Basically, databases have been well-commoditized, like Unix, HTTP servers, and hosting. If your needs fit their common usage scenarios, you should just go ahead and use them.
I have to wonder if the stream will expose any inadvertent goodies, like the photoset did. (I'm thinking of the pic of Justin talking to someone, with a justin.tv alpha test login clearly visible on the white board. I didn't try it, but it sure was tempting.)

In any case, I'll certainly be watching.
Kayuda Launches a Web based Visual Wiki alpha
The end of aerospace
8 Signs Google is Planning to Build a National Wireless Network
Incidentally, I don't think they are, unless forced to. I think they just like to have such plans in readiness to keep the backbone owners in line.
Good to Great author Jim Collins answers questions
A realistic view on venture capital - Seth Godin, commented by Darren Herman
The market for something to believe in is infinite...
Big, hairy, audacious goals
It turns out that this is non-trivial to do in a manner that is computationally efficient. Not that this a problem right now :)
One Size Aggregator Doesn't Fit All. (long tail)
Whaddayaknow, maybe Alexa is the problem! Compete.com shows exactly the opposite trends with increasing 2007 traffic to all the 2.0 sites mentioned. (http://snapshot.compete.com/techcrunch.com+technorati.com+gigaom.com+)

Is there any consensus on which of these sites (Alexa or Compete) is more reliable? Or at least...less unreliable?
The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
Eight great ways to use Google for your startup
A few of these points really resonated with me, especially #9. I couldn't help but feel frustrated that school was a place where writing about ideas often took precedence over execution.

As I spent the last winter break contemplating my future, a major thing that stuck out in my head was how Sam Altman took the initiative during Summer '05 to build Loopt while my fellow classmates spent an entire semester "pitching" it for a class (more presentations, less prototypes).
What is the minimum business stuff like acceptable use policies etc. that I will need to launch a product?
So I am about to launch a product that I have been working on for some time now. The question I have is does anyone know what legal stuff and exceptable use policies I need and where I could get some. I don't have cash to get a lawyer to do this.
Web Innovators Group, Boston mtg March 28
Twitter + Hollywood combined as a Hollywood public timeline
Creating Passionate Users: How to host a product/feature design party
I suppose it depends on your product really, if you're storing credit card numbers you'll need to think about what you are responsible for legally, which can change from state to state. That being said, if you're doing some kind of social app I wouldn't be too worried about the legal stuff. I would write up something that tells the user you're going to do your best to keep their data safe and available but you can't promise 99.9% uptime or anything. I think a well written paragraph telling the users what they should expect, and what they will have to agree to, will go alot further then pages of legalise.
Zopa P2P Lending Coming to the USA
I love the idea of social lending, and think that it can be expanded to replace a lot of the less "short tail" sources of funding for a lot of businesses (record labels for advances, executive producers/studios for film, VCs for companies, etc). There are issues, but there's a big future in this market.
Its a pretty simple site thats not even going to ask for payments right away. We will implement that in 30 days time...
I've had questionable trends from either one. I can't say which I find more consistently reliable, but it'd probably be on a case-by-case basis on whichever results are skewed in my favor. ;)
email me- josh at joshwand.com
A terms of use and a privacy clause should be sufficient.
Some of those are pretty good. I'd say a slogan (one-liner tag, really) just needs to quickly justify your company's existence. Making it snazzy and memorable wouldn't hurt either, but there are probably more important details you could worry about.
"They followed the "first who" approach to entrepreneurship: First figure out your partners, then figure out what ideas to pursue. The most important thing isn't the market you target, the product you develop or the financing, but the founding team."

This morsel of advice sounds familiar, doesn't it? Lone entrepreneurs of yc.news: Less justifying reasons to stay a one-person team, more getting a good buddy to embark on the startup journey with you.
Any idea where I can get these? Free ones that is.
When you accept money you're establishing a contract, so you'll want to limit liability to just getting their money back. You'll want to establish what courts might be used for dispute resolution. You'll need to be explicit about any behaviors that would result in you terminating their service without refunding their money.

Your users agree to certain obligations as part of the contract; you should too. Make privacy a contractual obligation on your part, not just a policy.
Horrible idea? The first impression I got of GoPlan was that it had a nice design and looked pretty damn good.

If I was in the market for a web-collab app, I would now be considering GoPlan instead of immediately thinking of 37Signals.

That doesn't seem like a horrible them for them at all.
IANL, but I'll take a risk here and say you don't need anything at all. I don't think reddit had any legal boilerplate when they launched, for example.

No one cares about this kind of stuff till you're big. So get big and then worry about it.
Write one yourself. You're a new startup? I wouldn't get too involved with formal legal policies. You can take a look at any website to get an idea of what issues you may want to address.
Satellites and warheads in LEO travel at similar altitudes and velocities.

What are these LEO warheads of which you speak? Does he really mean ballistic missiles? In that case the speeds are very different.
The title seems to imply the content of the post is incorrect because of the Alexa numbers, but the Alexa numbers are not really relied upon as a strong premise. (Actually, there isn't really a strong premise, he just sort of asserts his opinion)

Anyway, that doesn't mean he's totally wrong either. Although I admit there is still space in the "long tail" for more new web apps, it will be difficult to keep making web apps once every site has to battle existing players. Google/Yahoo/Microsoft/Cisco won't prop up the industry with constant acquisitions of unprofitable companies forever.
It's interesting to hear this advice from multiple channels. I was just on phone with iJigg cofounder (zaidf on news.yc) and he emphasized this point as well.

I finished reading first three chapters of "Founders At Work", and this advice seems to be consistent with all three interviewees. I am sure there are exceptions to the rule; but generally speaking, it pays to have a good team.
I think sooner or later they'll get full enough of themselves that someone "hungry" will come along and go them one better.
I wouldn't worry about it. When you do take payments use Paypal and let them deal with it ;)
Sounds complicated. Anyone tried this?
"Good to Great" and "Built to Last" are both amazing books. But I do not recommend it to startup founders unless you're planning for an IPO. Both books were written to entice established corporations (GE, Sony, P&G, etc) not startups. CEO's of big companies will certainly find Jim Collins of much help, but us startup founders won't. Though, it is a definite read if you've some spare time on your hand :)
I don't know much about Compete, but Alexa stinks. It's a small, self-selected group of users that in no way represents the Internet at large.

I'm not the only one who thinks so: http://franticindustries.com/blog/2006/12/18/why-alexa-sucks/
GigaOM - Does everything have to be Web 2.0?
Alexa error triggers crisis of confidence - Valleywag
Valleywag wrote about how he was fooled by bad Alexa data:

http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=5233
Sounds like a bad plan to make privacy a contractual obligation, because then you're undertaking a legal obligation not to have your server hacked. No one who understands servers would do that.
Keep in mind, though, that at least part of the reason that some places have a higher cost-of-living is that it's more desirable to live there. I'd certainly rather live in Boston than Houston.
I don't know if Loopt will fail or not because I don't know how close they are to partnering with other carriers. I do know that if they can't expand beyond Boost then they have zero chance of succeeding, and publicly we haven't seen much evidence of progress in nearly a year. I also know that their CEO said if he had to do it again, he wouldn't do a business that relied on partnering with the carriers.

As for YCombinator, PG described it as being a difficult problem to solve, but noted that the job of a startup is to solve difficult problems. Certainly you can get rich solving a problem that's too hard for everyone else. But there are a lot of other problems with fairly easy answers, it's just that no one else has figured out that answer yet.

I'm not saying definitely don't do it, but certainly be aware of the issues. If your business manages to avoid these central issues, then maybe it's feasible. But if you're going to try to pull a Ulysses S. Grant style meat-grinder approach, then, well, good luck because you'll need it.
Everything I Know, I Learned from Warren Buffett
How bad is it really if you are already incorporated and apply to Y-Combinator?
From that page:
"Don't incorporate, though, if you can avoid it. We're less likely to accept groups that are already incorporated, because it costs so much more to deal with existing documents than to start from scratch."

How much negative effect does being incorporated have? Nature of our start-up required us to incorporate asap after going live. I'm a bit surprised it can be such a bad thing as it sounds from the YC site.
It's more work for the YCs because your paperwork isn't identical to all the unincorporated companies.

Still, having a functioning product is enough of a net plus to YC that I wouldn't worry about it.
Paul Buchheit: Looking for a co-founder? Try attending the REAL startup school.
Copy paste. Nobody is going to sue you unless you get big. When you get some money flowing in, hire a lawyer.
If every single person in the country had broadband access, regardless of economic status, there's no one that would benefit more than Google. The pay-access model of the current ISPs is in their way to greater market penetration. Add to that the (quite accurate) location data that wireless would give them.. the possibilities are endless.
If you had put $10,000 in Berkshire Hathaway when he took control in mid 60's, your shares would be worth more than $50 million today! Today, the company's shares are worth more than $100, 000 a piece `:0
dupe:
http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=4913
See http://www.danshub.com/blog/2007/lastfm-launches-new-events-features/ for follow up
How to Build a Profitable Startup by Knowing Your Users Better
hey danw, you can get a 30 day trial with all the features on. I was more disappointed with the pricing and the cases feature not being available.
Google Now Offering Pay-Per-Action Ads
It's no dealbreaker by any means, especially if you are a c corp in DE. It's just been more difficult to do some of the "legal cleanup" necessary for YC to make its invetsment than if you start from scratch.
John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies (RIP)
One of my favorite Buffett quotes: "There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult."
That's exactly what we are. Go Delaware:)
"The first rule is not to lose [money]. The second rule is not to forget the first rule." -wb
John W. Backus - inventor of FORTRAN, BNF (12/03/24  - 03/17/07)
It was reported in the press today [0] that John Backus passes away last week. M77 was one of the first languages I had a crack at calculating latitudes & longitudes for some mapping project. BNF & it's extended form , EBNF is a foundation in language design still used today.

Reference

[0] New York Times, Online, STEVE LOHR, 'John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies':

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/business/20backus.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[Accessed 20 March, 2007]

[1] BNF, John Backus & Peter Naur, 'Backus Naur Form':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Backus-Naur_form

[Accessed 20 March, 2007]

[2] EBNF, Wirth 'extended Backus Naur Form':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Backus-Naur_form

[Accessed 20 March, 2007]
Although working at a startup will give you the most experience I feel that people mainly go to startup school to hear success stories and be in the company of other entrepreneurs(as well as look for like-minded people to be involved in their project). I'd assume that the majority of the people probably already have a business in the works and are past looking for a co-founder. Correct me if I'm wrong as I've never attended the school myself.
Thanks for posting this brlewis. I might attend. Do you know if it's free for anyone to just show up?
dupe: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=5253
The two aren't mutually exclusive. I went to the 2005 startup school and work at an existing startup.

Also, judging by the people I met at the startup school - few have an actual business with customers and such, except for YCombinator founders (in most cases, not even them ;-)). If they did, they'd probably be attending to the business instead. Many, however, had an idea for a business or a very-early-stage business (some product development, possibly a small prototype in front of potential customers).
Charting the mindshare market
This is one of the better posts I've seen on the topic..If you want to dive in deeper Brad Feld's blog series on term sheets. Another good read is: http://www.fenwick.com/VC_Terms.htm. It covers nice things like liquidation preferences, rachet clauses and other things that will make your head spin!
AIM Location Finds Your Friends With WiFi
AllTh.at - Your personal search agent (Search that never stops)
Yeah wasn't there as I was writing the post up & checking the links. But I don't consider this a "dupe". It would be if it pointed to the same article (NYT), but I considered the NYT login to kick in, thus making the link worthless in a few days. Hence the reference to the Wikipedia article.

Added links should a) inform and b) be visible for long periods. So I considered the WIkipedia link more reliable. It's something to consider, "Is one article on the same topic" more definitive than another? Does it matter if there is more information on one topic? Is a first report of the a 'time dependent' piece of information the best to post?
Wasn't Omar Khudari a founder of ViaWeb or did he come later? I met Omar a couple of times when he was on the board of my friend's company and what a terrific guy.
CPC (Cost per Click), CTC (Click To Call), CPL (Cost per lead) and now PPA...what's next? I wonder if this is in response to the clickfraud lawsuits.
Mobile Presence: The Essential Attributes
Good call, just make something users want and make sure you have a good ear to hear from them. For me the social networking aspect is a luxury one can afford once the users are in place. But nothing beats good old common sense(which I find is making quite a comeback these days) of making something user's want. Just do that something exceptionally well and your well on your way.
Google recently revealed that their click fraud is less than 0.02 per cent so it is barely a problem anymore. This means that for every ten thousand CPC, less than two are possible click frauds. Moreover, Google has algorithms that automatically compensate adwords users based on the percentage click fraud.

Ads pay for Google's multibillion dollar business. They are introducing Pay-Per-Action in order to diversify their income channels, not because Adwords is failing.
I could'nt agree more ;) having a team, especially a good team is very important for a start up. The reason I think it's common on multiple channels cuz it's the most important thing imho. I agree that there are some chapters in "Good to Great" that are not exactly applicable to startups. But maybe I can extract a few that that I believe is essential to start up life. Such as the "first who" approach, and the equally important "Stockdale Paradox".
Hmmm something to think about indeed, anyways good points on the issues it actually gave me a "Don't do-avoid" list for future plans and ideas.
Isn't it possible to just make a new corporation and put the old one on the shelf for a bit?
PG didn't write the article, he just posted it as suggested reading
[time_machine]
There's no point in creating Internet-based software. Think about it! Unless you've already know somebody at AOL or Compuserve you'll never get anywhere. What you think you can start your own BBS and compete with the big guys? It'll never work, there's no way...
[/time_machine]

See what I'm getting at?

The trend is clear -- the walled gardens are crumbling. Consumers in the future will get more freedom. Mobile data services are getting cheaper and faster. Phones are getting more capable.

The mobile services market is terribly immature (it's still the wild west, actually), but a dud? I think not.

My guess: Some day carriers will just be in charge of data pipe--and that's it. They probably won't even handle customer support on their own. Carriers are pretty good and making voice and data connections work, but not much else. And, much to their chagrin, there's no reason should be a part of the mobile services revenue stream any more than my ISP deserves a cut of iTunes revenue.
I think most analysts I know assume that "presence" will be a standard mobile feature in the next few years.
What I don't understand is why they aren't letting these sit side by side Adsense and Google.com ads. It wouldn't be hard to figure out a profit per display metric, although it would need one or two order of magnitudes more displays to calculate. Maybe it will once it's out of beta?

It surprises me that they didn't hook this up to Checkout first (http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=2087). It would have been much simpler for webmasters that already use Checkout to get started, and for Goolge to track.
Also, there are a couple of existing solutions. I know Orative has one for BlackBerries.
I work with people who mostly do not have a startup mindset, or even a work-for-yourself mindset, and I think my creativity had been suffering until I took it upon myself to be proactive. In my experience so far, anything you can do to spend more time around entrepreneurial people will help. Just by going to a couple of Meetups and talking to people I've been very inspired and had better ideas.
Biz Idea: Netflix For Big Data -- Mail Hard Drives
The downside is you may be competing with Google.
Hopefully the concept of the web as a data source will push more content creators toward open content licenses (or at least more openness toward their content), even making it a requirement for those who wish to be competitive at all. Of course people will still sell things to make money, but this will just mean the products will have to be that much cooler.
This seems like too big of a distraction; file it away on your to do list until it matters.
Seems rather speculative.

I don't think Google really wants to get into the national infrastructure business, but then again I suppose they are looking into free WiFi...

Of course, last I heard that free WiFi plan actually wasn't going very well due to some political issues.
Apollo seems neat.

Now, once they tie in Flash Lite and create a mobile client...
It wouldn't be a problem if that 0.02% was evenly distributed across all advertisers, but I really doubt that is the case and it's the edge cases that make the news, cause lawsuits and damage Google's reputation.

An example I'm personally familiar with, at www.iamfacingforeclosure.com a few visitors banded together and started clicking on the ads over and over again. Sure enough, the guys Adsense was canned, and that couldn't have happened with PPA.
To put that in perspective, 5% interest would have netted just over $70k, 8% around $220k and 10% $450k. Absolutely insane.
We truely are standing on the shoulders of giants as modern hackers. RIP.
So would it be possible for say, Amazon.com to define their action as the purchase of some esoteric food product? They'd get the benefit of all the page views, but would only have to pay the ransom on the 0.01% of users who buy Amazon milk. It seems hard to address the issue without a lot of human review, for each advertiser.
Interesting post. The ultimate startup school is to really get your hands dirty by joining a startup. It gave a sense of what it'd be like if he's going to build his own startup, and a chance to decide if that's something he really wants.
Success of a not-so-novel idea?
To me flixster just sounds like a MySpace for movie-goers. Any ideas why it's getting so popular?
Software Training Sucks: Why We Need to Roll it Back 1,000 Years
With so many saying that google's stock is way overvalued, building a national wireless network or just a 'regular' ISP may be the best way to throw around the weight they have now to establish a truly permanent foothold.

Also, (this is a stretch, but) it's been argued that the youtube acquisition was in large part due to google's want to put their warchest behind keeping the DMCA's definition of 'common carrier status' as wide as possible. This is something they definitely need to protect as a search engine, but also certainly if they want to become any form of ISP, especially one with open wireless networks.
Yeah, I love the site. I got to say "hi to Jessica and Paul" and Justin mentioned my site, Shuzak.com, to them live! I am watching YC dinner atm (Paul's riding Trevor's invention) :D

This site definitely has potential to generate revenue. They could embed video advertisements or use sponsored food or cellphones, etc. Justin.tv might fail, but its model could be successfully extended to other reality tv shows. I believe that is the direction they plan on taking :)
Web 2.0 -- Personal Branding Checklist
The Printable CEO
How to Build a Bubble