skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The best ideas come from people who build applications out of passion or they saw a need. A lot of these sites did not begin with the intention of making money or with a business goal in mind. I think people who build with the intention of making money in mind - lose because it's no longer building out of passion which is needed to get people through sleepless nights.
Does Using MyBlogLog Can Banned You From Google Adsense????
While I agree that VC funding is not necessarily required to spark a startup, I do however believe that it can serve wonders in terms of building connections and publicity. Prominent bloggers, such as Michael Arrington and Peter Cashmore, hunt for news relating to startup fundings. Moreover, a VC firm brings high level connections from people with real experience in this game (Vinod Khosla, Ram Shriram, etc).

Almost all sufficiently large startups eventually require Venture Capitalists. So there is no hard and fast rule on this; just take the money when it makes sense.
> Getting Real is staying small and being agile.

I couldn't agree with this more. Businesses that give up control, gain in mobility what they lose in command. And mobility is the key to innovation in any startup.
25 startups to watch
another one for rss here. I love this its just what I have been searching for.

maybe the stories to open in another window also.
Out of curiosity are the passwords kept hashed?
For the sake of completeness, what might be some of the situations where an NDA or secrecy of the idea is important?

I'm guessing an example would be if you are entering negotiations to be bought out by a public company.
About an year ago, a company hired me to code a corporate instant messenger. There was no technologically innovative angle to it; yet, my employer insisted that I sign an NDA before the project be disclosed to me. The process took about three weeks and wasted time that could've been spent on actually coding it.

In my opinion, NDA's are more useful when they are used to protect a "technology" rather than a "product".
If news.ycombinator.com is running on php, then the following code can be used to convert into links:

$Insert_Message = eregi_replace('(((f|ht){1}tp://)[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.,~#?&//=]+)','<a href="\\1" target="_blank">\\1</a>', $Insert_Message);
$Insert_Message = eregi_replace('([[:space:]()[{}])(www.[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.,~#?&//=]+)','\\1<a href="http://\\2" target="_blank">\\2</a>', $Insert_Message);
$Insert_Message = eregi_replace('([_\.0-9a-z-]+@([0-9a-z][0-9a-z-]+\.)+[a-z]{2,3})','<a href="mailto:\\1" target="_blank">\\1</a>', $Insert_Message);

I hope that helps :)
- Jawad Shuaib
6 Startup Lessons For The Year 2007
Everything you need to know about Funding - Notes from FOWA talk by Ben Holmes of Index Ventures VC
Startup Success 2006 [video] - Panel moderated by Guy Kawasaki featuring Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Joe Kraus (Excite, Jotspot), and others
The market has a natural tendency to segement. This trend is driven by both, the consumers and the businesses. Considering that point in mind, I believe that the next big social network/startup will be much smaller than MySpace. We are in the era of super-niches; the market we appeal to will get smaller as the competition among startups increase.

That said, I would like to propose one "lesson" I did not mention in the article: "As the target niche becomes more narrow, so will the funding". A niche that is sufficiently small might not attract any funding at all! So there is a downside to being small that must remain in check if you wish to attract funding. Enjoy :)
- Jawad Shuaib
Anatomy of a Successful Social Network
The number one thing that many startups fail at is defining a business model. While 2007 holds great promises for startup buyouts, that alone should not be a startup's business model. For every startup that gets bought by Google, there are a hundred others that don't. Simply put, a business is not a business if it does not make money.
- Jawad Shuaib
Doesn't the Social Web Realize that People Talk?
Irish OpenCoffee Club - entrepreneur/startup meetups
Coffeeclubs, Conferences, Coworking and Community
The best things I've learned from previous startup attempts is how to tell good product ideas from bad ones, and the difference between a good product and a good company. The bad news is that now I've weeded out all my own ideas.

I guess I won't be applying this summer.
I was just talking with somebody a couple weeks ago about something very similar to this. Maybe this could be mixed with an idea like coworking (http://coworking.pbwiki.com/)
I definitely notice #4 sometimes
Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Podcast series
This is a series of really good Podcasts about entrepreneurship given at Stanford Univsersity. Famous entrepreneurs, VCs and engineers share their thoughts about the world of technology. For those of us that are not lucky enough to attend those seminars at Standford :)
VC money can be a good thing if you know exactly what to do with it. Google used the funds to buy servers which they couldn't afford before, but in the end it turned out to be money well spent. But if you just raise the money to live up to the convention, then you should think again. The worst thing you could do is to go on a spending spree just to look busy.
What? I thinks the author goes a bit far with his idea that people need to talk. Does anybody remember how and why BBS' were so popular? It's because you had a voice, an anonymous voice, and you could share information without being judged. I don't know why the author thinks that people on sites don't communicate (maybe I missed the jist of the article entirely), but just because people aren't doing VOIP doesn't mean they have no 'voice'.
I see a castle!! haha (Check out 37:00-38:00)
Turning Visitors into Users
Amazon's EC2 is a great resource; Here's one early article about it, but it has the potential to help *SOLVE* the scalability problems
Founder Compensation Survey Results (Nov, 2006)
How to Network- For Introverts
10 Unconventional But Successful Business Ideas
Top Ten Lessons I've Learned About Managing An Online Forum
Go ahead and keep a secret when you really strategically need to keep a secret. Don't get emotionally attached to it being a secret though- because one day, probably soon, it'll get duplicated. And do you have a thoroughly thought out realistic business reason to keep it (temporarily) secret in the first place? Usually not in my experience.
I'll bet when Arc is really ready that whole thing will take about 4 characters, right Paul? ;)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - full story of a 1720s startup
Audio of talks by Cal Henderson, Josh Schachter and many others
25 Start-ups to watch.
I think these are notes from a conference talk he gave. There are lots of others so I posted the link, see:

http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=833
What tail is wagging the &#34;user happiness&#34; dog?
Difference between Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates?
I posted this because I find it interesting that nearly all of these start-ups to watch have a business model based solely on advertising.

I suppose the advertising space is so large that everyone can make money selling eyeballs, but I think I'd invest in the companies with an actual product.

My money is on Fon.
worth a read, yes. but everything? hmmmm.
This is one of my favorite books. I've read it several times.
C'mon, what about this:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,68710-0.html
I really liked the comment on giving some service away before account creation. In my experience, one of the largest hurdles to user adoption is getting something useful from the site. If a user is able to see the value of the service *before* putting something into it, they are more likely to understand the offering and accepting the reward for 5 minutes worth of forms. There are so many services competing for users attention and everyone of them are fighting for their niche. You have to put something on the table to gain the initial interest to keep the user on a site long enough to make it past the click of the back button. I could not agree more with this point.

This recent story relates: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=824
Digg Upgrades Spam Armor, Unblocks Sites
They wouldn't even need this "feature" if they had a more sophisticated algorithm for ranking stories on the frontpage. The source of all their trouble is that a story that makes the frontpage becomes the *top* story on it, instead of working its way up like on reddit (and here).
Without a community you either have to create a sales force in-house or use outside "hired" labor/advertising. Essentially, without community, it will be up to you as a entrepreneur to evangelize your project. Community ensures viral growth through word-of-mouth advertising and it gives value to the network directly proportional to the number of users. I personally disagree that community is not necessary. But, I don't think delicious does either. For one, delicious has benefited greatly from it's community following. Yes, it is a tool, and I do use it - under the normal circumstance - as an individual using a tool he own privately. However, community allows me utility and efficiency when I can search for quality links tagged by others, or simply click tags that make sense when I'm saving a favorite. I think you shouldn't use the word ignore here, it seems out of context. Rather, I read him to mean you should focus on building a valuable tool for users and let the community follow. He never says to stifle community growth.
Does anyone want to guess what industries IT spans for the consideration of the survey referenced?
11 Reasons Why OpenID Rocks/Sucks
While I don't use OpenID myself, there are a number of users on my social network asking for its integration. It seems that many users are now beginning to *expect* Web 2.0 startups to have support for it (just as they did for Firefox). Not surprisingly, we are hoping to port such a system on our site as well. What do other founds think about this?
- Jawad Shuaib
Recommendation Systems are Redefining the Web
The acceleration of computation has transformed everything from social and economic relations to political institutions. A social network can harness the combined computation of the average Joe and create a rudimentary form of artificial intelligence. Amazon has already accomplished it. Today, we depend on Amazon bots to tell us what we will like. This is a major paradigm shift from less than a decade ago when we bought books solely based on recommendations from humans rather than computers. Everything a user does on a social network says a little bit about them. What happens if all those bits get put into one big trove of data about the user and their tastes? Advertisers heaven.
How to fix Google
While the article uses Google as its subject, the idea can be extended to almost any company. Not since J.K. Rockefeller has any prominent person or company truly practiced the art of vertical integration. Microsoft, for instance, has been unsuccessfully playing catch up with Google. The whole "Windows Live Mail", "MSN Soapbox", "Live Spaces" are nothing but microsoft's ill attempt at taking Google's crown. Instead of entering another market, a company should vertically innovate in services it already provides.

I believe that a lot of startups try to be everything to everybody; and in the process, lose focus. Finding a niche and sticking to it regardless of growth is better than entering markets that do not complement the company's core business. - Jawad Shuaib
19 Ways To Make Social Sites Pay
Are you sure nobody can have the whole pie? Some domains have significant network effects, which work to prevent competitors from developing a useful service. E.g. eBay.
Project Gutenberg version with illustrations:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20203/20203-h/20203-h.htm
Are you a born entrepreneur? Take the quiz
Some products require scale or critical mass before they can be profitable. This is especially true for many website based on advertising models. Also ventures based around getting big partnerships (e.g. licensing deals) may require the prestige of VC backing before you can get through the door.

Secondly you might have an option of growing organically for 3 years and hoping that no one else enters the market and that its still buoyant in that time or growing fast with VC support. I am not saying it's not possible to grow fast without VCs but I am sure it helps. I think it just comes down to what business it is.
Kul, you should mention for the non-YC'ers out there that you are in fact a European who made the move to Silicon Valley for your startup.
Sorry, "Everything you need to know" was the name of the original talk. These notes don't cover everything but I hoped people would find some of this useful. Perhaps I should have waited till the audio & slides were posted.
MP3's Loss, Open Source's Gain
I can't say I agree with you there. You might have missed the point a little bit.

Even if you are 100% passionate in your product and believe in it every step of the way, it doesn't mean that you can just put up your house to pursue it.

The fact that entrepreneurs seek backing is because it is exactly that -- more than just a check. You'll know that there are others in to share in your risk AND reward.

What we're discussing here is that getting turned down by investors should not discourage you altogether. If you believe you have something, you should see it through with your available means. But the fact that one cannot afford to bankroll the venture does indicate a lack of faith.
Advertiser heaven, absolutely.

Has anyone here read John Battelle's "The Search?"

He coins the term "Database of Intentions." He suggests some really provocative scenarios that is even more applicable now with recommendation engines.
I think this article is mainly relevant to mobile web. If you've got myspace on your mobile phone why type in comments and messages when you can send a quick voice message instead? I know livejournal already offeres a similar feature with a voice posting phone number. Users can add a text transcript later when they're at a keyboard.

Theres also companies such as spinvox who offer the ability to do voice messaging and voice to blog. With spinvox you record your voice message and it converts it to text. This way you can post/message using the easiest mobile medium (voice) and others can either read or lsiten to it depending on what is easiest.
Amen.

There are many different kinds of free
Well done Jeff- hope to be able to emulate that. Pretty cool that he knows his Star Trek, too :)
YouTube set to filter content -- Will they lose popularity?
True. And to clarify my comment, it is also a _slow_ way of growing in many cases. I've just seen so many people willing to burn through other peoples' money without a thought that the idea often appeals to me.

The real principle here is the golden rule of spending money- no matter what the source is: put yourself in the investor's shoes (even if there isn't one). Pretend it's your $10,000 or $5mil and you're investing in a company that you have little control over- would you be pleased with how it is spent?
11- stay on top of spam or die. And for heaven's sake don't sprinkle ads throughout. Better yet: 11- have a look at news.ycombinator :)
"I know everything there is to know about funding but it is too large to fit in this margin."
;)
Google Tech Talks
RSS was actually the first feature i looked for - so very glad to see it working. I use netvibes to scan around 50 feeds every morning and afternoon, so the availability of the feed is critical if i am to monitor what's posted. Thanks!
Top Five Articles for Presenters
I'd like to see profiles display the owners' url/blog. It would give a great insight into the mind of the poster.
Ebay itself acquired StubHub. So I guess there are some mitigating factors to networks effects.
The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less
Tiki uses only 3 fingers instead of 5.
Inkling Incorporated - Featured in the Business section of today's Chicago Tribune
It would be more interesting if news.ycombinator.com also checked if a URL was directly linked from a previously submitted URL; the URL was from the same site as the previously submitted URL.

Before you could commit a new submission news.ycombinator.com would present a list of matches (in descending order by date) so that you could compare what you are about to submit versus what is already submitted.
I think this advice is somewhat misguided. I'm currently on my seventh start up. I started two previously myself with my own money, but my current employer is VC and angel backed. (I am the chief scientist) Relying only on your own resources such as credit card debt or a second mortgage on your home can be a very risky proposition.

Not just because you might lose your investment, but because by using your own money you are creating a situation of immense pressure. The risk of losing your home might lead one to make some bad decisions regarding the business. You have o be very careful here.

My second self funded company eventually did take about $100,000 in angel money. But we started with only $50,000 of the two founders own money and we operated the business for four years with no other investment. We eventually sold it to a public software company for $2 million dollars. This might seem like a pretty decent investment, but at the time (mid 90s) it failed to attract the buzz that seems to feed VC investments.

It also depends on how much capital you really need. Typically entrepreneurs underestimate this, but of course it is also possible to fool yourself the other way. You have to be very realistic about this to make the right decisions. My current venture requires us to installhardware in our customers' facilities, so it is somewhat capital intensive. Only someone who was very wealthy could self fund such an enterprise.

In the end VC money spends the same as any other money, so deciding where you get your funds should be a business decision similar to deciding who to hire or what product to develop. You should interview your investors as they interview you. But few entrepreneurs do this. They act desperate, and this often becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

On another note, in my experience, entrepreneurs shouldn't expect most VCs to deliver anything more than money. Of course they all tell you about the benefits of their strategic connections and so on, but in my experience it is very rare that these bear fruit. One exception would be a venture fund targeting the specific industry you are developing your product for. These funds often do have real valuable connections to bring to bear and can help in ways that vanilla VCs can't.
Whoever made the thing is certainly not a born hacker. If you decide to change a vote and click on Back, it takes you right off the page, and if you click on forward again, it restarts. Why does the thing even have to be flash? It could just be an html form.
I thought 11 was "write up a quick top 10 list about your site and get it Dugg, driving up your Google ranking." :)
Fred Wilson: Patience pays for founders
This is utterly nonsense. I'm even a basecamp subscriber (used in small side projects). Many have requested GANTT charts be added to basecamp, but jason et al. don't use them in their pm process so they refuse to ever add them no matter how many people request them. I know several companies that have been unable to use it due to this lack of a feature. It's not that we like GANTT charts, but there is a BIG difference in project management between a small design shop (ie 37 signals, most yc type companies, etc.) and a large regulated proprietary engineering company (like my current employer).
Quantum computation demystified: Shor's algorithm explained in a way that many people can understand.
Polynomial Hierarchy Collapses: Thousands Feared Tractable (pdf)
Here's a community for matching angel investors with startup companies - lots of brick & mortar, but maybe useful?
Taking a sabbatical is of course a reasonable idea, but you will inevitably be tempted to fall back into the PhD program when things get tough at your startup. Every new founder can think of a lot of reasons why their company might not succeed; when you don't have the option of going back to school, you're less likely to give up on your company in the face of these challenges.
Writing and Maintaining Software are not Engineering Activities
The slides from this talk are now up on slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/cape/index-fowa/
TechStars 2007 - Funding program & seminars (similar to YC) in Boulder, CO
This book and "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" by Baltasar Gracian (http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/) are my two favorite books I've read repeatedly for over 20 years. It sounds very cheesy, but they are both like a road map for my life. Everyone knows about "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" but few have heard of Gracian. Paul, based on your essays that I've read, I think you would enjoy reading Gracian.
I bet YCombinator must feel a bit strange having this as the highest voted story ;)
Does The  Affiliate Marketing Going To Change Forever?
I'm halfway through reading this book right now. Honestly it's not that good, I wouldn't recommend it. The video might be good though.
The video is good. But if you didn't want to be walked through the evidence, just picture the menu of a typical New York Cafe, pretty difficult to figure out what you want without the specials page.
Hey, thanks for pointing that out. "The Search" does indeed provide provocative scenarios on this. I will quote directly from the book: "..Zeitgeist revealed to me that Google had more than its finger on the pulse of our culture, it was directly jacked into the culture's nervous system. This was my first glimpse into what I came to call the Database of Intentions-a living power of immense power. My God, I thought, Google knows what our culture wants!...Could it not also start a research and marketing company capable of telling clients exactly what people are buying, looking to buy, or avoiding? How about starting an e-commerce firm that already knew what the buyer wanted? How about a travel business that knew where the customer wanted to go? The possibilities, it seemed, were endless".
I've listened to most of these a few months back and they're great. The tom Coates one contains brilliant advice for anyone creating a web app. His slides are available at http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2006/02/my_future_of_web_apps_slides/

This page will be updated within the next few weeks with audio from the latest FOWA conference.
Stanford Entrepreneurship podcasts - Audio of talks with Evan Williams, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Hawkins and others
I think the concept makes a great deal of sense. Just that dragging it out into a book is perhaps a bit much.
Then I would suggest that a new feature be the ability to pass url parameters to the submit form that prepopulate the url and/or title fields.

As it stands, there's no real way to do it in a bookmarklet. Firefox's XSS security policies won't allow it.
Which brings up another feature request: tweak the CSS so that really long text in a comment (without any spaces) doesn't cause the whole page to expand beyond 1024 pixels.
Have you seen slashdot lately? They've got some sort of freeform tagging feature and it ain't working so hot.
Similar to the point of plagiarism in some respects (there are only three questions on their application form not copied from ours). But there are some differences:

1. They have an official connection to VCs. No one in seed funding can afford to do this, because it means you hose 90% of the companies you fund. If you don't give them their next round, no other VC will either, because you had inside info and you didn't.

2. They make no promise to keep doing this after this summer. YC and its network of other startups will be there to help you a year from now.

3. They give lower valuations: $12.5k for 5% in the average (2.5 founder) case, vs $17.5k for 6%.

4. At the end you demo to investors in the #6 startup market, whereas at YC you get to demo in both #1 and #2.
Quiz: What Type Of Entrepreneur Are You?