skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
One important thing to remember is that company valuations in technology are not set by any current metric (discounted cashflow, multiples of revenue), but perceived future value. Facebook may only be taking in 8 figures in revenue each year, but certainly has future potential on the order of billions of dollars.

I think we are seeing another period of web standards being set (Ebay, Amazon, etc were the standards of the previous boom). Wasn't Bezos big in the 'get big fast' strategy? That will work, but only for a very select few.

I agree with some of his premise, in that relying solely on advertising dollars is a huge risk to any potential revenue model, but it does not mean that there won't be winners in that race. After some experience, I'm pretty confidant in saying that advertising-only models are VERY hard work and require a massive amount of network effects.

The lack of defensibility in Web 2.0 is also quite troubling to me, as it seems like if you create something worthwhile, you may be stuck in the no-man's land of free AND not enough page views to support the ads-only model. Perhaps that's when we'll see a permanent change in nomenclature from 'web products' to 'web services'?
37signals is in the enviable position of creating fantastic products that require almost zero network effects to realize its efficacy. I think this is a fantastic model to emulate, and allows them to comfortably 'flee free'. But you do need to innovate an order of magnitude to be able to charge for things :)...
I disagree. I believe the opposite: GWT is a bad choice, mainly because GWT has to be compiled every time. It's much better to use a framework, including ones for PHP, since PHP is faster than Ruby and most popular frameworks have memcached support, and a great community.

Also, most frameworks are evolving FAR quicker than GWT is.

Thirdly, GWT will still require server-side coding. You might as well use a framework with an Ajax library or just plain html output, and then add-in GWT or Adobe Flex later, if at all.

Fourth, GWT does not have anywhere near the community or IRC users that most frameworks do.

But, mainly, GWT is a bad idea because it loses the advantage that web frameworks give to web startups over desktop development. That's because using GWT can be even slower than using traditional desktop development tools like Visual Studio because you not only have to compile, but also upload the files to get a real idea of what you're doing.

Why not just use a console with a web framework, or something with both in one like Seaside? As soon as you save the file, the change exists.
Well, although I think the mySpace deal is crazy, it's at least somewhat attainable. Murdoch has a bit of a history though of making bad moves in tech. He was nailed on Gemstar. Compared to the $11B he lost then, mySpace is peanuts.

The money being talked about though for Facebook and others cannot possibly be recovered though unless a number of stars align, and that's too much for me. ;-)
Article summary:

1. Companies inflate user numbers because high user numbers bring high valuations.

2. Except that, oops, the data show that valuations and user numbers are uncorrelated. The ratio varies by nearly two orders of magnitude, from $5.80 per user to $200 per user. YouTube has 1/3 of MySpace's users but is valued three times higher. Gosh, it's almost as if the market is ignoring these inflated and possibly irrelevant user numbers while focusing on other things. Which invalidates the entire premise of this article.

3. Valuations are insane! Especially the ones that are based only on rumors! OMIGOD ITS A BUBBLE ITS GONNA BLOW OH NOES!

- - -

Incidentally, the author wonders how Google could possibly earn back the $44 per user that it paid for YouTube. If this AdAge report I found on Google is to be believed (warning: evil PDF link):

http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/~gdowney/courses/j201/pdf/top...

...the NBC TV network took in $5.6 billion gross ad revenue in 2003. NBC claims to reach 103 million U.S. viewers, according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia. That's a gross of $54 per viewer per year, using a very generous definition of "viewer". And that's just one TV network, in one country, in one year.

Which is not to say that Facebook is not overvalued. I still don't know anything about that.
Sooo... lemme get this straight: I'm going to pay you over a grand of my own cash to sit in an empty room with a bunch of the other also-rans during the middle of a conference with an agenda so finely orchestrated that I'm surprised they haven't budgeted for bathroom breaks. There better be some seriously sweet sandwiches on offer for lunch........
Half of Auctomatic, at work in Ireland
Here's what I get when i click on anyone's profile ...

Status: 500 Internal Server Error

Not a good start I must say !!
It's very encouraging to see people working enthusiastically on their own projects in nice places, instead of commuting every day to a cube farm.
Great, good luck with the demos.
That's how business works .. it's all a number crunching game. As a rule, divide their users by 2 and their unique visitors by 4 - for most networks.
If I have something that I actually want to share with reddit, I submit it three or four times with different titles and URLS so it has a chance of actually rising above the noise. Too often something gets modded to zero points and no one sees it again.

The idea is that reddit was much better in its first year, when the community was smaller. A social news site seeded by Paul Graham and Paul Graham loyalists (like reddit in its first year) should have better than average discussions. If the site accidentally gets too big and the discussion degrades, there's no problem, PG gets to sell the site and the core community moves to a new clone site. Or maybe by then someone will come up with an elegant solution for making the community of a big social news site not suck.
And hey, starting up in Vancity now may leave you with JUST enough time to exit in order to afford the hockey tickets for the 2010 Winter Olympics ;)...
What VCaEURXs Love about Skype, MySpace & Flickr A
They look very similar - but intense debate has first mover advantage.... but I always wonder on how it can survive on its own...
It's not done yet - check out Eric Goldstein's comments...
http://www.clipmarks.com/clipmark/464EF3EF-BEEB-4C41-A464-7F...
Good job! Good to see you improved your web site once again.
i tried: R7: 384 kbit/sec in GB/month
then using the result from R7: R7/1mb
the calculation will not use the quantity type of R7 which is GB, but only the number. trying to use: R7 in GB will again not use the right quantity for my result..
It's cause we're frozen here half the time, mtafifi.
Crosby is gonna be at his peak at that time, barring any significant injury. Gretzky be damned.
We love YC here in Canada.
Dabble Do: social to-do list Facebook app from the makers of Dabble DB
Entrepreneurs: The ability to take a punch, and then get up to win the fight
Top 100 Foods to Improve Your Productivity
I marked something as correct and got a 500 error in a modal dialog box that can't be closed, forcing me to close the whole tab. This is exactly why extended private betas are so damn useless. You can't do a perfect launch no matter how much you fret over trying.
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, right now I'm not tracking the type of each result, just the final result. This is a planned feature.
Just because it's not perfect doesn't mean it couldn't be a lot worse. Their site appears to be having load related problems. Closed betas don't provide a lot of load testing.
Those are obscenely cheap prices.

The Nolo books are available on p2p networks, if anyone else would prefer to do it in the cheaper but illegal way.
There are a few misconceptions about GWT in the above comment:

"most frameworks are evolving FAR quicker than GWT is."

GWT is only a year old and has had 4 major releases. It just went open-source recently, so it's too early to tell how fast it will evolve.

"GWT does not have anywhere near the community or IRC users that most frameworks do."

GWT community is huge - there are over 600 posts a week on its Google Group. I'm not aware of an IRC channel for it though.

"using GWT can be even slower than using traditional desktop development tools like Visual Studio because you not only have to compile, but also upload the files to get a real idea of what you're doing."

No, you only need to upload files when you're actually doing a release.
I suppose it depends what the goal of your private beta is. If they were primarily testing their search results then maybe it was a success. If the goal was to launch and have a polished stable product I think they failed.
We went ahead with it anyway.
We got rejected the first time around with Ycombinator and have now been offered funding. Thanks for your support everyone, this forum rocks.
everyone is going to shoot me for this, but we are building our project in C# (debug time + .NET library),C++ (faster sockets), actionscript (not flex) and ajax
Can you say you ended up getting funding from? I'm sure there are other YC rejectees who would like to know where to turn next...
SocialPicks is incorporated in Delaware. To attend YC's SFP '07, I applied for a 4-month TN Visa at a port of entry (Vancouver airport) en route to Cambridge. More info can be found at http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1274.html
I use Python-Pylons/JS and Schevo for the backend. I have some experience with Django. Pylons is much better for serious programming - Django is better if you want to make a run of th e mill app like a blog. Using Pylons is like working with Lego bricks - stuff is swappable easily - not so with Django.
You used the word misconceptions, but I don't think I was wrong about anything I said if you read what I wrote carefully.

I'm not sure where you disagree since you are defensive about GWT, when I never said it was bad, just that using a web framework is a much better idea, especially at first.

How can you predict how many users GWT might have in the future when Adobe Flex and Apollo are around the corner?

On the other hand, the server-side coding won't change from PHP, Python, or Ruby for most startups over the next year, however, and their web frameworks are much easier to use and integrate than GWT.

I like GWT, but I think it requires at least one or two additional orders of magnitude of time to get something going. Plus, you'd still have to write server-side code to handle the ajax calls, so you may as well need to start with a web framework anyway!

And remember, you don't have to compile all the time with web frameworks.

Finally, the "major" releases you mention have been very minor. For example, One of the VERY few releases GWT has had in the past 8 months involved Google changing their source to be open source, without making any improvements that I can remember.

If you started with a toolset, you should stay with it. But if you're starting a new project, use a web framework.

What would be great is if this prediction comes true:

http://getahead.org/blog/joe/2007/05/11/googles_next_open_so...
There are many on this forum who are in the same boat as you. Please continue to share your experiences and good luck.
Good luck. You have a unique idea, and I hope you make it. Please keep us posted.
Most productive facebook app to get things done. Pass todos to friends and 'crack the whip' until they're done.
Scrybe Closes Series A
I got mine through marriage. I came here with a college F1 visa.
"Copy and Paste" clones of popular web apps via German Company
Congrats! You made it to the interview last time, though--did Paul offer any ideas that you used to re-apply and make it this time around? Did you have to go through another interview, or just e-mail them a better demo of what you've done so far, and they remembered you from last time?
Aaron Swartz's ideas on improving Foo Camp
Setting Up Shop--picking office space
Mind Hack: If you are rejected by YC, assume you went to them for advice and not for money.
Does it really matter? Use whatever makes YOU most productive, because at the end of the day the only thing that matter is a simple answer, yes or no. The question is always the same: Is it done?
I think that going to them for advice is the sensible thing in any case. They don't invest all that much money, yet do provide people with what looks like a very good package of advice and access.
Eric Schmidt's view on Web 3.0
Since I had this view more than 4 years ago, I should be called a visionary.
I can't figure out whether the people who run immigration in most countries are complete morons on their own, or if their political masters have significant influence in the stupidity of the system. My own personal example (well, one): when I got married in Italy, I had to swear, in front of a (busy) judge, with two witnesses, that no, I was not actually married elsewhere.

I don't think there would be any huge effects if things were basically opened up between wealthy countries... a few would go here from there, and vice versa, and things would balance out. But it is increasingly difficult. Bleagh!
English. It's pretty popular even in Europe, because it bridges borders.

In terms of programming languages, Ruby all the way, with some Java (j2me) and Hecl thrown in.
PHP lowers the barriers to entry for web programming, which is a good thing. It also means that a lot of really shitty code gets written. At my last job, we had one file that was 10,000 lines long. Basically, I never want to touch PHP again after that job.
Report: Blogging has yet to hit it's peak, but may this year
Finding good hackers is difficult in any case. If you manage to get one, they can learn Rails quickly. Unless you have a very urgent, short term need, you're taking the wrong approach if you're searching first and foremost for a rails guy rather than just someone who's good and willing to work with rails.
ValleyVag jokes about kicking out Google executives to save money
1.5 Billion Microsoft fine overturned
Ubuntu Dells not alone: Novell Lenovo Linux Laptops Later This Year
Just Say What Your Product Is.
(Forbes) Fatal Funding Mistakes for Startups
Angel Ventures Partners: Started by the 1st winner of "The Apprentice" TV Show
http://fuzzwich.com/minivid/minivid.php?vid=662

You are my new favorite website for when I'm too tired to code yet too wired to sleep...

Thank you!
Python and Django for web stuff, C++ for desktop stuff (games, 3D applications)
Default Mac OS X System Keyboard Bindings
in other news, so did Twytter and yLike
Sun Microsystems to Discount Servers for India, China Startups
Creators of ICQ Make a Live TV Network
TLC - How to Make Millions
20 Metros with Average Rent Under $800 or $1000
New Stock Options (Backdating) Fears in the Silicon Valley
Guess the #2 World's 'Best' Brand
Hacking 3rd Party Apps for the iPhone
How to Get From a 7 to a 10
Stuff To Do has drag/drop sharing of tasks, as well as the ability to look at how other people in your group have spent their time:

http://stufftodo.dedasys.com
10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job
Everything You Know About Scaling Is Wrong (good article)
I had to drop the built-in DB library once I needed to connect to multiple databases. Global DB connections = bad. I suspect that if I'd kept using it, I would've had problems with transactions too.

I had to replace some of the request dispatching when I wanted to add code that triggers on every request (eg. logging, transactions, custom session management, "who's online?", traffic analytics).

can u share these
3 Useful Resources for Building FaceBook Apps in ROR
Word Of Mouth Marketing [WOM] Techniques A
Love Jquery and I can't get enough of it!
I read that as saying they got YC funding on their second attempt.
21 Critical Life Lessons You Didn't Learn in School
I really like webpy and its open ended approach, but Django is just a more complete framework, and thats what I need for rapid development. django.contrib contains user/auth and other things I'd need to roll my own in webpy. And the middleware, like session stuff - beeing written for django - ties nicely in with all the helpers (generic views, etc..), while still being loosely coupled. Initially I thought that Django was mainly for news driven sites, but I find it to be just as flexible as Rails and more explicit and intuitive. So basically I'm looking for the solution that allows me to write the minimum amount of code, while still providing the flexibility I need. And of course it has to be Python (because that's what I prefer).
LAMP bundle.
>>"Open _is_ better, because closed just sits there.."

um, and wtf is that supposed to mean? better perhaps in the eyes of some geek elite, but not in the eyes of your mainstream users. they have no fucking clue what 'open' means.

i believe it was paul graham himself who said "make something people want"... he didn't say "make standards-compliant features, as determined by a few self-professed open standards committees & bloggers".

seriously.
Darn it I just placed an order with Dell for mine.
I'm using Java, too.
Facebook run-of-site ads cause problems for advertisers
Another work in progress tool to work together: a shared todo list + calendar application at http://tudulist.com

It is not really a startup or something like this, some week ago I finished to write the Ruby framework we are using in our company to develop web apps and I needed to test it a bit so I started writing this application that ended being good enough to be put online.

I'm continuing the development because at this point we are using it as a tool in my company and other companies of our friends are using this too. Feel free to try it and give suggestion now that it's the initial stage of development and there is a lot of room to change things.
The Fascination With ToDo Lists Continues
Spock Open Public Beta
Age and the entrepreneur, part 1: Some data
lisp + javascript
Seeing the virtual future (YCombinator - Idol for geeks)
"... He describes his career as following a "roadmap between a serial entrepreneur and investor". He's especially interested in micro investments such as those offered by US company Y Combinator: small packets of cash for very early start-ups in return for a stake in the business. The start-up's principals are also brought into Y Combinator for some intensive training in how to be a successful entrepreneur. Described by some as a sort of "Idol for geeks" where talents can be spotted, moulded and developed, Mr Leeb-du Toit believes there's merit in the approach, and is exploring whether something similar might work well in Australia. ..."

Above is the quote that caught my attention. Don't know about lawyers who understand technology & startups?
If you get your eclipse and ant build scripts setup right on your development box, deployment takes a single mouse click. It takes me ~10 seconds to sftp changes to pre-prod, stop tomcat, build, compile, and restart tomcat if you change your java class files on my W2K3 production server also running a stripped down version of eclipse (even less if just working with web files or jsps)
Never Ever Give Up.
I agree. The way I see it, is you don't apply to YC for the money at all. What you get out of it is connections and access to some of the best minds in the industry who have been there and done that (though of course, I am not speaking from experience here) to help you at the critical early stages of your venture, which will end up being immeasurably more valuable in the end.
> If they [existing telecoms] pay billions for spectrum, shouldn't they be entitled to use it as they see fit? What are we, communists?

Didn't you get the memo, Mr. Schlender? Communists are so last century. The bad guys of this centry are terrorists, not communists.
free idea: after seeding a community site for a little while, make it invite-only, where the number of invites is allocated based on karma.

No more "eternal september" effect.

I also wonder if there are any lessons to be learned from metafilter, which uses a $5 USD joining fee, plus rate limiting (one post per day to main site, one question per week to ask).
Nah Seriously! For geeks only. Name 3 things you can't live w/out ?
Internet ready laptop/ Cellphone/Coffee. I can do anything with these 3 guys. I am D'Artagnan and they are my 3 Mousquetaires.
F*ck Web 2.0
Accept a position as "Lead Developer"?
There's a promotion on the table for me to take over a small IT department at a smaller company that has different needs than the parent company it spun off of. It's not a heavy management role: there'd just be one network guy working for me. I love coding more than just about anything... but this looks like it'd be more of an analysis and knowledge management thing. I'm probably going to take it because it's the only way "up" in my current situation... but will I have killed my chances for becoming a hard-core heads-down code-cutting developer in the process?
'Earth Class Mail' Stars In TV's 'Startup Junkies'
The show will be presented in high-definition and will center on serial entrepreneur Ron Wiener, founder and chief executive of Earth Class Mail. The cast also includes Earth Class Mail employees as they try to market the product and attract a Series A round of funding. The company previously raised $2.8 million from angels and told VentureWire in January the Series A could be worth up to $8 million.
I'm a little confused. blored - do you mind clarifying?
Everyone would easily switch to a better mail system that offers some kind of a one-click migration/import from GMail, provided it is really better in some ways. In fact, however harsh it may sound, GMail can be ruined in a matter of months just because the majority of its user base is not loyal. Compare it with Apple in terms of loyalty, if in doubt.
What the hell where these guys thinking?!?!
Does creativity love constraint?
I also submitted this link because she is pretty! :)
What are students reading nowadays besides Harry Potter?  (Info needed to seed Study Stickes Facebook app.)
Although Study Stickies is aimed at helping students get more out of textbooks and technical books, I will probably need to seed it with stickies that are more relevant to their recreational reading.

So besides adding a ton of stickies about the Harry Potter novels (e.g., from biographies and literary criticism), what else should I do?
oxygen, water, sleep

sun, gravity, 3 dimensions

Now, my life would be very different without the Internet, soy protein, and the free software community.
Raising VC: What It Means To Be Asked For A Call
While the process varies by VC fund, a call typically means one of two things. Either the VC is interested in having you in for a meeting, but can't because of circumstantial issues (e.g., scheduling), or the VC needs a few high-level questions answered in order to see if you fit the investment criteria and determine if he wants to invite you in for a meeting.
Good point, adamdoupe. I've created a large project in straight PHP and it was a mess. Now I work with CakePHP, a framework similar to Rails, and it's 100... no, 1000... times cleaner and more scalable!
Google News Gets Comments - With a Big Twist
Great Presentations on Interface Design by Amy Hoy
Check out the slides for "When Interface Design Attacks!". She shares some great design tips and her slides are a joy to go through.
Cheers man!

I don't think there is any business (or success story) in the world that had all the doors open at the right time. You always have to keep pushing forward.
Web 2.0 Services Being Bought by Media Companies?
MySpace, The Onion (funny news outlet) Partner
How Apple's small things influence their big things
"if things were basically opened up between wealthy countries"

so, only between wealthy countries?
Actually, we consciously try to make this so. We try to make the questions on the application questions that would be useful for a startup to answer, even if they didn't submit it, and we try to make in-person interviews de facto consulting sessions that would be worth the time even for startups that didn't get funding.

Obviously it's harder to guarantee the latter, but it's what we aim for.