skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Advice on partnership issues.....
Hi,
A few months ago, 2 of my friends and I came up with an idea to create a website that would allow people to create and share polls, and analyze the results in various interesting ways. We did not know anything about web programming or databases but spent time trying to learn about it. Our aim was to build a quick "proof-of-concept" prototype without intially caring much about the UI/Design.

I knew someone from college who was a good hacker and asked him to join us. I felt he could help us with the technical issues, teach us how to architect the website and point us to the right tools we could use. He also needed housing for a few months and we thought he could stay and work with us. We pitched him about the idea and he seemed enthusiastic. To prevent disagreements in future, all 4 of us signed an agreement which clearly stated how much equity each person would get.

Things seemed to go well for a few months. We even managed to get a really basic prototype up and running. Then one night after dinner, the good hacker told us he would gradually step away from helping out. He wanted to focus on his day job and he told us that he had been helping us all along only because we provided him with free housing. Furthermore, he wasn't yet ready to make a major commitment to what we were working on. We were pretty upset but there was nothing we could do to get him to stay. He found housing soon afterwards and moved out.

We haven't been in touch with him for a while. Since he moved out, we have been persisting with our idea on weekends (all of us have 14-15 hour work-days at our day jobs). We are more experienced and have learnt a lot, particularly through places like HN.

One of our team-members just quit his job to work on this full-time. We are hoping to release a new version of our site (with a good UI and a more fully developed concept) by the end of September and apply to programs like YC in the fall.

Our only concern is, how can we draft a new agreement that voids the previous paternership agreement that we signed with the good hacker? We think it is only right that we compensate the good hacker for working with us and teaching us about things like good program design etc. However, given how he chose to drop out of the project in a sudden manner, we feel that he certainly doesn't deserve 10% of the initial equity. What do you suggest we do?

I was thinking of arranging a meeting with him over dinner and welcoming back, telling him that we would love to have him as a "technical" advisor". He wouldn't have to devote a significant amount of time to the project and we would still get the benefit of having someone experienced look at our code, suggest better ways of designing the application, and recommend new tools that might be useful for our development process. Is this a good idea?

Apologies if this is a long post. Just wanted to get the whole story out there so I could hear some good suggestions.

Thanks,
This is what is wrong with Corporate America today. Why should you need to work the system? That's why some startups are a lot more successful, they're just a lot more efficient while the awesome-hacker-in-big-company-is-still-getting-to-know-the-CEO-s-secretary :-)
Yeah, cammon, give us a link... It will not hurt anything to do so.
Next up for the ax: gray hat SEO, where you suck in an RSS feed of stuff you didn't write and puke it into a Wordpress blog full of ads on a regular basis.

These types of sites kill Google's quality and I don't expect them to live long.
Just because I've rationalised them to be opposing doesn't mean they're not both true.

great job, few people notice false dichotomies. I constantly refer to a checklist of known cognitive biases to help catch myself.
How many Objective-C books were on the shelf at barnes and noble before apple used it? Now there is always one or two and I expect that to grow with iphone uptake.
Don't know about the parachuting in bit and most people won't have/use computers, but mobiles are making big impact/inroads in third/developing worlds. Ideally do something using them.

So, perhaps a text based mobile service (most places do not have mobile-internet yet) to do something useful may be of value e.g. to find the current market price of rice (to buy/sell without being cheated) or warn about events like potential flood/hurricane risk or when the next bus is coming or text-based bartering system or even just teaching the kids how to use the OLPCs effectively.
Declarative UI idea is here:
http://code.google.com/p/google-web-toolkit-incubator/wiki/D...

Whether you like GWT or not (cause it uses Java) is another discussion.
GWT compiles to optimized+slimmest JS.

Obj-J doesn't. In fact, it does runtime translation. Speed-wise you can test 280 North Slide app yourself.

SproutCore is a JS framework that has the looks-n-feel of developing Rails (haven't tried it out, only saw the demo/tutorial).
Nearly by definition a hacker is someone who doesn't aspire to live in compliance.

What strikes me is how much the Ivy League issue bothers HN readers, measured by comment number and intensity. As if there was something unsaid in the lives of each of us, something profoundly disturbing.
<script>alert("my panties in a knot")</script>
Indeed, I completely abandonned the idea of abstracting HTML/CSS/Javascript away completely by building a higher-level language on top. The problem with trying to do that is that you have an unsolvable Ease-of-Use VS Completeness problem. If you want your code to be easier to write you'll have to shun some features (ex: html attributes) and that will come to bite you in the ass later. But if you support everything HTML does then you end up with... HTML!
Bedding | Crafts, soft and home furninshings from Dunelm
Where they good programmers? Some of the best programmers I have ever met started off doing other things in life (or never even went on a CS course). You cannot begrudge people for starting on different life paths.
submitted well over 100 resumes

Perhaps you should consider quality, not quantity.

I have been through a similar situation but have never sent out more than one resume at a time, ever. And every one was custom.

Whenever you find a prospective opportunity, learn everything you can about it. Try to get a personal introduction if you can. Write a cover letter and resume that specifically targets what they want, not what you want. Avoid headhunters (if you can) and follow up, follow up, follow up. Use any means you have to uncover opportunities (some call this "networking"). Better yet, get someone to create a position for you. (I know this is tough, but so what.)

I see entry level positions all the time. Be prepared to move if you have to. Take the waiter job and then plug away for an IT job in your spare time. I know there's something out there for you, persevere and find it.
Right, that makes sense for the moo cards. These are standard business cards though. People won't recognize them as special and will still just throw them away.

I've ordered both smart levels and moo. Moo is pretty awesome, but definitely not so-much-more-expensive awesome.
Scientists get online news aggregator
Wix Opens Its Flash Publishing Platform In Public Beta
I would argue that there are no contexts where "working the system" isn't necessary for success, including startups. The systems you have to work here can even be more difficult because they are distributed -- investors, potential customers, etc. More like seduction than working your way to the top of a prison gang, but "working the system" nonetheless.

"You have to work the system" can be shortened to "You have to work". You have to do things that are uncomfortable, that you think you shouldn't have to do, in order to succeed.
Thanks for sharing this..
An open, frank conversation sounds like the best approach. He might be entirely reasonable and helpful to have as a stakeholder in the future.

But if you are at an impass, and you really feel strongly about it, press the 'delete' key and start over from scratch, except this time have vesting over multiple years for the founders stock. This way if anyone bails before the company is up and running, they will get a percentage based on their time invested.
Point taken.

All the publicity I have seen so far has been favourable i.e. not bad and will encourage people to join rather than leave.

Was wondering about other precedents?
"lower trade barriers"? When market isolation is one of the key ways the U.S. has become so highly productive?
I'm using it now and it's pretty darn awesome.

Is it fair to call it a "distributed reddit" ?
> Am I the only one who is sick and tired of all this "honoring" one of the biggest bandits in history?

I'm a lot less interested in MS-bashing or Gates-bashing than I was ten years ago. I once thought it was critical that Linux fulfill the destiny I thought it had, of becoming the dominant desktop OS, and that Microsoft was going to spoil that utopian future. (Instead we get a just-OK future where Apple makes BSD/NeXT a popular but not dominant alternative, and desktop OSes are rendered as irrelevant by the browser as some people once they they would be by Java.)

Gates is on his way out, and without realizing my worst nightmares of locking everyone into having to use Microsoft Everything whether they want to or not.

I do like your concise list of all his advantages -- handy for when people claim that there's no such thing as fortunate circumstance.
Before you do anything else, you need to read up on M&A. Buy some books. A lot is on the Web. Some of the things you should know about off the top of my head (to get a sense whether you are reading the right things or to help you search for stuff): earn-outs, holdbacks, escrow, non-competes, indemnification, capital gains taxes, stock vs asset transactions, arbitration clauses.

That being said, there are numerous ways to value a company, e.g. multiples of revenue, users/customers, traffic, assets, etc. What makes sense is very case-by-case and industry specific. But what it comes down to is that valuation is just a tool to make a case for deal terms. In the end, a deal is an agreement between two parties about what the terms of the deal are worth to them.

They probably already have an idea in mind about the minimum they will pay, and they are probably trying to draw an initial # out of you. I'm not going to tell you how to negotiate, but just be very wary of this, i.e. throwing out an initial #. It can set the stage for the whole transaction, and since you obviously don't already have a well thought out valuation, you may come to regret whatever you throw out.

Whether to work for them or not and how that would look like, is again, very case by case. For example, it could be structured in a way where if certain targets are met you get more money (earn-outs), or it could be a short transition consulting contract, or simply a salaried position not otherwise tied to the deal. I personally would make sure whatever you get up front can not be influenced by your behavior as an employee, i.e. are completely independent.
My photos of the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62117375@N00/sets/7215760577449...
Unique monthly visitors, monthly revenue and or compete/alexa are also valuable alternatives.
You can't make a blanket statement about whether this is good or bad; it's a tool - it depends on how it's used.
No thank you. I'm trying to spend less time on the internet, not more. It's like announcing better crack to a recovering addict.
8 Free Online Resources For Learning A New Language
It would be interesting to see what happened to that if Google bought Yahoo.
Love the new optional [scribd] tag
It looks like the way HN handles submitted pdf files has changed! Now the title links to the original, and there's a link "[scribd]" after the title if you prefer to view it in the Scribd viewer. Thanks pg!
>My life plan has been to succeed in business, then spend my time and money trying to make the word better in innovative ways. Step one is just taking longer than I hoped...

Step one also makes the world a better place. Most of the phenomenal standard of living that we enjoy comes from people trying to make themselves a buck by improving production and distribution processes and inventing new technology. GE has done more good for the world that any charity ever has.
Development on shared hosting? Shudder.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Is it possible to come up with another agreement that voids the previous one already signed? What happens to the 10% we initially gave him?
Google's Android: Why cell phone companies must embrace their dumb pipe future
Debian on the eee pc ?
If the robot stays running for a long time, it consumes 100% of its brain and falls over.
I agree with this sentiment. Lawyers have a much lower risk tolerance than entrepreneurs for obvious reasons. Yes there are horror stories of underrepresented entrepreneurs getting screwed, but what gets mentioned less is the opposite situation that tptacek alludes to, where deals are killed because too much control is given over to the lawyers, and the forest is lost to obsessive focus on the trees. As nice as it would be to turn over control and wash your hands of all legal decision-making, lawyers must be managed, just like any other employee or contractor. It can be intimidating for young entrepreneurs to override the recommendations of older, more experienced attorneys, but that is exactly what is sometime required to make deals like this go through.

As has been mentioned on this forum many times, there are plenty of law firms (in the Bay Area at least) who have emerging business practices that will defer your fees until an acquisition or an investment event occurs.
Your deal doesn't have to be exclusive. Indeed, it may be in your interest to supply content or functionality in a non-exclusive deal. (A good example of this would be Microsoft licensing MSDOS to IBM on a non-exclusive basis.)

If you've got good content and functionality which is wanted by one website then there exists the possibility of others wanting it too. Getting the first sale is the hardest and one customer has already "beaten a path to your door".

A licensing deal would allow you to remain independent and it would reduce the legal complexity of an acquisition to that of a simple business deal.

Tags: [business] [licensing] [acquisition] [Microsoft] [IBM] [MSDOS] [content] [website] [sales] [legal]
3D movies are coming to your home, but should they?
Translating Information into Knowledge: profound, real feedback email from a user
>Wouldn't it be more helpful if a better percentage of entrepreneurs worked on projects that help the world directly and powerfully?

I think the world would be a better place if people in poor and starving countries could sustainably enjoy a standard of living similar to what we have in the west. Did the west get so rich because of people trying to help us, or was our wealth a by-product of the capitalist system that we never consciously strove for? I would say the second.
If anything it will only add uniques thus valuation thus offers on the table thus better deal
Equity:

If he had not helped you, would you have started? Or got as far as you have? Does he want equity? If he is happy with a lump sum settlement, then pay him what you both think is acceptable for what was achieved/developed up to the point he left.

Advisor Role:

Good idea to save you money in the short term and get external and experienced eyes looking at the code/work.

But, if he is not interested in the long-term will he provide valuable and considered advice? Are you making things worse for yourself trying to keep him onboard? Personally, I'd say it is probably wise to part ways and employ him on a consultancy basis to help you as and when needed. It keeps things cleaner and less complex.
Ruby Security Patches Lead to Segfaults
>On the other hand, the work that I do do generates economic value, some of which is taxed, some of which does go towards making the world a better place.

When you weigh the negative effects of programs created from spending tax dollars against the positive effects, I suspect the net result is something close to zero or even below that. I wouldn't count on doing good for society by paying taxes.
All I can suggest is, do everything you can to get them to give you a number first. Otherwise, you're just bidding against yourself. It can only hurt you to give a number first.
Thanks,
The consultancy idea might be a good idea when we get money.
I love this question and hope somebody has some useful information or at least that you post your experience once the issue has played out. This is a very common scenario, rookie founders of small companies getting approached for acquisition, but there simply is not enough info on the sell side. The buyers know a ton and you have no info.

We were approached early on and I asked everyone I knew for advice (founders, corp dev friends, former EIRs) and nobody had anything concrete, especially about the part which was most important to me: how do I value and sell the company.

Another hard part for me was determining if I wanted to sell. What I really needed was for them to give me a price so I could think about it. What I ended up doing was having the meeting and telling them both that I wasn't sure and that all my friends in the company had told me not to work there. What I figured was best case they'd give me a hard sell and worst case the conversation would end. I ended up with the worst case.

What people have told me afterward was that taking $1M at this age is a golden opportunity since you'll have a lifetime of ideas so you should go into this meeting selling. Tell them how big of an opportunity you open up for their business.

As for value, this is what I've heard. As a baseline start with $1M per employee (so for you $2M) and then let that number vary wildly. If you are essentially broke and they're bailing you out you might expect as little as $200k. If you're a high flyer you might expect as much as $10M.
That's not what I said, though. The fact that I might be tempted to break a rule doesn't mean I'm morally obliged to shed tears for those who break it and get burned. The folks who were most hurt here were the investors, who clearly bought into the scam not realizing the risks involved. So if any tears are shed it should be for them.

But what really irked me about the article was the pseudo-nationalist tone. "Who cares if they were parasites? Those were canadian parasites that Google killed!"
This vaguely reminded me of the movie "Boiler Room".

If it sounds too good to be true...
Scott McNealy addresses UK entrepreneurs
Just like someone can make a good amount of money playing Russian Roulette for money. But most who try that... and the risk increases with usage.
OpenMoko - Open source phone goes mass-market
This was a true triple take. I was going to read it because of the title, then decided against because it was in businessweek, then decided to read it after all because of the positive comment by amrithk.

Good article, but now my neck hurts!
Especially porn.
In my opinion (I'm in the process of selling my startup) before spending money on lawyers there are a few things you can do, some already mentioned:

- Do your homework on M&A.

- Study the guys who have approached you. Based on your knowledge of the market try have an understanding of your value to them.

- Important: This is a SALES job. It does not matter how much your cost has been or even how much money you are making (well, it matters, but it's secondary). The key valuation factor is how much you are worth to them, i.e., what would cost them (resources and time) to build what you have built and take to the levels (revenue, pageviews, registered users) you have taken it.

- Which also means it's important to understand why they want to buy you: Your technology? User base? User engagement?

- If you have done sales before, or you're good at negotiating, meet with them and listen to them. You don't have to commit to anything, but it'll be good to hear where they are comfortable and where they are not. It's ok to initially give them ranges rather than concrete numbers to get the ball rolling - again it's sales and don't look at it from a hacker's perspective! While to an engineer a price range of, say, "10 to 20 Million" sounds too vague, in negotiation it's a good starting point. Do not limit yourself, just give them enough so that they start talking and giving you ideas.

- Whether to do it or not is a question that goes back to your goals and dreams. If you're looking for a job that pays the bills, you can gradually grow it, and you can be your own boss and work on your own schedule then why sell (I'm assuming you are making money). If you want to make a bigger chunk of money, say to buy a house, and at the same time have a good salary, then sell and become their employee.

- The employment agreement itself is also subject to negotiation. You can promise that you'll stay at least a year, so that you have the flexibility of getting out later. Or you can ask for special arrangement such as moving or not moving, keeping your site independently managed, etc. Again, think of what you would like to happen and talk to them. If they have approached you they will be willing to listen, and good negotiation will get you where you want to be.

- When you're ready to make promises hire a lawyer :-)

Good luck, and congratulations.
I think Vimeo has high quality video and a great interface.
On the other hand, it will cause this thread to come up in a Google search for "<site_name> acquisition", which could have a negative impact on the deal. (Although putting a link in a user profile might not have the same consequences...)
Introduction to Collective Intelligence
Does there need to be some analogue of Feynman + Hawking etc, where theres both epic insight and just generally an outgoing ridiculous persona and also some reasonably good popular expositions of deep ideas?

What ideas in CS are as interesting to the layman as the most interesting parts of physics? Tell a layman about black holes, galactic collisions, big bangs, quantum weirdness, nuclear fusion, or any of those other things in physics which are unimaginably (to us) big, small, hot, cold, fast, slow, or weird, and for the most part (with the exception of particularly dull laymen) they'll be fascinated. How much can you tell a layman about CS that will get the same reaction?
So... you haven't read the article.
The browser was fine - but gmail would show "Loading..." for indefinite lengths of time using the javascript version of gmail.
what's with the tag spam? Do we need those?
How do you prepare to launch your app?
I searched for this topic on searchYC and could not find anything super in depth, so I apologize if this is uninteresting to you. I am having difficulty preparing my brain to take the leap from “stealth mode” to “launch mode”, and I think the lack of feedback/teamwork is to blame since I have been working on this project for about 6 months off and on by myself while going to school. I am about to launch this project, but I am not sure how to approach it.

Here is my problem:

I currently have a group of friends on my app in a “private beta” phase, but I would like to tap in to the great feedback the HN community has to offer so that I could make real improvements on my app before it launches.

Like everyone else, I also hope to get covered on TechCrunch, Mashable, VentureBeat, etc. in order for the tech world to take me seriously, but I’ve gathered they will only cover you if you break silence through them.

I would feel better about promoting my app AFTER you guys looked at it, but is there a way to get the best of both worlds? Is it really that important to be taken seriously by the blogosphere at first?

In addition, I’m wondering if I should do the whole closed launch thing where you have to have a special invite key to sign up. I personally hate these, but am starting to understand how invites make blogs feel special and attract potential users to jump at the opportunity. What do you think?

I know some of you have been in similar situations, and I hope to learn what you did and how it turned out for you.