skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yeah but would you have startup destroying conflicts over whether or not founders were bringing in investors and advisors before you had a product?

I'm not sure I'd question the commitment of people who were actively building the product either. It sounds like this startup really had some forward momentum with people getting stuff done. I'm not sure the authors expectations were reasonable, and I think he had to work fairly hard to kill this startup.
The email address formerly known as gmail.

And then maybe, a few years down the line 'the address'
Aren't strategic partnerships a major tool for startups? What have freemium and all-free models done to the "competitive weapon" of undercutting competitor pricing? How can you access the risk of complementary endeavors?
I don't think a network is very crucial to a startup's survival.

I think the value of the technology is.

IMO, where value exists, everything naturally follows, including people/companies that want to network with value.

I found the story to be rather depressing, yet there were a few points that were - to me anyway - glaringly obvious.

Someone focusing on suit type endeavors when that someone is an engineer/geek/hacker/techie/[insert name for us here] is irresponsible in that it amounts to a gross misallocation of resources.

In other words, any double digit IQ'er wearing a suit can network, but not everyone can design and code and troubleshoot, which is what creates value.
Lossy abstractions.
Are you planning on a 4 year journey? Software patents take allot longer, though I suppose investors like the patent pending logo. I would look for someone local as they are much easier to deal with when trying to explain your invention, which is the most important part to the success of the patent. I tried to get a software patent and unless you have a new process... adding redundant code to detect copyright infringement may be a good way to go (and much cheaper).

When you search for one you just need to make sure that they have someone who specializes in software patents. Initially they are going to do the patent search for not a ton of money ($1,000 - $2,000) so you can feel them out a little and switch if you don't like working with them.
2 Newsfeeds to get

calculatedrisk.blogspot.com

bigpicture.typepad.com

Should keep you filled.
"Ruby isn't slow. If anyone tells you PHP is faster than Ruby, tell them: 'Benchmark it.'"
The headline is a quotation from Yehuda Katz's MerbCamp closing keynote. See the summary of the keynote here at the bottom of this link:

http://rubypond.com/articles/2008/10/12/merbcamp---day-2/
> I thought I would never say this to anyone, but you are not ready to be a CEO.

That's never a productive thing to say to someone. Either it's true - in which case one of the symptoms of their unreadiness is that they won't hear you - or it's false, in which case you're just wrong.

There've been many times when I've thought it about someone, but the only thing you can do there is avoid working for/with them.
Well I've been stupidly printing money in this market.
Correct! I call this the "cult of the product." If we just build the most awesomest widget possible, everyone will love it and give us money!

Or, "build it and they will come."

Wrong. You need to have market hypotheses and you need to build the smallest test cases possible to try and falsify these hypotheses.

That means instrumentation, a data-driven mindset, and the ability to iterate quickly.

You'll know very quickly if you're sucking. And you probably are.
There is no solution to resources which were already misallocated. The best we can do is to 1) not missallocate more resources (via a ballout) and 2) end the system that credited the debt bubble. Here's how to do that:

End Fractional Reserve Banking

Allow banks only to lend their deposits. This also eliminates the need for central banks - let people use 100% deposit banks when they want deposit security. This will prevent large debt bubbles (speculative investment bubbles) and the resulting massive misallocation of resources.
End Inflationary Monetary Policies

Never print more money. Period. Use smaller denominations as slow deflation occurs due to an increasing population. This will keep prices in line with value and allow people to save without making high risk investments.
+50 points for people starting to pay attention to something whose dangers was clearly written about for 5 to 8 years. No, it didn't make the front page of mass consumer papers, but there has been solid information that the economic structure of at least the last 20 years could become unstable and was being abused.

Economic systems do end. Currencies do die or lose their leadership position. Has America's time come? Maybe. I think its close enough to it that its wise to think about basic things like where and how to live safe and comfortable. If we are in for 10 years of depression, it is wise to not live in large urban areas that will see crime rate soar.
I think that courting investors and obtaining advisors is one thing, general networking is another, which is what I am referring to, and by general networking I mean building contacts/telling people about what you are doing/determining who can provide you with what.

I agree with the second part of your comment.

On the other hand, some folks take being pragmatic to an extreme, as in no order/uniformity/quality control/structure/thought into design/effort to identify possible future issues and a general just get whatever done in a hurry and push it out the door attitude . . . which is all just as bad as too much formally define roles/establish this and that and the other/talk about and plan stuff to death/posture around with this and that and the other . . .
Do we have to litter the frontpage with articles about what kind of articles we should have on the front page?

You get the impression the site is going under.

Sure this is a forum so we're interested in what's on the front page etc but still.

We are the guys and girls that vote on which articles are good, not the people that whine about it, right?
Gluttonberg - A Merb-based content management system
Poll: How many hours do you work a week?
This question is mostly targeted to those who run startups full-time. If you do a startup in your spare-time include time spent at both that and your full-time job in your choice.
0-4 (Tim Ferris Style)
30-40
There is no telling which businesses will come out from the ashes. To be sure, entrepreneurs will find their way, whether its selling vegetables or selling communications tools. Speculation is futile ;)
I'm in SF, and yes, I'm serious about what I'm doing. I'm aware of the timeframe, and I hope that I never have to seek enforcement of any patents. I think its worth it to throw up barriers to any of the big boys that may choose to compete with my product. Patents may also add to the potential acquisition value of the product. I hope few people here will recommend a quality attorney or firm.

Thanks for the comment!
I'm not saying this piece was bad, but this is like ... 1% of what you would get if you just read this:

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

God if I wasn't a heterosexual, I would marry David Hansson

See his presentation at "startup school 08" .
You won't be disappointed.

( ouch instantly downmodded for recommending other beneficial resources.... 0.o )
I agree with all of that. I mean the author may have been saved a lot of hassle further down the track with failing quickly, or he might have killed a good potential company - I really can't say even though I put forth an opinion on it.

If you have good people, some funding, a demo and the start of a code base then thats a lot to lose over your expectations on networking and days of the week devoted to the startup. Even if the truth is more networking and fulltime cofounders would have helped.
I work 168 hours per week. I don't spend all of those hours sitting in front of a keyboard; I don't spend all of those hours consciously thinking about what I'm doing; for that matter, I'm obviously not even awake for all of those hours.

But at some subconscious level, I'm always thinking about work -- even when I'm sleeping. I've lost count of the number of times when the solution to a problem has come to me in a dream.
Computers 'Taught' To Search For Photos Based On Their Contents
The little Leopard laptop (Dell Inspiron Mini 9 running OS X)
It's an instance of a more general pattern: your rational mind is superseded by another, more primitive part of you, which really only understands one type of "argument"--Pavlovian conditioning. A lot of things started to make sense when I began viewing myself this way (e.g. willpower).

The second major revelation was that this primitive part should not be dismissed as weakness or a useless carryover from a different evolutionary era. I know that in my case, if I always acted in ways that seemed perfectly rational to me at the time, with nothing inhibiting me, I'd be dead many times over by now.
Eh... founders should always be talking with different, intelligent people and soaking up ideas. If that's what you mean by networking, fine. But I think the networking tptacek refers to is the type that's organized X times/mo. and for the purpose of professional development. It's those ad hoc events where this group is encouraged to co-mingle with this one.

It has its place, but just as useful at times is getting together with a group of peers you trust and exchanging notes. Having a few beers and talking about what challenges you're having, what breakthroughs you've made...

I think the tradtional idea of networking is overemphasized among a lot of startups (and sometimes dangerously so) because it's an abstraction away from the work that keeps them alive. You've got to make sure you keep a watchful eye on your schedule and don't confuse attending X and Y event for Z productivity.
Oh, I get it. 168=24*7
:P
I thought the ACM talk at UIUC was the one I saw where they said it was based on growth in the cell-phone-video and broadband industries.

Hmm, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssfmTo7SZg

The genesis section starts around 25 minutes in. Looks like we're both right: they mention the Wired article at 25 minutes in, then the cell-phone video aspect (via Indian Ocean tsunami) at 29:00, and the other enabling technologies (including broadband) at 31:41.
Lol you can see the two kids in the orange sitting on the stairs in the middle of the screen. I'll say that the stairs were very uncomfortable.

I saw an e-mail that one of the founders wrote, and I can't remember where it was.. maybe at the second meeting which was private/not recorded. The contents of the e-mail were asking friends to tell their friends, and they offered to pay girls to sign up on the site and upload videos (thinking it would draw in guys).

It's kind of silly to argue how YouTube started--the argument I was trying to make initially was that your code will probably be erased shortly after it's written, especially if you're not sure what your company will be working on.
I ran into this for the Treasure Island Music Festival. It cost $10 more to order online through TM than buy at the box office. This makes about as much sense to me as CDS financial transactions -- if TM wasn't a monopoly, no way this would be the status quo.
Spectacular failure in two lines of conversation:

Me: What do you think of Strauss?
Elbot: I don't know what a Strauss is!
Me: Richard Strauss was one of the greatest composers of the early 20th century.
Elbot: Oh, I talked to Richard this morning.

I think Elbot's authors need to work on keeping a bit more state between comments.
I think we don't take advice seriously at first due to the sacrifices we have to make to truly embrace it. Advice gets crap-filtered. This is as it should be, because at first you don't really know if it's good advice -- maybe that proverb just doesn't apply in this situation, maybe it's just something that sounds reasonable but isn't actually true, etc.

You can be told, "look both ways before you cross the street," but it takes being hit by a car to really convince you to make the sacrifice of abandoning your current thought process whenever you approach a road.
Out of curiosity, what was it you were trying to build?
IMO, where value exists, everything naturally follows, including people/companies that want to network with value.

This is overly optimistic about the capacity of your fellow man to recognize value. Sometimes you just have to tell them what the value is, and if you don't have a network, you have no one to tell. Sounds ridiculous to nerds like you and I, I know, but if you spend a little time in the corporate world you'll begin to see how much major purchase decisions are made based on what a trusted individual recommends. A lot of times the "trusted" individual is a vendor with a vested interest in selling something. This actually works better in the long run than you might think, because most people work in the same business for many years, and if one vendor screws them (while seeming very nice), they have time to learn and change to another vendor (probably also someone they've spoken to before).

But, I do think the OP does have some prioritization issues. It always comes back to the product. If you don't have a great product, you don't have a company worth networking for.
The button is misleading. It doesn't send you your password, but a link to reset it like any other "secure" application.
Some more links if you really dare to look into the abyss:

http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor

In particular (but have a drink and take a deep breath)
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/253933/revisiting_my_...

And for the best commentary and aggregation:
http://ftalphaville.ft.com
All I'm saying is don't assume that all people/businesses have the same goals, and don't assume that everyone has the same definition of success.
How to fight a rumor
The title of this article is misleading - I very much doubt this thing came close to passing the test.

> Please tell me one thing you know.
It would be nice if you could tell me something, such as a fairy tale about robots.

> Do you know any fairy tales?
Does this mean you would like me to tell you my story?

> If that is something you know.
It's about time that you came to see me. What were you doing before you came?

> Before I came I was reading news.ycombinator.com but that's beside the point, I'd like to know something you know.
Couldn't you tell me something for a change, for example: Why don't you human beings rust when it rains on you?

> I just told you something about me. Don't you remember what it is?
I'll say one thing: You seem highly interested in robotic opinions.
My first thought was, "Hmmm...so this guy had several co-founders, and all of them left in disgust. What's the common variable?"

Sounds like OP has some personality issues that need to be worked out. And, I got a distinct "mad with power" vibe, as well. Early stage company founders do not need a boss. If they do, they're already doomed to failure. It sounds like this fellow just likes the idea of being chief of something, and isn't all that good at it. Many nerds have started companies without management chops or a good personality, but they made up for it by producing code that solved a problem. I'm getting the distinct impression the OP (who may or may not be strong on the code front) is definitely weak on the management and personality front, but wanted to spend all of this time managing and "networking".

I don't claim to be an expert on this stuff, but I am a nerd, and I do produce (when it's my place to do so, though in my current startup, I produce far less code than my co-founder), and I think I would have ditched this startup, too. Nerds, in general, aren't good at being bossed around, and the kind that start companies definitely aren't good at being bossed around.

But, I agree with you. The guy probably does actually have a good company in him (because dedication and a healthy appetite for risk are the primary requirements...everything else pales in comparison). He just needs to keep assessing how he can do things better next time, particularly when it comes to interacting with co-founders.
This reminds me of my attempts to teach A.L.I.C.E. ( http://alice.pandorabots.com/ ) :

Human: Who is the prime minister of britain?

ALICE: Tony Blair.

Human: No, it is Gordon Brown now.

ALICE: Oh. Are you serious? Should I know it is?

Human: Yes, I've told you so before, please remember.

ALICE: I will ask my botmaster to program it. Take it easy. What happened after please remember ?

Human: So who is the prime minister in the uk?

ALICE: Dude! Tony Blair.
> Allow banks only to lend their deposits.

That doesn't work in a bank run. Central banks or some similar mechanism is needed to fix the asymmetry of time for deposits (e.g. savings) and loans (e.g. mortgages.)

Due to our behavior set on risk aversion most of us wouldn't take bonds matching the times of a mortgage. No matter how good the deal is. That's what the bankers exploit.
You're not really answering the question in the spirit it was asked. At the very least I don't think you should count the time you spend on YC News as work (unless you're actually pg or your work somehow relates to it).
Slicehost is down
Apple gets competition (it seems). About time. Wonder how this will affect the iPhone in the future.
I agree with your point in the very early stages of a company

Networking for the purpose of getting to know people can be useful, but during the early stages of a startup if you are out talking to people your goal should be to understand your target market better. Otherwise, don't worry about networking instead of coding until you need to raise money.

I completely disagree with this point...

"Someone focusing on suit type endeavors when that someone is an engineer/geek/hacker/techie/[insert name for us here] is irresponsible in that it amounts to a gross misallocation of resources."

What do you plan to do if that person doesn't exist? Wait to sell your product until you can hire one? Get another co-founder to go out and raise money? PG talks about Sam Altman pitching phone execs the early days of Loopt to great success, and his background was CS not sales.

"any double digit IQ'er wearing a suit can network, but not everyone can design and code and troubleshoot, which is what creates value."

There are two fallacies here.

First, the fallacy that everyone can network equally well. Some people are incredible at networking, they can network so well that they are a valuable asset to a company for that reason alone. (See Keith Ferazzi) Everyone can "network" but only certain people can make their network pay very well.

Second, that only coding creates value. A great product still doesn't sell itself. What do you think Apple would be without brilliant marketing? You can have the best product in the world technically, but in terms of market value you have nothing if its not sold.
Nah, just sources that have been beaten to death around these parts.
Conventional + Unconventional Marketing
> We are the guys and girls that solve this, not the people that whine about it, right?

I don't know about you but I don't have a trillion dollars. And I bet most readers here have debt due to funding their startups and not having a safe job.

This is a case of renegotiating the best you can and trying not to pass forward whatever pain you get. If you do so, you'll be as good as dead in startup-land when this recession is over.
There are some great companies built without a product. Often times you can fake sell before a product exists and give a refund to prove that a market exists before development. Otherwise all your product dev can be wasted.

I know successful (>10M revenue) companies who have mocked up a brochure and sold it this way. Their thought was "if they don't bring out a credit card right away you aren't solving a pain, you dont have a product".
Anyone else noticed how rather rude that character looks at a small size when viewing on the HN front page? ;-)
Back up. Took 14 minutes.
Instead of testing it, you might have more fun by chatting with it in a simple way.

Also, check out http://chatbotgame.com.
Instead I would recommend "Four Steps to the Epiphany" by Gary Blank

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/09...

I think this book would have helped with some of the prioritization issues the author of this blog post describes.
That seems like a clever way of rephrasing the question rather than an answer.
Eval is what makes TCO hard to implement in Javascript. It is extremely hard to perform certain optimizations in an environment where any symbol can be referenced at any time. If you had a pragma that said "this function never calls eval or calls anything that calls eval" it would be much simpler.
At least now more true than ever though.
David recommends taking a more tangible approach. We might not get away with pie-in-the-sky stuff in this economy anymore.

Maybe I just wasn't clear. What I got from this article was the very simple "Get Real" concept. No need to focus on intangibles until you have the only tangible that matters:
your product.

I agree this concept is so "basic" but if this article is making top page, perhaps we still have some more beating to do?
I'd be interested in hearing more about the people working Time Ferris Style.
I said 60-70. I'm a grad student so I basically spend 50-60 of those at school, and probably another up to another 10 over a weekend working on stuff. Technically however, learning, attending class, and doing homework isn't work.

I do however spend about 10+ hours working as a TA for my dept.
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That snowman is a real square.

For me on Windows XP:

Google Chrome: Square (Fail)

IE7: Square (Fail)

Opera 9.52: Snowman (Pass)

Firefox 2.x: Snowman (Pass)

I don't know a lot about unicode, does anyone know if there is a solution to the "I'm doing the obvious wrong thing by rendering an incorrect glyph" problem? It seems like it would be pretty cool to have rendering engines report back code points that they were unable to render, allowing the application to signal to the user that something is wrong, or even better yet, offer to launch a service to find a font that has that code point.
Take Roubini with a grain of salt. He's been calling for the credit freeze among other things for at least two years, and now that more people are giving him attention, his views are getting amplified.