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story
mikesabat
2007-03-24T22:44:54
Starbucks - How to Dilute a Brand
null
http://mikesabat.wordpress.com/2007/03/24/starbucks-how-to-dilute-a-brand/
2
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story
kushalc
2007-03-24T23:10:27
Someone asked about innovation, education, and systematic encouragement at Startup School? Meet Sir Ken Robinson at TED.
null
http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=ken_robinson
3
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story
amichail
2007-03-24T23:35:15
AJAX Lockdown: A new concept of data privacy and security for AJAX-based Web applications using client-side data encryption
null
http://ajax.sys-con.com/read/327940.htm
2
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comment
zach
2007-03-25T00:15:50
null
Maybe it's for the best. It'll probably be better to read it when it's (presumably) edited into essay form.
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jamongkad
2007-03-25T00:29:46
Featuritis vs. the Happy User
null
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/06/featuritis_vs_t.html
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jamongkad
2007-03-25T00:31:01
null
Admittedly I'm guilty of this...adding too many features to any app be it web or desktop. Just goes to show you that the KISS principle is still alive and kicking.
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jamongkad
2007-03-25T00:34:05
null
Dunno but I think your on to something here. Only one way to find out if your idea works though...
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nickb
2007-03-25T02:24:24
null
Interesting app but I have no idea who these people are and hosting our extremely sensitive data on an unknown site like that is not something I will do.
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story
juwo
2007-03-25T02:35:11
I am looking for a co-founder
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chandrab
2007-03-25T02:38:14
null
Joshwa...thanks for putting this up.
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juwo
2007-03-25T02:39:43
null
I am looking for a co-founder<p>Qualities:<p>-ability to get things done.<p>-integrity. honest and fair, but also being able to recognize the truth/reality (critical for business success, I believe).<p>-determination to dig out of a hole; perseverance but not stubbornness.<p>-humility; accepting the possibility you could be wrong even when you think you are right. willing to learn from others and situations<p>-admit responsibility when you screw up.<p> Skills:<p>Either business skills or the stuff I am deficient in: flash (seems like cool demos cant exist without them), javascript (to manipulate different media players), and able to design nice web pages.<p>If you are a developer, I expect you to be very competent.<p>I have an application that IMHO is different. It is close to beta, and I wrote it in Swing, Java. However, people say it is not user friendly. I have also lost a lot of time (in part, because I am cautious and also had bad advice. I should have released it long ago).<p> I am willing to give you a one hour online demo/presentation. However I would need some kind of assurance from you that the ideas will not be copied nor given or divulged to potential competitors.<p>Please email me and tell me more about yourself and if you think there might be a good match.<p>thanks,<p>Anil Philip<p>[email protected]<p><a href="http://juwo-works.blogspot.com/">http://juwo-works.blogspot.com/</a><p><a href="http://juwo.com">http://juwo.com</a>
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juwo
2007-03-25T03:05:45
null
when people wantonly sprinkle the F word around (as she does all over her blog), I lose respect for them.
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extantproject
2007-03-25T03:50:15
null
Yes! I've recently learned not to be overcritical about my ideas. They really are worthless. Execution is where it's at.
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story
pg
2007-03-25T03:59:06
What Should I Say?
null
http://whatshouldisay.com/
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[ 6117 ]
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story
zaidf
2007-03-25T04:08:44
Blockbuster and NetFlix: "...one frustrated Blockbuster customer invented a smarter way and accelerated the evolution of its business model"
null
http://www.capstrat.com/cs/insight/articles/bustingtheblockbusterbrand.cfm
2
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story
pashle
2007-03-25T04:24:11
What can I contribute to help you out?
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1
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comment
zaidf
2007-03-25T04:27:28
null
I am always pondering the difference between serial founders and folks working high up in corporates. Both are smart people and it is stupid to try and quantify smartness levels of two.<p>But I think one key difference between founders and non-founders is that founders find it difficult to work on stuff they don't already have a context to. <p>For example, you hear all the time of a top VP at a corporate being put in charge of another dept. to rescue it almost as a robot. Whereas a serial founder would find it difficult to just drop everything he has been doing until today and move to something else because folks higher up said so. <p>Going back to NetFlix and Blockbuster, I think it just shows that the future isn't so much in coming out with scientifically earth shattering ideas but rather bettering something that already exists.
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zaidf
2007-03-25T04:32:58
null
Love the diverse nature of questions:)
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comment
herdrick
2007-03-25T04:53:18
null
So, how did the recruiting go?
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[ 6181 ]
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6,119
comment
dfranke
2007-03-25T05:53:28
null
They need to talk to Outlook, so it's probably the best they can do. The better .NET languages like F# don't seem to be mature enough yet for production use.
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6,052
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comment
RyanGWU82
2007-03-25T05:56:03
null
Well of course it did, "Web 2.0" didn't hardly exist in 2005. Tim O'Reilly's summary of Web 2.0 was written on the last day of September, and pg's essay was in November. The Web 2.0 concepts were out there earlier, of course, but there wasn't really an idea of a "Web 2.0 startup" for most of 2005.
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story
billg
2007-03-25T05:57:32
Youtube for Mobile
null
http://fv.teenwag.com/showvideo/483
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comment
Elfan
2007-03-25T06:38:10
null
He was talking about scaling and how you have to think of things in new ways.
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JoeEntrepreneur
2007-03-25T07:17:33
Are all the slides and presentations from today startup school available somewhere?
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comment
acgourley
2007-03-25T07:18:59
null
My first but hopefully not last SHDH. Had a good time.
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story
jrbedard
2007-03-25T07:19:46
It's Still Very Early, But Scribd Looks Like A Winner
null
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/25/scribd-growing-like-youtube/
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ryan
2007-03-25T07:28:40
My notes from startup school
null
http://blog.ryanjunee.com/2007/03/startup-school/
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comment
ryan
2007-03-25T07:31:07
null
My notes here: <a href="http://blog.ryanjunee.com/2007/03/startup-school/">http://blog.ryanjunee.com/2007/03/startup-school/</a><p>Also met lots of great people. You could feel the entrepreneurial energy in the room.
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[ 6492 ]
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comment
ryan
2007-03-25T07:31:44
null
My notes here: <a href="http://blog.ryanjunee.com/2007/03/startup-school/">http://blog.ryanjunee.com/2007/03/startup-school/</a>
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JMiao
2007-03-25T07:54:32
null
Interesting. Just a point of reference:<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=4796">http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=4796</a>
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monjurul
2007-03-25T07:57:31
null
This repository is invaluable for those who were not able to make it to Startup School. Many thanks for putting it up!<p>Does anyone have pictures/videos from the event?
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comment
rms
2007-03-25T09:32:05
null
How do you make money?
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[ 6406 ]
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6,132
comment
rms
2007-03-25T09:32:34
null
Thanks.
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comment
whacked_new
2007-03-25T09:40:17
null
A 4-fold increase is no small thing to pull off! You'd be betting on some real shrewd money management and investments.
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6,134
story
larrykubin
2007-03-25T09:54:53
Paul Graham's Talk at Startup School 2007
null
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8113251929727785438&hl=en
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bootload
2007-03-25T10:32:35
null
200Mb download
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comment
staunch
2007-03-25T10:50:27
null
Thank you very much.
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comment
volida
2007-03-25T11:16:44
null
No02: Too inexperienced<p>No03: 08:16: Not determined enough <p>No04: 08:52: Not smart enough<p>No05: 10:08: Don't understand business<p>No06: 12:12: No co-founder<p>No07: 13:01: You have no idea<p>No08: 15:07: No room for more startups ( A fallacy)<p>No09: 16:06: Family to support<p>No10: 17:35: Need for structure<p>No13: 18:45: Fear and uncertain<p>No14: 19:24 You don't realize what you are waiting<p>No15: 21:17: You parents...<p>No16: 23:16: Job the default thing to do<p>thanks too!
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comment
volida
2007-03-25T11:23:15
null
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comment
extantproject
2007-03-25T12:00:21
null
I've been using Tumblr for a few weeks now (<a href="http://extantproject.tumblr.com).">http://extantproject.tumblr.com).</a> I think it's great for those quick tidbits that aren't substantial enough to post to a blog but that are more substantial than just a link.
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comment
Alex3917
2007-03-25T12:32:55
null
Great speech. My only comment is on the idea that we will look back on professionals as being like serfs. As Paul mentioned earlier, what is driving people into the service of others is a combination of social status, risk avoidance, and the need for "structure."<p>I don't think risk avoidance and need for structure will ever change. The real question is whether our conceptions of social status will change. So I've been writing a lot recently about how organizations and institutions exploit people's need for social status in order to secure cheap labor and make money. <p>The most obvious example is how WoW literally allows you to "level up." Even though objectively you are just spending 12 hours a day clicking on pictures of digital rats on a computer screen, qualitatively it's designed to make you feel like a hero. Everyone wants to be a hero in real life, but most people are just too lazy or untalented or risk adverse. It's not fair, but that's the way it is. Organizations have figured out how to tap into people's need to "be the hero" while extracting cheap labor (or purchases) from them. <p>A good example is when I was learning to play the trumpet. Learning to play a musical instrument is a very slow and continuous process. If my trumpet teacher were to have said, "ok, today you are level one trumpet. ok, now you're level two trumpet. etc." I think most people could figure out it's a scam. Improving at trumpet is a continuous function, not something that happens in levels.<p>The thing is, when people say, "ok, you're level one at education, you're level three at business." then no one realizes they are being exploited. In general, reality is very continuous. Whenever someone tries to represent a phenomena as something you can "level up" in, chances are they are trying to fuck you, take your money, or both. <p>Until people realize this is happening, professionalism will never go away. Instead people are obsessed with "climbing the ladder." Thing is, climbing the ladder benefits the people at the top, not the bottom. The average person doesn't even realize this.<p>I think in order for this mentality to end, two things are needed:<p>1) People currently view social status as a function of what people with money and power think of you. People need to instead view social status a function of your ability to MSPW.<p>2) We need new forms of social signaling that take this into account. Currently people identify themselves through college credentials, brand name clothes, etc. I think social signaling DOES have an important economic role to play, however, we need new forms of social signaling based around MSPW.
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story
sharpshoot
2007-03-25T12:35:19
Is Amazon catching the eBay disease? Whats the future for big marketplaces
null
http://gigaom.com/2007/03/23/amazon-borders/
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comment
staunch
2007-03-25T12:49:56
null
They're selling a highly addictive substance and have millions of addicts. I think they can dilute their brand -- they just better not dilute their coffee.<p>
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comment
volida
2007-03-25T12:55:32
null
or "What Probably Scales Most"!
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story
joshwa
2007-03-25T13:16:12
James Hong: A question to ponder: should big companies even try to innovate internally?
null
http://james.hotornot.com/2007/03/question-to-ponder-should-big-companies.html
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comment
Alex3917
2007-03-25T13:39:31
null
I didn't like Scribd the first time I saw it, but it's starting to grow on me. The recommendation engine not only works but is brilliant, and I love the fact that I can download whole eBooks for free. My only gripe is the site design.<p>A quick look at the National Adult Literacy Survey shows the potential market is smaller than that of YouTube, but in some ways the stickiness of the eyeballs you do have is more important than the total eyeballs.
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[ 6146 ]
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comment
Alex3917
2007-03-25T13:46:45
null
Also, I'm not sure how thrilled the seduction community and NLP community will be that all of their books are now online. I don't normally advocate piracy, but I think this is a really unique opportunity for grokking Net Natives circa 2007.<p>(Net Natives as used by Fred Wilson: <a href="http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/06/net_natives.html)">http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/06/net_natives.html)</a><p>update: When I say it's a unique opportunity for grokking net natives, I mean this in the same sense as when Paul Kedrosky blogged that the Amazon top 100 products list is more telling than the Ph.D. dissertation of the average would-be historian. <p><a href="http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2006/12/27/top_sellers_at.html">http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2006/12/27/top_sellers_at.html</a>
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comment
jgamman
2007-03-25T14:11:54
null
i tend to agree with the premise that their key skill is now to spot the right start-up. making a large company run well is tough too - customer service, billing, shareholders etc are all tough problems. i think a large company is at its heart a billing engine, an optimisation engine for a particular niche of the market - and that's OK. Their big problem is figuring out when they're niche is going the way of the dodo, or when they aren't as good at their niche as they thought they were. different companies doing their niche best, it's an optimisation of roles.
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story
mattculbreth
2007-03-25T15:12:25
Thoughts on Mitch Kapor vs. Mark Zuckerberg at Startup School
null
http://photomatt.net/2007/03/24/kapor-vs-zuckerberg/
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comment
mattculbreth
2007-03-25T15:13:29
null
I agree with this guy. Mitch's talk was well put together and thoughtful. I think building a diverse team (assuming everybody is highly capable of course) wins most of the time.
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[ 6218 ]
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comment
jsjenkins168
2007-03-25T15:45:57
null
Anil, you forgot to mention where you are geographically located. To be successful it would probably need to be someone who is close to you.
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null
[ 6405 ]
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comment
abstractbill
2007-03-25T15:55:29
null
Mitch's talk was one of the ones I got the most out of. He seems like an all-round great guy - I have no doubt it'd be a hugely enjoyable experience to work with him.
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comment
abstractbill
2007-03-25T15:59:40
null
"If you are a developer, I expect you to be very competent."<p>You don't expect other people you work with to be equally competent?<p>Maybe you wrote it this way because you find other competencies harder to evaluate. If that's the case, try the "animal test": <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html">http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html</a>
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6,153
story
danw
2007-03-25T16:14:58
How We Can Change Our Failing Education System
null
http://www.steve-olson.com/how-we-can-change-our-failing-education-system/
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danw
2007-03-25T16:15:22
Top 6 List of Programming Top 10 Lists
null
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000822.html
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comment
rhmason
2007-03-25T16:18:34
null
I may be older than your target audience but I think except for the police raid it was rather lame. But then I don't understand the appeal of American Idol or Survivor either
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comment
lwu
2007-03-25T16:51:14
null
wiki notes: <a href="http://wiki.startupschool.org/doku.php?id=notes">http://wiki.startupschool.org/doku.php?id=notes</a>
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story
amichail
2007-03-25T17:11:48
If working for a company is so bad, how can you possibly convince people to work for your startup? Isn't this deception?
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comment
pg
2007-03-25T17:41:16
null
(a) Most people either don't have the energy to start a startup, or don't want the stress. For them jobs are right.<p>(b) For the earliest employees, it's more like being a founder than having a normal job.
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[ 6234, 6159 ]
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comment
amichail
2007-03-25T18:01:49
null
Unrewarding work can result in stress and lack of energy.
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[ 6170, 6171 ]
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comment
davidw
2007-03-25T18:13:50
null
"what is driving people into the service of others is a combination of ..."<p>Capital has historically been a big factor in that equation as well. A factory worker couldn't very well take his machine around to different factories, whereas a mechanic probably has his own set of tools. Those of us in the computer field are fortunate that, at this point in time, capital requirements are very, very low. In other fields, though, large amounts of money are needed to be able to get off the ground. Who knows what the future will bring... less capital needs or more?<p>Incidentally, as much as I would have liked to see it, I couldn't take watching a bouncy image of some guy's ear next to a tiny Paul Graham. It would be great if they provided video of the whole thing for those of us not able to be there.
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comment
jamiequint
2007-03-25T18:26:54
null
I think what Mark is trying to avoid is the "Curse of Knowledge" (To borrow the Heath brothers phrase - check out Made to Stick, great book) Facebook is all about innovation, I think they purposefully avoid old ideas. (preferring young people = fresh ideas) Thats not to say they aren't young experienced smart people.
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[ 6367 ]
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comment
larrykubin
2007-03-25T18:33:56
null
There is definitely video of all of the speeches. As a matter of fact, there are videos of _everything_, including random lunch conversations, given that justin.tv was there. This video was taken on my digital camera, hence the crappy quality. The useful part is the audio.
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story
pg
2007-03-25T18:37:26
Amazon blocks Statsaholic
null
http://www.webforth.com/2007/03/amazon-blocks-statsaholic
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comment
joshwa
2007-03-25T18:42:23
null
justin.tv's audio was pretty useless...<p>I do wish that the organizers had an 'official' video guy, with a tap into the house audio system, and uploaded the videos afterwards. maybe next year?
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[ 6366 ]
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comment
danielha
2007-03-25T18:54:03
null
I knew Mark's would be drawing some fast criticism. There were some things he said that raised my eyebrows, sure. Super arrogant, absolutely. I sure as hell got something out of it though. He just gets what he's doing. He sees how critical it is to keep technical people behind the company. And while his blanket statement about youthfulness made some eyes roll, it holds true for most of us and especially facebook. No matter what you might think of the guy, it'd be a really good idea to buy facebook stock when they eventually go public.
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comment
zaidf
2007-03-25T18:55:03
null
What a stupid argument to be honest. Arguments such as this always get a laughter out of me.<p>Why does it have to be one way or the other? It is quite understandable that FB has a leaning for the young as much of FB feeds off of young folks. I can’t imagine too many 50+ guys brainstorming next generation of FB features. At the same time I can’t imagine too many grades in early 20s coming up with next set of Lotus features.<p>May be the whole thing was missing a big disclaimer: USE WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU:)<p>-Zaid
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[ 6169, 6219 ]
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comment
danielha
2007-03-25T19:03:12
null
"Update: It seems like Statsaholic wants to switch to other traffic data providers. Compete.com and Quantcast.com have already shown interest in providing their data."<p>Paul, you were very right about Amazon and their inability to foster, well, anything. They could have found a way to embrace this since Alexa's interface sucks (their data sucks too but that's something else). Now Compete and Quantcast will easily become the more popular metric.
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danielha
2007-03-25T19:10:05
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Paul uses presentation slides for once so it's a shame it doesn't show up in the video. One of the better moments was him losing an expected slide and blaming the Zenter guys. Okay, the rest of the slides were just text on blank backgrounds, but still.
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[ 6227 ]
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jamiequint
2007-03-25T19:21:11
null
aka "limited life experience + overgeneralization = advice"
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[ 6215 ]
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ashu
2007-03-25T19:22:18
null
There is at least an order-of-magnitude difference in startup-stress vs. normal-job-stress. Same holds for the energy needed to overcome it.
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6,159
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[ 6179, 6174 ]
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volida
2007-03-25T19:25:24
null
they guy who draw Google's daily frontpage logos, sold some of his stock in 2004 for half million dollars. And he joined Google in 2000...
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andreyf
2007-03-25T19:33:36
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avi version:<p><a href="http://tinyurl.com/ytdw3m">http://tinyurl.com/ytdw3m</a><p>(215 MB)
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[ 6180 ]
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JoeEntrepreneur
2007-03-25T19:34:43
null
Exactly. There is no point in expecting cofounder to be competent in same areas. What is more important for cofounder is share same passion as you do. Technical stuff can be learned. Languages and technology comes and goes.<p>
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[ 6410 ]
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amichail
2007-03-25T19:39:48
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This probably depends on the person. Working for someone with the loss of control that this entails can be an absolutely devastating experience.
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comment
Alex3917
2007-03-25T19:40:27
null
True, I forgot about that. I'm assuming you're familiar with Toffler and Drucker, but recently Yochai Benkler has added a lot to this theory. In the intro to The Wealth of Networks, he says that the declining cost of capital has three effects:<p>1) People can do more by themselves.<p>2) People can do more in loose association with others.<p>3) People can do more in informal organizations that operate outside the market sphere.<p>The idea being that if you get 100m in investment to start a steel mill, you need to earn 100m back just to break even so you need these very rigid systems in place to maximize profit. However, when you're business only costs 10,000 to start you can harness the power of informal systems and volunteers and crowd wisdom, etc. The perfect example of this would be Wikipedia. Because it costs so little to run, it can be run by informally organized volunteers and is free to operate as a non-profit.<p>Anyway it's definitely not a beach read, but it's one of those books where if you take a year or two to fully grok the ideas within then you'll be in a stronger position to MSPW.
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comment
lee
2007-03-25T19:40:44
null
Working for a company doesn't have to be bad. For many people, a good job at a startup can be very attractive. First and foremost is the feeling that you are working on something that's never been done before. That's exciting and creates a powerful sense of community and adventure. <p>Sometimes a founder has the HR gift and can intuitively put together a team that really runs like clockwork and everyone feels it and wants to be part of it. <p>You can find that different companies can be geared toward people at different stages of their lives. If someone has young children, a startup can provide flexibility and insurance. Same thing if someone has already retired or is changing careers. That can be especially juicy because you're getting someone with experience who can spot problems before they get bad and let you know about them.<p>What can you offer your employees? A healthy safe environment where their talents are recognized and rewarded? Options? Community? A place to learn new skills and grow? <p>Startups are good places for people with multiple skillsets. Someone who can wear sales, marketing and backup code hats would never get the opportunity to exercise all of his or her skillsets in a large company where with a small startup would find themselves particularly valued and valuable.<p>You can definitely engineer your hiring so that everyone winds up a winner. I'd be concerned about working for you if you were convinced that working for a company would have to suck. What kind of environment would you create? How fast would your turnover be? What kind of people do you want to hire and how do you intend to retain them?
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abrs
2007-03-25T19:42:52
null
So, what was their financial business model again?
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story
ariejan
2007-03-25T19:45:52
Top 28 Startup Resources
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http://ariejan.net/2007/03/25/speedlinking-top-28-startup-resources/
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[ 6197 ]
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comment
nostrademons
2007-03-25T20:03:26
null
I don't know about that. I'm perhaps a bit unrepresentative since my normal job is also at a (later-stage, profitable) startup, but I found my day job is far more stressful than the startup.<p>When you work for someone else, there are a large number of factors that you cannot control. You can't pick your technologies: you generally have to go along with what the rest of the team is already using. You can't pick your company culture: it's already been established. You can't pick your market (okay, you can't really either with your own startup). You're stuck with the existing codebase.<p>All this is fine if you also pick up your employer's values and expectations. But I don't know any startup founder that's like this. Usually, if you're interested in starting a company, it's because you have some internal standards for the quality that you'd like your code to live up to and the ease with which users can use it. So if you're working for someone else, you can easily get stuck with your own standards and your employer's tools, and the two may not match.<p>This is really, really stressful.<p>When I'm working on my startup, at least I know that any problems I'm having are <i>my</i> fault. And I can fix them. If I don't like the quality of the code I'm putting out, I can make the call to postpone feature X and fix bug Y instead. If I find that a framework is becoming more of a hassle than a help, I can rip it out and replace it with my own code without my boss vetoing it.<p>There's a whole other level of stress that comes from mixing both day job and startup. Right now, the most stressful thing in my life is wondering whether I should quit the day job to work full time on the startup. It's stressful because there is pitiably little information and yet it's an incredibly important decision. I won't know whether the reduced time available has caused me to miss my market opportunity until I've actually missed the market opportunity, at which point it's too late. Similarly, I won't know whether the added time pressure has made me mortgage the startup's codebase until it becomes impossible to work with, at which point it's generally too late to fix.
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comment
pg
2007-03-25T20:03:38
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true
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comment
adamsmith
2007-03-25T20:09:51
null
It went really well. The people who attend are the best part of startup school, for sure.
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comment
prakster
2007-03-25T20:12:41
null
This should come as no surprise. All Startups that are using "legitimate" means to get data (e.g. via APIs) are at risk. The API provider can block you at any time. Here are other examples: - In May 2006, Ebay blocked Rapleaf's attempt at making seller reputations portable. Rapleaf was using Ebay's API. - In 1999, UPS and FedEx blocked all companies that were using their APIs to display and transact best shipping methods. All of those startups were using UPS and FedEx API. This happened again in Jan 2006, when UPS blocked www.simpletracking.com and once again in late 2006, when UPS and FedEx blocked startup www.RedRoller.com Their website is still up, but without UPS and FedEx in there, it's evident that they are dying. Once again, RedRoller was using FedEx and UPS API. - Startups using Google API are subject to the same issue..Google will block you as soon as you come in their radar screen. ...so if you are planning to use APIs, figure out your plan B in advance!
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[ 6183, 6389 ]
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comment
brett
2007-03-25T20:32:37
null
You would hope that companies would start to realize the advantage they gain from everyone using their api. Especially apis that embed their brand (and potentially ads) in other peoples pages. There are a lot reasons for api providers not to pull nonsense like this. Amazon clearly does not look very good here. <p>But ultimately, yeah, there's always some risk when you run off an api you don't control.
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comment
paul
2007-03-25T21:13:29
null
Working at a fun startup is very different from working in some big company. Answer: make your startup a great place to work.
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story
immad
2007-03-25T21:14:16
From Subprime Loans to Failing Newspapers - Business opportunity?
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http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/from_subprime_l.html
3
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[ 6187 ]
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comment
rfrey
2007-03-25T21:15:18
null
As a greybeard in the making (36), my instinct is to dismiss comments like Mark's as inexperience and naivety. Those sorts of attitudes make me uncomfortable and edgy.<p>After some reflection, I'm forced to conclude that although such ageism is annoying, is naive, is arrogant, it's also beautiful. It is exactly that arrogance, the sure knowledge that the "establishment" is full of it and needs to be rescued by youth, that <i>has</i> rescued us, many times. Its from that arrogance that the energy to drive change comes. <p>There are many examples. A mantra of the 60s was to never trust anyone over 30. Kurt Cobain didn't exactly work with a lot of elder statesmen of the music world. Bertold Brecht spent his 20s in active rejection of all drama that had come before. And the art world is chock full of young artists declaring that a new age had arrived -- Basquiat probably never even talked to anyone under 30, except Andy Warhol, who was at least pretending to be a teenager.<p>None of which makes Mark's words easier for me to hear, but I can't bring myself to dismiss the attitude. It's fuel for radical new ideas. It's the nuclear reactor of society.
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comment
immad
2007-03-25T21:16:56
null
I figure whereever there is a possible problem there is a business opportunity. That article is a bit long though. Basically the issue is that as content become more and more free, media organisations will start disappearing and then a small percentage of good journalism that you really have to pay for will disappear.<p>So the question is obviously there is a demand for good journalism, how do you connect that demand directly with the journalists without paper organisations. There is an argument that this is already being done, but I think its not done well enough. Maybe it will just happen without intervention. Just a thought.
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comment
Alex3917
2007-03-25T21:19:28
null
Facebook is a product. Lotus is a business.<p>Facebook doesn't need to keep innovating and re-imagining itself. It's designed to do one thing and it already does that quite well. All Zuckerberg needs to do to continue milking his cash cow is to keep the product fresh and trendy. This means hiring the kind of young and trendy people who his product targets.<p>Lotus, on the other hand, is a business. And as such they need to constantly innovate to survive. That means finding new problems in new markets and delivering new products to new people. As such they need all the diversity they can get.<p>If Facebook wants to become a business, they'll need diversity too. If they're content to keep milking the cash cow they already have, I'd say Zuckerberg's strategy is sound.
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story
joshuaHatfield
2007-03-25T21:22:53
Google Says "We're Not Doing a Mobile Phone"
null
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/03/24/google-says-outright-were-not-building-a-mobile-phone/
5
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2
[ 6224 ]
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comment
rfrey
2007-03-25T21:33:31
null
With the primary sphere of software innovation now being online offerings, it seems like we have an awesome opportunity to do what leaders of focus groups have dreamed about since the term focus group was invented -- observe usage during natural activities.<p>Would it be an invasion of my users' privacy to record the frequency of use of various features, if that info was not linked to the user in any way? If that was acceptable to users, we'd have the opportunity to expand on the areas that were getting the most use, while (all the while battling the marketing dept -- "It's already there, what's the harm???") dropping the features that were rarely used, or (even more telling!) got initiated but not completed.<p>That could lead to some radical simplifying of applications, all to the advantage of the user. But I wouldn't want to be compared to some Orwell character. Whadda people think -- reasonable and beneficial research, or nightmarish Big Brother tactic?
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story
rfrey
2007-03-25T21:37:56
Additional to the Starbucks link earlier
null
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070224/starbucks-memo.htm
1
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1
[ 6192 ]
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comment
rfrey
2007-03-25T21:39:38
null
The Starbucks link posted earlier was interesting, but everyone should read the original story that prompted the blog entry.<p>Starbucks is huge. Starbucks is corporate (whether you think that's good, bad or indifferent is up to you). And this article reveals that Starbucks is incredibly introspective and honest.<p>I hope that I can be this dispassionate and open about my own mistakes when my company has 10 employees, nevermind 10,000.
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story
joshuaHatfield
2007-03-25T21:56:07
Bill Gates' Thoughts on Microsoft in 1989
null
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/media/1989%20Bill%20Gates%20Talk%20on%20Microsoft.html?sexy
6
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0
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comment
immad
2007-03-25T22:01:18
null
I recommend reading the comments to that blog post. They make very valid points and make the post much more interesting. There is a place for innovation in big companies, just most of them are bad at nurturing it (excluding Google).
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amichail
2007-03-25T22:02:32
The Transactor Online Archive (This is what geeky high school students read in the 80s! What do they read today?)
null
http://cbm.csbruce.com/~csbruce/cbm/transactor/
1
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0
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story
joshuaHatfield
2007-03-25T22:22:08
How to Pass a Silicon Valley Software Engineering Interview
null
http://paultyma.blogspot.com/2007/03/howto-pass-silicon-valley-software.html
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1
[ 6249 ]
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comment
joshuaHatfield
2007-03-25T22:24:31
null
Thank you for sharing the list. I was surprised to see my co-founder's (python_kiss) article on the list!<p><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/6_startup_lessons_2007.php">http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/6_startup_lessons_2007.php</a>
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story
omarish
2007-03-25T22:46:54
Still in college? Is it a good idea to take time off to pursue a startup?
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comment
omarish
2007-03-25T22:51:34
null
I'm still a freshman at university. Is taking time off to pursue a startup a good idea? If somebody has a certain amount of dedication, it's possible to leave school, succeed in a startup, come back to school and graduate. What's holding us back?
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6,198
null
[ 6200, 6202 ]
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