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9,500 | comment | dawie | 2007-04-06T03:10:08 | null | Many cool articles go missing after a day or two... | null | null | 9,432 | 9,432 | null | null | null | null |
9,501 | story | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:10:57 | Where Search Stumbles | null | http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070306_955579.htm?chan=search | 2 | null | 9,501 | 1 | [
9506
] | null | null |
9,502 | story | kevinxray | 2007-04-06T03:11:12 | 10 Things I Love About the Charlotte Airport | null | http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/strategic-marketing/4057197-1.html | 2 | null | 9,502 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,503 | story | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:11:29 | Goodbye to Office? Not Yet | null | http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2007/tc20070227_434479.htm?chan=search | 2 | null | 9,503 | 2 | [
9531,
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] | null | null |
9,504 | comment | danielha | 2007-04-06T03:12:01 | null | What I said may have come off more stringent than I had intended. Of course there are optimal places; that's a given. I mentioned an extreme case: absolutely requiring very particular conditions to work, an office for example. I'm saying that startups greatly benefit from adaptability, and if you can hack away in your apartment (integrated with living), it likely will be the most productive stage of your company's growth. | null | null | 9,473 | 9,348 | null | null | null | null |
9,505 | comment | dawie | 2007-04-06T03:12:26 | null | Because its new. There is a More button on the front page | null | null | 9,432 | 9,432 | null | null | null | null |
9,506 | comment | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:14:29 | null | zip codes (post codes) & search engines don't mix, yet. | null | null | 9,501 | 9,501 | null | [
9909,
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] | null | null |
9,507 | comment | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:15:44 | null | web based tool directions & kinks to be ironed out | null | null | 9,503 | 9,503 | null | null | null | null |
9,508 | story | python_kiss | 2007-04-06T03:17:06 | Social Networks and Social Information Filtering on Digg | null | http://www.scribd.com/doc/25237/Social-Network-and-Social-Information-Filtering-on-Digg | 2 | null | 9,508 | 1 | [
9517
] | null | null |
9,509 | story | python_kiss | 2007-04-06T03:18:01 | Google Video: Augmenting Social Cognition, From Social Foraging to Social Sensemaking | null | http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=3491597281548199656&q=user%3A%22Google+engEDU%22 | 1 | null | 9,509 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,510 | comment | BrandonM | 2007-04-06T03:24:24 | null | I agree that the point he brings up would greatly benefit the corporate world, but can the same be said of open source projects or startups? In general, these types of programmers seem to be perfectionists anyways, never feeling content until every possible feature is added. If, for them, the standard is "just right or nothing at all", I don't think anything would ever get released.<p>In summary, I think the article makes a good case study for the types of production that lend themselves to infrequent releases, but when your production model is based on evolutionary change, I think the "blank page approach" would be a bad idea. | null | null | 9,499 | 9,499 | null | null | null | null |
9,511 | comment | zaidf | 2007-04-06T03:26:59 | null | Total gold.<p>This is true especially today where I think most of us here have totally bought into release-quick-release-often mantra. That is absolutely good. But...on top of that mantra if you add an added condition for quality it will significantly give you an edge from another garage start-up that is on average not <i>that</i> worried about quality as about launching quick.<p>
Now more than ever I think quality at launch matters as a point of product differentiation. Take that extra week to make the user experience better; or hunt out those odd bugs. | null | null | 9,499 | 9,499 | null | null | null | null |
9,512 | story | Terhorst | 2007-04-06T03:34:46 | Things You Won't See in a Business Plan | null | http://blog.lifebeyondcode.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/21/2825300.html | 1 | null | 9,512 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,513 | story | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:35:45 | Google Seeks Help with Recognition Technology | null | http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2006/tc20060906_924112.htm?chan=search | 1 | null | 9,513 | 2 | [
9533,
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] | null | null |
9,514 | comment | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:37:42 | null | old but useful insight into old software re-examined to solve hard problems in reading text and interpreting it (OCR) ~ <a href="http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr">http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr</a> | null | null | 9,513 | 9,513 | null | null | null | null |
9,515 | comment | voiceofreason | 2007-04-06T03:38:16 | null | He said, "I read that thing that Paul wrote saying that anybody who contributes regularly is going to fare better. That's shit from a bull."<p>All I said was the above, and you started accusing me of editing my posts. Why? I thought you'd say, "OH, I see why you think he should apologize to Paul." | null | null | 9,390 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,516 | comment | BrandonM | 2007-04-06T03:45:29 | null | I voted it up because I thought there were some truths in the article that the people whose only plan is to get YC funding could benefit from reading. I agree that the headline is poor, but I still think that there is plenty of truth there. | null | null | 9,463 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,517 | comment | whacked_new | 2007-04-06T03:47:06 | null | I read the abstract and -- pardon my ignorance -- decided not to read the rest.<p>It basically says that, referencing the friends feature, users tend to like submissions made by friends, and thus this type of "social filtering" may be useful in targeting information. The paper concludes with "Promising or perilous, social media appears to be the future of the web."<p>I'm sure it gets more interesting, but in terms of common sense, you won't lose much by reading the summary I just gave.<p>What I want to know is how a social network, designed to a certain style, with a certain target audience in mind, needs to change itself to suit its changing audience, based on the socially filtered information the users produce.<p>The article also mentions tyranny of the minority. One front page, many users. Limited resources. Competition of resources. A useful discussion would be on what kind of design approach would allow more flexibility in distribution of resources. | null | null | 9,508 | 9,508 | null | null | null | null |
9,518 | comment | nefele | 2007-04-06T03:52:48 | null | Does the fact that other companies have started imitating Y Combinator bother you? In one sense, I know this will make it harder for you to get people with the best ideas (but I wouldn't worry about that for at least a few years - you're way too far ahead of anyone else). But for the community, having the ability to get a little funding for a larger number of startups could turn out to be a good thing.<p>Even if you can work with 30 startups in each session, that is still a tiny fraction of all the applications you're getting. There must be projects beyond the ones you will accept that still have a shot at becoming successful. If other people are willing to give funding/advice, couldn't that be a Good Thing? | null | null | 9,066 | 8,946 | null | null | null | null |
9,519 | comment | aberrantfunk | 2007-04-06T03:57:54 | null | I posted over at scribd, but I see the intelligent conversation is here, so I'm going to repost. I hope no one minds:<p>You're making the right points but drawing the wrong conclusions from them. Yes, users need to be your highest priority, yes you need to have the drive to succeed that is reflected here by not relying on Y Combinator to be your ticket to wealth, Yes you need to get out there and actually DO; actually BUILD. But these are precisely the kinds of people and ideas that y combinator IS GOING TO PICK.<p>The fact is that Paul Graham says these same points time and time again in his own essays, and so anyone that is applying to y combinator without these things in mind is obviously not very bright. But your conclusion is not very bright either. Someone who really had all the qualities you describe would recognize that while y combinator doesn't mean success or failure, it provides a number of extremely valuable resources (of which money is only one of, and not #1 of, the list). I certainly wouldn't want my competitors to be in a y combinator group that I was rejected from -- that is a bad sign.<p>To reiterate, good points; bad conclusion.<p>My first time at news.ycombinator, but i've been reading paul graham's essays for a while now and am increasingly impressed. I'll be back | null | null | 9,371 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,520 | story | bootload | 2007-04-06T03:58:32 | Delicious tags & machine learning | null | http://www.smokingrobot.com/news/archives/permalinks/2004-11-13T13_19_42.html | 1 | null | 9,520 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,521 | story | Elfan | 2007-04-06T04:00:46 | "What I've learned so far about making yourself a career in writing software" | null | http://tuxdeluxe.org/node/122 | 5 | null | 9,521 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,522 | comment | aston | 2007-04-06T04:22:37 | null | Basically, given a proof P of a statement expressed in n bits, you can in polynomial time with respect to n create a new PCP proof Q which spreads out (somehow?) P, including the errors in P. Since the errors are spread out, with high probability, you'll catch an error choosing a very small number of bits of Q.<p>It's like MAGIC... Especially since they don't explain it at all in the article.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCP_theorem">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCP_theorem</a> | null | null | 9,465 | 9,460 | null | [
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9,523 | comment | drrogera | 2007-04-06T04:30:26 | null | The time span cited in that study was an aberration; anyone with an idea was getting money thrown at them. There is also a great big chasm between "still in existence" and success. If you sell-off assets for the benefit of creditors your company can still exist but it would be hard to call that a success.<p>The numbers I hear from my VC friends is that around 50% are out of business after the 2nd year. They see more of teh picture than I do so I trust they are better qualified to make teh call.<p>My opinion is that more companies fail because of incompetence than insufficient funding. If you really have a great idea you can make it work. The trouble is that most make some big mistake and spoil the well. <p>I think starting a company is one of the most exhilarating things you can do. I wish more people would try it. I also wish more of them would try to understand the basics of business operations. This is where I disagree with Paul. I have seen too many $100 million ideas ruined by founders mistakes. Too often the time has past before they can regain their opportunity.<p>I still encourage everyone to give it their best shot. It's a great ride, up or down. | null | null | 6,668 | 6,668 | null | null | null | null |
9,524 | comment | abossy | 2007-04-06T04:50:56 | null | Not necessarily -- it makes sense.<p>He realizes that a startup won't magically succeed by being a part of the right group or having the right connections. It still takes extremely hard work, undying dedication to users, timing, etc... YC is only one cog in the wheel, and plenty of startups actually succeed without them -- which might seem disillusioning to some, especially those that hang around these boards too often.<p>I believe that's what he's getting at, anyhow. | null | null | 9,454 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,525 | comment | PStamatiou | 2007-04-06T05:16:57 | null | I am also loving YC News - very focused, top-notch content. Hopefully it wont get too popular to the point where we see digg-type spam. I like it just the way it is. | null | null | 9,166 | 9,166 | null | null | null | null |
9,526 | comment | nostrademons | 2007-04-06T05:21:11 | null | "Some simply like the control, autonomy and culture of a startup."<p>But those are the people that <i>work</i> for startups, as early employees. And they can frequently make more than $15K from it.<p>The folks applying to yCombinator are typically those that either don't want to be employees or have already been employees and decide they want to move on. They wouldn't even <i>have</i> a yCombinator app if they didn't have their own ideas. If you want someone to work on your idea, you have to compete with the hundreds of other Boston-area startups that are now hiring. | null | null | 9,475 | 9,171 | null | null | null | null |
9,527 | comment | johnm | 2007-04-06T05:35:20 | null | <a href="http://iolanguage.com/">http://iolanguage.com/</a> | null | null | 9,422 | 9,172 | null | [
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9,528 | comment | pg | 2007-04-06T05:58:44 | null | I don't understand; what do you mean? Do you mean, why
is there no More link on the New page? | null | null | 9,432 | 9,432 | null | null | null | null |
9,529 | comment | JMiao | 2007-04-06T06:00:54 | null | True, but Microsoft and every startup has a specific set of circumstances that may be exclusive to their situation, whether it be timing (late 1970s), competitive landscape (big slothful IBM), location (being able to live in low-cost Albuquerque and still get clients), etc. To base your entire future around what worked for Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1980 may not be the wisest decision. | null | null | 9,462 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,530 | comment | mukund | 2007-04-06T06:17:44 | null | I can get to see 150 article links, the more button works for me and can go to 3 pages @50 links each | null | null | 9,432 | 9,432 | null | null | null | null |
9,531 | comment | mukund | 2007-04-06T06:27:48 | null | I still remember wordstar which used to be the word processor around. Then microsoft with its usual glitz and ease of use pushed word and wordstar started to slip into coffin. Now cool tech is pushing MSFT on back foot but they will always copy and get back to clean these new players. So it is to be seen if MSFT is tied down and denied the market share | null | null | 9,503 | 9,503 | null | null | null | null |
9,532 | comment | dfranke | 2007-04-06T06:30:45 | null | Hmm. According to that, the theorem applies to propositional logic. Propositional logic is a very weak system; I don't think it can state the Riemann hypothesis.<p>Edit: I take that back: propositional logic <i>definitely can't</i> state the Riemann hypothesis. PropLog is complete, which means that by Goedel's incompleteness theorem it can't even model the natural numbers, much less the complexes. | null | null | 9,522 | 9,460 | null | null | null | null |
9,533 | comment | mukund | 2007-04-06T06:47:22 | null | As people say that there is a whole lot of space for everyone in search technology. The author is right in pointing out things and it is more or less like understanding limitations of the current technology and is more like a hint for people to get into this and who knows they may get space in search space and one day overhelm google | null | null | 9,513 | 9,513 | null | null | null | null |
9,534 | comment | mukund | 2007-04-06T06:58:10 | null | hmm will tell after the best ones are selected. Not wise and fair to release details :) | null | null | 9,192 | 9,192 | null | null | null | null |
9,535 | comment | staunch | 2007-04-06T07:01:55 | null | I think hiring is the root cause behind this kind of "good enough" attitude. Most companies treat hiring as a chore to be got out of the way as quickly as possible. The people they hire treat their projects the same way. Mediocrity all around.
| null | null | 9,499 | 9,499 | null | null | null | null |
9,536 | comment | drusenko | 2007-04-06T07:10:05 | null | This past session (w2007) several of us have been working from home (Weebly, Zenter). OTOH, the crystal towers situation is quite nice, it beats any office i know of hands down. Several other startups chose to go to an office b/c they were used to that (heysan), so i think it goes both ways. | null | null | 9,349 | 9,348 | null | null | null | null |
9,537 | comment | jamongkad | 2007-04-06T07:12:48 | null | Very Darwinian...but if anything else getting rejected should be seen in a positive light. As a time to get to know your users and build something that they will find useful. Just like in PG's essays. | null | null | 9,421 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,538 | story | BitGeek | 2007-04-06T08:03:33 | Lessons from the 1990s Bubble- don't get big fast. | null | http://www.strategy-business.com/press/article/07102?pg=1 | 2 | null | 9,538 | 1 | [
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9,539 | comment | BitGeek | 2007-04-06T08:05:26 | null | Or put another way, perserverance has resulted in business success... for those who had a long term strategy.<p>The herd instinct is dangerous. <p>High Tech startups are less likely to fail (though the %48 figure was "companies seeking VC funding" it doesn't break down how many got it. Possibly, those who did not get it had a lower failure rate.) | null | null | 9,538 | 9,538 | null | null | null | null |
9,540 | story | BitGeek | 2007-04-06T08:05:55 | Haskell vs. Lisp vs Erlang for Concurrency Oriented Programming? | null | null | 6 | null | 9,540 | 5 | [
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] | null | null |
9,541 | comment | rms | 2007-04-06T08:07:33 | null | Congratulations! This is the first flame war on Y Combinator. Now let's just Godwin it and be done. | null | null | 9,492 | 9,361 | null | [
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9,542 | comment | BitGeek | 2007-04-06T08:10:33 | null | History- Learned Lisp in High School in the 1980s. Since then, procedural (Pascal & C) and then about 17 years of object oriented development.. C++, Java, Ruby, Objective-C.<p>I am interested in concurrency oriented programming now... and have been directed to Erlang. Others seem to talk about Lisp alot. (I remember enjoying it, but feeling that it wasn't too practical.. but it was only the 3rd or 4th language I learned and I was 17 at the time.) <p>What seems to be the natural parallelism in Erlang really appeals to me. The 1960s era syntax does not. (I still think in objects.) I haven't investigated Haskell much, or Lisp recently.<p>If one wants to solve a problem that is naturally highly parallel (like raytracing) what language would you recommend? <p>I'm open to hearing about other languages than the ones I mentioned. <p>I'm not interested in careful programming to be thread safe, or mutexes, etc. <p>Also, I don't really want to start a flame war... but haven't seen many opinions, or specifically an argument for Lisp from a concurrency viewpoint. And if there's a much better language than Erlang out there, I'd love to find out about it now. <p>And of course, meta arguments by posting links to others advocacy of particular language also appreciated. | null | null | 9,540 | 9,540 | null | [
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9,543 | comment | rms | 2007-04-06T08:14:14 | null | You'd be surprised at the kind of basic feedback you can get when you just tell someone your idea. I've heard that PG will respond to emails of this type. I got feedback from Dharmesh Shaw when I told him my idea.<p>In biotech, I emailed Joerg Poetzsch to ask a question about early stage funding. I got a lengthy response from him. Then, I told him my idea and we've had a wonderful exchange since then -- he ended up writing me a letter of recommendation and said he is interested in selling my product for a percentage of the revenue he generates.<p>So, if you want basic feedback about your idea, email someone with a blog or website and I promise you can get some feedback. If someone takes 1% of your company for that, you're getting ripped off. | null | null | 9,393 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,544 | comment | kogir | 2007-04-06T08:22:37 | null | This is far from new, but it is a problem. Ironically, the old school SOAP 1.1 way of doing things (with a header and a post) is immune from this. <p>Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't JSON and the script tag way of calling things explicitly designed to DEFEAT the same origin policy? If the entire point of your data transfer method is to make it possible for anyone to request your data, you should only send data that everyone should be able to see =P
| null | null | 8,258 | 8,258 | null | null | null | null |
9,545 | comment | kogir | 2007-04-06T08:38:14 | null | It seems you forgot the most important part: your service :)<p>The UI presents your service, and the scaled out servers power your service, but without the service, all you have are some pretty pictures and a bunch of hardware.<p>Also, scaling is not a solved problem in the general sense. You have to find ways to elegantly and efficiently solve _your_ problems specifically. I say with confidence that if you aren't willing to be very involved in the scale out of your service, you'll likely design a service that won't scale out. <p>(For an example of an elegant tool used in scale out, see Facebook's thrift.)<p>Also, if service agnostic scale out is a small problem for you to solve, I encourage you to get rich by solving it. I'll buy your solution if it works. | null | null | 9,127 | 9,127 | null | [
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9,546 | comment | oltsm | 2007-04-06T08:41:48 | null | Actually, there is a subtle point in the way YC is approaching this whole thing and the person missed the point. Assume there exists a world without YC, how many people will spend time doing something they believe on and make effort to take it to a point so that you can show it to someone? Probably a vast majority would anyway do it. say 90%, what YC is trying to do is - try to squeeze a percent or two of the remaining 10% by making them work by promising them that they'd fund if you come up with something interesting and that adds a certain value to the society as a whole. <p>So it is certainly a waste of time if - you think of an idea, write an application and decide to work on only if YC is funding it.. <p>But not - when you are working on something or planning to work on something, YC offers you that last bit of motivation to actually go and do it because you want to play the YC gamble. <p>And it might happen that otherwise, you end up building something, YC rejects you, but you say to yourself, what the heck, I have already done something so lets take it to a logical conclusion (may be 90% will chicken out. but who knows one of those who persisted might be next big thing!!) YC has certainly helped them, who would have been left in "I am planning to do" state otherwise and I think thats what PG is essentially trying to do. Make more people try a stint at 'startuping' and all of this comes at a reasonable cost to everyone!! <p>To conclude - would the authors' brother have not been happy if there was an "Irish Pub" or something that promised, hey if you send us your recordings, may be we can give you a saturday night and if you get a deal from a recording company, we get cut out of it... (Ouch! I just spit out an idea for some "irish pub" owner, if he's on the list!) | null | null | 9,361 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,547 | comment | rms | 2007-04-06T08:49:39 | null | Link is dead.
| null | null | 9,493 | 9,493 | null | [
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9,548 | comment | kogir | 2007-04-06T09:00:50 | null | The first thing that comes to mind is cost. You're already paying for the apartment. If you can avoid it, why pay for office space as well? | null | null | 9,348 | 9,348 | null | null | null | null |
9,549 | comment | bigtoga | 2007-04-06T09:44:52 | null | I don't know how long you guys have been working from home but I'll provide a little insight from someone who's been doing it mostly for about 12 years. I've been working at home with various projects/jobs since I was about 24 (36 now). For the first 2-3 years, it was all part-time of 2-4 days a week but, for the past decade, it's been full-time. <p>I tell you - even 12 years on, it is still hard to do. I do a lot of traveling as a consultant and trainer and these are usually Monday through Friday gigs. When I get back to the "office" and start to work again on Monday, I've totally lost the groove lol. That's it - it only takes a week of me getting out of the mindset of working at home to lose it. When I come back to the office on Monday, I want to read reddit, catch up on all the stuff I missed and I almost always find that Mondays have a lot of wasted time in them lol. <p>It took me probably 2-3 years initially to get the mindset down and learn how to separate work from play. Distractions are huge at home but, for a 20-something with no significant other, they are less so. Now, I have a spouse and a fun little three year old at home - those are more distracting than all the strip clubs and PS3s in the world lol. But you manage. <p>Last bit - I would suggest that, when you are looking for a spouse/significant other, make sure that person is okay with a comment like, "Honey, I'm going into work now. I want you to think as though my office is 30 miles away from you and you can't just walk in and ask me a question. Send me an email or phone me if you have a question. Also, don't ask me stupid shit during the day because I'm dealing with complex stuff and inane prattle takes me out of the mindset I need to work." If you have a great spouse who understands this, you'll be able to work from home much more efficiently. | null | null | 9,348 | 9,348 | null | null | null | null |
9,550 | comment | bigtoga | 2007-04-06T09:52:10 | null | Oh God, the CSS/IE patience comment is true but also for Firefox. I bet that I've spent more than a week's time in the past two years just dealing with these issues on my various sites :( Part of that is a learning curve but the other part is just the various browsers deciding to implement "standards" in unexpected ways (or ignoring them all together). | null | null | 9,145 | 9,127 | null | null | null | null |
9,551 | comment | theoutlander | 2007-04-06T09:59:58 | null | Thanks for sharing that info .... it gives us an idea of what you have to go through to screen the applications... does every application get a reply? | null | null | 9,066 | 8,946 | null | null | null | null |
9,552 | comment | wensing | 2007-04-06T10:45:47 | null | Up until now, Google Maps was entirely one-size-fits-all mapping software. Now they are adding some customization tools to go a little beyond that (and touch into more of the long tail).<p>That said, I think the Geoff fellow put it best when he commented on the post:<p>"Sure, Google is great at the tech, but they are a bit weak when it comes to building 'places'. They don't have enough touchy feely people over there to get the warms and fuzzies right. So, their sites, while they work well, all feel very cold and sterile, and don't really build a social community. That's why Google Video didn't take off and they bought YouTube."<p>Our startup is geography-heavy, but our mantra has been 'we are not a mash-up.' This is because we are aiming for the warm and fuzzies (serving the needs of a specific community of users), and almost all mash-ups that I've seen lack the warm and fuzzies because the Google Maps API limits their ability to custom-tailor their service and presentation. I don't think these few new buttons greatly change that. <p>As an aside, one of the reasons I really enjoyed Chris Anderson's speech at Startup School was his repeated assertion that one-size-fits-all solutions are (in some ways) necessarily inferior to products and services that focus on the niche. | null | null | 9,286 | 9,286 | null | null | null | null |
9,553 | comment | immad | 2007-04-06T11:07:55 | null | hmm, well there is a limited supply for domain names and big demand. How else would they ration the domain names except by price? I guess if they were going to be completely fair all proceeds should go to charity, or back to the government or something... | null | null | 9,471 | 9,456 | null | [
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9,554 | comment | Tichy | 2007-04-06T11:31:29 | null | Exactly my plan. And as joelonsoftware pointed out, some "design" problems are really engineering problems (like the wheel of the ipod). I can solve those, and then some artist can create fancy logos, fonts and stylesheets. | null | null | 9,359 | 9,243 | null | null | null | null |
9,555 | comment | Tichy | 2007-04-06T11:31:31 | null | Exactly my plan. And as joelonsoftware pointed out, some "design" problems are really engineering problems (like the wheel of the ipod). I can solve those, and then some artist can create fancy logos, fonts and stylesheets. | null | null | 9,359 | 9,243 | null | null | null | null |
9,556 | comment | wensing | 2007-04-06T11:33:14 | null | What do you mean by functionality? If you think the shiny surface of your product can be that much of an after-thought (i.e. not considered alongside the functionality you choose to code), you either have wonderfully abstracted code (or lots of useless code) (in which case you're delaying it because you can), or you have a different definition of Artist than I do (in which case you're delaying it because you've confused design with gloss).
| null | null | 9,359 | 9,243 | null | [
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] | null | null |
9,557 | comment | ecuzzillo | 2007-04-06T11:41:26 | null | The only reason I can imagine applying to YC and then not going through with the startup if I didn't get in is if when I applied I wasn't totally sure that I and my cofounder were totally on crack when we thought we could start a startup. Acceptance by YC would, in that situation, give a big confidence boost, and validate the idea. I don't think that's a terribly unreasonable premise. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some currently successful startups who thought they might not do it if they didn't get into YC. | null | null | 9,361 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,558 | comment | nonrecursive | 2007-04-06T11:48:46 | null | I agree with Readmore that you can still find that kind of feedback from other people you know.<p>Perhaps another big benefit of having a co-founder is the mutual moral support you can give each other. Sure, you can hire a designer to make your logo, but it's pretty unlikely you'll be able to hire someone to cheer you on night and day. It would be even weirder to hire someone to celebrate your victories with, and have that person understand first-hand what each triumph means. | null | null | 9,301 | 9,243 | null | null | null | null |
9,559 | comment | Goladus | 2007-04-06T11:48:55 | null | ---"If the author had good intentions"---<p>Yeah that rant was a bit hard to follow. In particular his definition of "backup plan" seems rather fuzzy. | null | null | 9,464 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,560 | story | BioGeek | 2007-04-06T12:00:25 | How to Divide the Pie - Equity sharing for start ups | null | http://www.vcconfidential.com/2007/04/how_to_divide_t.html | 1 | null | 9,560 | 1 | [
9604
] | null | null |
9,561 | comment | Goladus | 2007-04-06T12:10:05 | null | Suggestion: list all options before assigning a "Plan A/Plan B" ranking:<p>
( )Pursue your own business plan and forget about YC<p>( )Get accepted by Y-C and start your business that way<p>( )Work for a YC Founder.<p>
Each have pros and cons, and everyone's goals and cabilities are a little different. Assign Plan "A/B/C" in whatever way works for you. For some, working for a startup company will probably be the best experience they can get if the goal is to start their own eventually. | null | null | 9,254 | 9,171 | null | null | null | null |
9,562 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:27:03 | null | Rich, that's a great point, and one that I hope doesn't get lost in this discussion.<p>YC, like other angels/VC firms, has a profile they prefer, even if they may not state it explicitly: i.e. teams of at least two people, under 35, writing web-based software, etc.<p>So just because you don't fit that profile (or you do, but YC rejected you), doesn't mean you will fail.
| null | null | 9,486 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,563 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:28:57 | null | Not the greatest essay in the world, but the author may be right in that too many people are applying to YC for the wrong reasons. | null | null | 9,361 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,564 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:31:50 | null | Well, if you attend enough tech events in NYC, you'll probably meet most of the angels individually, and can forego the fee (that's one of the reasons I haven't applied myself).<p>Investors are looking for deals, and it isn't too difficult to network into an initial meeting.<p>The one nice thing about the application (like YC) is that it forces you to define your project succinctly.<p>Also like YC, getting funded is no guarantee of success. | null | null | 8,992 | 8,711 | null | null | null | null |
9,565 | comment | joshwa | 2007-04-06T12:38:20 | null | I hate it when he does that... Markus sometimes likes to take down posts after a few hours. There was a great article he wrote about botnets and DDoS that came down within 15 minutes. | null | null | 9,547 | 9,493 | null | null | null | null |
9,566 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:41:20 | null | Right, not only to keep alive the possibility of getting in on it later, but also to avoid the embarrassment of having rejected the next big thing. | null | null | 9,356 | 9,352 | null | null | null | null |
9,567 | story | jamongkad | 2007-04-06T12:41:23 | Being 37signals for free | null | http://wisdump.com/business/being-37signals-for-free/ | 6 | null | 9,567 | 9 | [
9597,
9583,
9589,
9603,
9642,
9617
] | null | null |
9,568 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:43:54 | null | Hey sorry I didn't notice your reply sooner (we need a reddit style "inbox" at login).<p>That project is SeekSift.com. | null | null | 8,032 | 7,775 | null | [
13349
] | null | null |
9,569 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:50:08 | null | I wonder if he'll get the type of people he wants or expects: there's a significant difference between people who want to start their own company versus going to work for someone else (i.e. this does sound more like a summer internship than a funding opportunity). | null | null | 9,171 | 9,171 | null | null | null | null |
9,570 | comment | yaacovtp | 2007-04-06T12:50:15 | null | Here's his original source. <a href="http://valleywag.com/tech/lazy-valleywag/spying-on-federated-media-250003.php">http://valleywag.com/tech/lazy-valleywag/spying-on-federated-media-250003.php</a><p>With only a handful of people on the conference call FM must have sent out the clip on purpose to help recruit new publishers. The call was back in Feb and they said once they have permission from Google to let the world know they are getting a better deal than smaller publishers, they would get the word out. This could be their sneaky way of doing it. | null | null | 9,493 | 9,493 | null | null | null | null |
9,571 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:53:35 | null | No. 5 is important, as well as a corollary: make sure they've not already funded a competitor or similar firm. | null | null | 9,161 | 9,161 | null | null | null | null |
9,572 | comment | dpapathanasiou | 2007-04-06T12:54:13 | null | No DNA sample? | null | null | 9,290 | 9,290 | null | null | null | null |
9,573 | comment | jsjenkins168 | 2007-04-06T13:05:40 | null | I should have done more research before making my comment.. Lightspeed does seem like a pretty sweet deal. My "YC or nothing" comment was focused more on the YC clones. I totally agree with you on the legal side and bootstrapping yourself. Definitely not looking forward to that if we are not accepted. <p>Best of luck to those who applied for Lightspeed..<p> | null | null | 9,455 | 9,369 | null | null | null | null |
9,574 | comment | juwo | 2007-04-06T13:21:03 | null | Will they be working on <i>your</i> project?. Yes<p>Will they be working on <i>their</i> ideas/project? No<p>Will you pay for medical, dental, 401K etc? No<p>Will you be paying the employer share of Federal and State taxes from their paycheck? No<p>Is there any obligation or gurantee that you will help them in return for the work they have done for you? No.<p>If, after working for 3 months on your project; if you dont like them, will you still be obligated to finance them to work on their idea? No<p>That's the definition of someone looking for a temp or contract programmer. (and frankly, the market rate for a 3 month contract programmer of YC caliber would be at least double that).<p>So, was I mistaken? :) :)<p>Note the big difference. YC lends a helping hand by letting the startups work on <i>their own projects</i> and investing money, effort, experience and time to help them succeed with their companies.<p>My sincere suggestion is: be <i>generous</i> and offer the exact same terms that YC does.<p>"cast your bread upon the waters for after many days they shall return to you"<p>(<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=11&version=47)">http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=11&version=47)</a> | null | null | 9,474 | 9,171 | null | null | null | null |
9,575 | comment | ClintonKarr | 2007-04-06T13:21:08 | null | Voice,<p>You are correct, I work in PR. The reason you know this is because I've provided a reasonable level of transparency in my profile. Additonally, I use my real name as my user name becuase I want to be held accountable for what I say.<p>If I ever lied to a reporter it would end my career. I'm sorry if you felt like I was attacking you, I wasn't. I was debating the merit of your arguements, which is lost now because you continuously edit them.<p>Public relations has nothing to do with attacking people. The 150 people I work with would be highly offended if I told them that we lie by trade - it is simply not the case.<p>Do I exaggerate? Yes, but who doesn't? I'd wager the best YC applications contain a degree of hyperbole, because no one wants to get involved with something that isn't exciting.<p>Finally, words are the simplest way to express logic, so I'm glad we could find some common ground. If you go back and read my original comment you'll see I wasn't attacking you. I wasn't even disagreeing with you. I was simply adding my insight to your original post, which is lost now because you continue to edit or delete what you say. I'm not going to debate this any further with you, because I am starting to feel foolish being dragging into this.<p>So again, I am sorry if you felt attacked, that was not my intention.<p>Best wishes,<p>Clinton<p>PS - I've taken the liberty of copying and pasting your post below so you won't feel compelled to edit it.<p> 0 points by voiceofreason 10 hours ago | link | parent
How DARE you call me a liar? You work in a PR firm, so you use WORDS. I use LOGIC.<p>The point of my thread was that the author was being a jerk to Paul and should apologize. When I posted the quote where it's clear the author is insulting Paul, you got all uppity about it.<p>"your initial comment said that the author should apologize for comparing Paul to the musician."<p>At what point did I deny that I "compared Paul to the musician?" I never claimed I never said that. I simply replied to you and posted his quote you might have missed where the author said "YC is a waste of time" and also says, Paul is a bull who speaks "shit". That's why I said the author should apologize.<p>The author obviously meant to say Steve instead of Paul, in the intro. I didn't confuse that part of the article like you arrogantly believed. The reason I compared the two is because the user shows disdain and hate for the YC, so much he even confused his friend and Paul's names, when the two had nothing to do with one another.<p>You work in public relations so you're probably very good at attacking people. You're a liar and exaggerate by trade.<p>Do you understand it now? Or are you attacking me just because you're a PR person trying to test your training?
| null | null | 9,492 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,576 | story | usablecontent | 2007-04-06T13:23:09 | ThinkFree Launches Viewer for Wordpress, Releases API and Packages ThinkFree Docs | null | http://startupmeme.com/2007/04/06/thinkfree-launches-viewer-for-wordpress-releases-api-and-packages-thinkfree-docs/ | 1 | null | 9,576 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,577 | story | chendy | 2007-04-06T13:27:27 | Kleiner Perkins ponders Web 3.0, dismisses Web 2.0 | null | http://vcratings.thedealblogs.com/2007/04/kleiner_perkins_komisar_ponder.php | 2 | null | 9,577 | 2 | [
9670,
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] | null | null |
9,578 | comment | chendy | 2007-04-06T13:29:39 | null | How many of you have a primarily advertising based model? Or the "freemium" model? Our model is actually transactional, but is supplemented with advertising. | null | null | 9,577 | 9,577 | null | null | null | null |
9,579 | comment | Readmore | 2007-04-06T13:53:04 | null | I agree with that. Artist doesn't mean someone to make the logos, it means some one to design your site and make it pleasing to the users. I've found that the sooner that happens in the process the better. In fact I'm starting to lean toward the 37Signals method of making the layout work before it's even attached to the code. Thinking about how things happen from the user's pov can really help your final product. | null | null | 9,556 | 9,243 | null | [
9637
] | null | null |
9,580 | comment | boris | 2007-04-06T13:54:56 | null | I'm not interested in careful programming to be thread safe, or mutexes, etc.<p>This is like saying I am not interested in solving any real problem, just in concurrency for the sake of it. | null | null | 9,540 | 9,540 | null | [
9630
] | null | null |
9,581 | story | tomcat111 | 2007-04-06T13:55:50 | A four step plan for renewed success | null | http://www.jslogan.com/content/view/142/106/ | 1 | null | 9,581 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,582 | story | usablecontent | 2007-04-06T14:01:21 | del.icio.us Launches Firefox Plugin, Now Resides In Your Sidebar | null | http://startupmeme.com/2007/04/06/delicious-launches-firefox-plugin-now-resides-in-your-sidebar/ | 1 | null | 9,582 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,583 | comment | Readmore | 2007-04-06T14:06:53 | null | I think the author answers his own question in this post: <p>"There are tons of new 'Diggs' popping up because development time is much shorter with online websites and applications than what we are used to seeing with desktop apps."<p>Yes there are a ton of Digg clones but none of them are Digg. Cloning something doesn't make it popular, it just makes it a clone. If you copied 37Signals products, even if copied them perfectly, it still wouldn't hurt them much. The people who are using that software don't have the time to host their own solution, and they don't want to mess with ads. Besides they are already using the 37Signals products, you would have to have something that made your product better to get people to switch.<p>We all know how much better OS X is over Windows and look how hard it is to get those people to switch. The same thing applies here.
| null | null | 9,567 | 9,567 | null | [
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] | null | null |
9,584 | comment | bootload | 2007-04-06T14:10:29 | null | The YC email arrives ...<p>GEEK #1: So read the message. Did we get in?<p>NERD: <i>READS EMAIL, looks dejected, tears streaming from eyes. Starts blowing on sleeve. Honking
sound.</i><p>
<i>'... We're sorry to say that we can't accept your proposal for funding. Please don't take it personally, because most of the proposals we rejected, we rejected for reasons having nothing to do with the quality of the applicants ...'</i> [0]<p>
GEEK #2: "So did we get in?"<p>NERD : "No, we didn't get in."<p>GEEK #2: "Why, do you think it had something to do with me saying, 'I wanted to give it a try for 3 months then go back home and continue my PhD.?'" [1]<p>GEEK #1: "You what?"<p>NERD : "I told you, first we do the startup, make a good product, then the PhD., then we party, not before."<p>GEEK #1: "What about this?" ... interesting offer, "show off hackenpreneur skills?"<p>GEEK #2: "Isn't 'hakenpreneur' one of the Thunderbirds?"<p>NERD: "Thats Hacken - backer" [2]<p><p><i>ALL: Read article, mouths words, absorb information</i> [3] <p><p>GEEK #2: "You do almost the same thing, same place, similar money, coding! LOOK! They even give you a idea to start working on."<p>GEEK #1: "Sun Tzu says: <i>'a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store.'</i>" [4]<p>NERD : "Hmmm. What about our idea?"<p>NERD : You know. Our idea to revolutionise the storage and retrieval of unstructured data across the Internet. We have a demo, we've launched, got great feedback, users. We have what it takes. It will probably change. We can adapt.<p>GEEK #2: "Goggle stopper!"<p>NERD : "No, Google stopper." <p>GEEK #2: "Thats the code name, 'Goggle Stopper'." <p>GEEK #1: "Sun Tzu also said <i>'when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity'</i> [5]<p>GEEK #2: Ancient Art of War, I love that game. If you get enough knights, take the bridge you can ...<p>NERD : But if we work for something else, we miss out on working on our own stuff, the people stuff, the business stuff. We could always go home, scrape some money together, polish our idea, skills and pitch again?<p>GEEK #1: "Sun Tzu also reminds me that, <i>'our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards'</i>". [6]<p>NERD : Every day we aren't working on our own product, is a day wasted. Nothing will stop us!<p>GEEK #2: You're right. Why would we want to work on other peoples ideas? We're street wise. We do things on our own terms. <p>NERD : Working for a boss, sucks.<p>GEEK #1: Right. [5]<p>GEEK #2: You tell 'em boss. <p><i></i>Reference<i></i><p>[0] I read this straight off a 'mauricecheeks' post ~ <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=9464">http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=9464</a>
It is by far the best current Plan B that I have read.<p>[1] I know someone who did exactly this. Sad story.<p>[2] Really Brains name is "Hiram Hackenbacker" ~ <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=hiram+hackenbacker">http://www.google.com/search?q=hiram+hackenbacker</a><p>[3] Dharmesh Shah, "Why Not All Great Hackepreneur Get Picked By Y Combinator"<p>[4] Sun Tzu, "Mit Classics, II. Waging War, #15" ~ <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html">http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html</a><p>[5] Sun Tzu, "II. Waging War, #4", Ibid.<p>[6] Sun Tzu, "II. Waging War, #16", Ibid.<p>[7] Straight out of 'Alien', Brett. | null | null | 9,171 | 9,171 | null | [
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] | null | null |
9,585 | story | dherman76 | 2007-04-06T14:19:25 | The New Scene in NYC for Entrepreneurs | null | http://www.darrenherman.com/2007/04/05/an-entrepreneurs-dream-nyc/ | 12 | null | 9,585 | 10 | [
10159,
9634,
9655,
9627,
10453,
10452,
9650,
9714
] | null | null |
9,586 | story | amichail | 2007-04-06T14:20:55 | Zero-Knowledge Sudoku: How do you convince someone that you have found a solution without giving the solution away? | null | http://weblog.fortnow.com/2006/08/zero-knowledge-sudoku.html | 2 | null | 9,586 | 0 | null | null | null |
9,587 | comment | danw | 2007-04-06T14:31:01 | null | I like the sound of it. Like a non stop superhappydev house?<p>Have a peek at this article for inspiration:
"
GRUNGE INC: LIVE-IN STARTUPS COMBINE FRAT-HOUSE CULTURE WITH VENTURE CAPITAL"
<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/30/MNGEUK86BI1.DTL&type=tech">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/30/MNGEUK86BI1.DTL&type=tech</a> | null | null | 9,028 | 9,027 | null | null | null | null |
9,588 | story | mattculbreth | 2007-04-06T14:31:39 | Spinning into oblivion--the death of the music business | null | http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/04/spinning_into_o.html | 2 | null | 9,588 | 1 | [
9610
] | null | null |
9,589 | comment | divia | 2007-04-06T14:40:16 | null | I'm pretty sure that the project management software activeCollab was written to be a free Basecamp. Up until now, it's been open source and peopele have been installing it on their own servers. (Interestingly enough, the next major release will be split into a free and commercial version, somewhat like Basecamp.) | null | null | 9,567 | 9,567 | null | [
9602
] | null | null |
9,590 | story | Readmore | 2007-04-06T14:52:48 | Google's Victims | null | http://valleywag.com/tech/startups/googles-victims-250084.php | 2 | null | 9,590 | 1 | [
9593
] | null | null |
9,591 | story | joshwa | 2007-04-06T15:00:19 | Where Company Names Come From | null | http://www.fortymedia.com/blog/post/69 | 6 | null | 9,591 | 2 | [
9785,
9629
] | null | null |
9,592 | story | danw | 2007-04-06T15:04:42 | Grunge Inc: Live-In Startups Combine Frat-House Culture With Venture Capital | null | http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/30/MNGEUK86BI1.DTL&type=tech | 11 | null | 9,592 | 7 | [
9788,
9657,
9598,
9645,
9628
] | null | null |
9,593 | comment | mukund | 2007-04-06T15:10:24 | null | Google with lots of cash in its pocket seems to be an eye sore for everyone. Many knives out to get them. But from small companies perspective, google is trying to fill in the shoes of microsoft...using freebie as a bait to kill competitions. As of now they seem to be doing alright and only time will tell how they will shape up. | null | null | 9,590 | 9,590 | null | null | null | null |
9,594 | comment | nostrademons | 2007-04-06T15:16:11 | null | I don't see any Hitler or Nazis... | null | null | 9,541 | 9,361 | null | null | null | null |
9,595 | story | wensing | 2007-04-06T15:16:28 | Any chance of a favicon? | null | 1 | null | 9,595 | 3 | [
9596
] | null | null |
|
9,596 | comment | wensing | 2007-04-06T15:17:32 | null | It would be great if I could more easily spot the Y Combinator Startup News tab in my Firefox tabs drop down. | null | null | 9,595 | 9,595 | null | [
9599
] | null | null |
9,597 | comment | mdakin | 2007-04-06T15:18:43 | null | Companies are able to thrive by developing and running such "simple" systems because of characteristics of the typical consumer and the reality that even "simple" systems tend to be more complex and difficult to implement/run than they appear from the outside. <p>The typical person lacks the time and skill to install open-source clones of web applications. The typical person does not even have a server on which to install those applications! <p>Running a high-quality, reliable service is difficult. There will always be nitty-gritty pain-in-the-butt performance and reliability issues with anything that gets popular and thus needs to scale. Solving those problems requires compensation of some sort. <p>These factors are what enable companies like 37signals to exist even if/when they are cloned by an open-source project.<p>Then there also is the continued innovation that happens while the clones are busy playing catch-up, and the loyalty happy customers feel towards their craftsmen toolmakers. | null | null | 9,567 | 9,567 | null | null | null | null |
9,598 | comment | danw | 2007-04-06T15:19:04 | null | I dug up this old article based on the number of suggestions going around about getting a large hacker house for this summer :) | null | null | 9,592 | 9,592 | null | null | null | null |
9,599 | comment | joshwa | 2007-04-06T15:21:42 | null | <a href="http://ycombinator.com/images/y18.gif">http://ycombinator.com/images/y18.gif</a> works pretty well... | null | null | 9,596 | 9,595 | null | [
9979
] | null | null |
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