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Know a Free Mobile Analytics Service? | qhoxie: While there have been advances made on both ends, js based statistic engines do have lingering problems for mobile apps. That said, there are a number of workarounds:
http://www.vdgraaf.info/google-analytics-without-javascript.... |
Does anyone know how to get back into facebook? | qhoxie: I've had a couple friends with similar experiences, their accounts were reactivated after:1. Emailed request/explanation.2. Short time period (~2 weeks). |
(General-purpose) Reverse Auctions — undeveloped or needless? | crazyirish: scriptlance and other similar sites are essentially reverse auctions. |
(General-purpose) Reverse Auctions — undeveloped or needless? | zacharye: I think the main issue is that the concept of a reverse auction is not practical for the seller in an online environment. In a reverse auction, the seller must work for a sale whereas in a conventional auction the site and the buyers do the work for them. Why should the seller "work" for a sale if (s)he doesn't need to?On the flip side of the coin, it is generally accepted that if a consumer wants to purchase something (s)he must shop for it. So far attempts to revamp this process have not been widely adopted. Ebay tried a reverse auction segment of the site for a while and I don't think it worked out very well. That's not to say it can't be done of course, just that eBay couldn't do it with its approach - and all of its resources. |
Web app feedback (chatting site redux) | benjamincanfly: Last week I asked for feedback (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=267049) on my web app, Circle of Conversation. HN readers were enormously helpful and I've implemented a number of your suggestions.The initial site broke too many conventions in an attempt to differentiate. I'm now focusing on adhering to convention in areas where clarity is key. The site has a shorter name ("chchchat"), chat rooms are no longer called conversations, and users are able to give rooms custom titles in addition to tags. The "intelligent" features of the site are now dormant, and even when active will remain transparent to users.I've removed redundant content and minimized certain features so that the interface is focused on the chat rooms themselves. I've also redesigned the chat room listings to look more like the layouts of popular media sites like YouTube. Also it's now easier to invite friends to chat rooms, as each one has a static URL which is displayed prominently for copy/pasting.Thanks for taking another look, and thanks again for all of the feedback you shared last week! |
(General-purpose) Reverse Auctions — undeveloped or needless? | bigbang: Reverse auction already exists in some form. One thing, that comes to my mind is bidding for contracts. Normally outsourced companies bid lower to increase the chance of getting the contract(but yeah not always the lowest bidder gets the contract). |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | sharjeel: I personally prefer Ubuntu because the support is great in terms of community as well as repositories.When you are doing a startup, your time is very limited and I believe you should go for anything that saves time & hassle without trading off much.Btw if you are on Windows right now, you can still install and use Apache on it. There are differences but it'll be good enough for prototyping. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | qhoxie: As far as productivity and development goes, you won't experience much of a difference. In terms of enterprise history and endorsement, RedHat wins, but that is largely immaterial. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | jonny_noog: Why not Debian??I mean if you're considering Ubuntu, why not try the original? I use Debian as my main development box for exactly the kind of work that you're thinking of doing and I love it.With Debian you will learn more about Linux than you will running either RH or Ubuntu. And if anyone thinks the Ubuntu repositories are great... They should also try Debian. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | davidw: Redhat is a commercial product that you have to pay money to use. CentOS is supposed to be a pretty good server OS.However, I'd choose Ubuntu (and have) for this reason, amongst others: you can run the same OS on your server as on your desktop. You might be able to do that with Fedora, too, but Fedora is not Redhat's main focus, like Ubuntu is with, well, Ubuntu. |
What does the ideal deployment process look like for this scenario? | agentbleu: I have been looking into Jumpboxes for research on an article, maybe you could set up a jumpbox lamp stack that worked across all platforms for your test environment. Jumpboxes are like self contained virtual servers, and may save you some problems. |
What does the ideal deployment process look like for this scenario? | davidw: > slightly rusty PHP 4.x/MySQL 4.xMy first instinct is "take off and nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure", but in all seriousness, it's a pretty good question, as lots of people have to deal with fixing up code like this instead of just doing some big rewrite with tools that are nicer.If you're not familiar with how Rails (and Django?) do things in terms of having devel, test, and production environments, those would be a good thing to have a look at in terms of a model to copy.Try and aim for this: production server, staging server that very closely mirrors the production box, and then, if possible, try and get the code so that developers can run local copies on their own machines. Since you don't have version control and if you have pretty quick learners, my guess is that jumping to a more 'modern' one like git is a good bet. Subversion works fine, though. |
(General-purpose) Reverse Auctions — undeveloped or needless? | rincewind: The german site my-hammer.de does reverse auctions for craftspeople. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | gaius: If you don't know the answer, it doesn't matter to you. Flip a coin. |
What does the ideal deployment process look like for this scenario? | mtw: pretty much the standards:
you need a collaboration suite (such as basecamp)I advise git for the vcs. It's fast, good for your team's setup, and powerful.Setup a test suite for your application.(unit tests, functional tests and integration)Releases are tested against the suite.If that works, it's pushed to a staging server whose database is a mirror of the production database server.Then deploy when everything is fine. |
What does the ideal deployment process look like for this scenario? | lpgauth: testing + git + capistrano |
What does the ideal deployment process look like for this scenario? | mechanical_fish: It doesn't matter which DVCS you use, particularly since you haven't mentioned using CVS (thank god). Use whatever the designers will actually use. If they're already comfortable with SVN use SVN; the git-svn integration tools are not as great as an all-git setup, but I've been using them with great happiness. And there are quite a few competing GUI clients for SVN.Pay Devguard or github or somebody to host your VCS. Don't waste your client's money setting it up yourself.Given this sentence:Unscheduled downtime of more than a couple minutes is unacceptable any time.My first instinct would be to try and get the production server mirrored to a nigh-identical second box that you can, in a pinch, fail over to. Once you know how to do that you can clone one or the other of these redundant production servers to a staging server and test your new code on that.For all of those tasks you use boxes that resemble your production box -- same Unix version, PHP4, MySQL 4. Slicehost VPS instances are cheap. Rental servers are cheap. But trying to get your motley collection of Macs and PCs to accurately simulate your deployment environment may cost a lot of time.You can use your local machines for development if you want, then upload the results to the staging server for testing, but even that might be a big time sink, depending on the nature of your app. I've been working that way, but I've now been bitten more than once by bugs that are caused by slight differences in versions or modules between my Mac's PHP/MySQL setup and that on the production servers. I've begun to wonder whether it might be better to just get each developer a remote development VPS (or a directory on a shared development VPS), install identical clones of the development code and the database for each developer, and have everyone develop over a SSH connection, and/or via an intelligent sFTP client like Transmit for the Mac. This, I'm told, is how Flickr develops new code -- their production environment has too many moving parts to be worth simulating on a single local machine. But, of course, I'm an emacs user so the thought of editing files over SSH isn't that horrifying.If you're going to be tinkering with mission-critical code that costs $N per minute every time you introduce a bug, you may need to move the writing of tests up in the calendar.Don't forget the bug tracking! I'm not in love with Trac but it gets the job done -- again, pay somebody like Devguard to host it for you; don't waste time setting it up yourself. Or try Lighthouse or something else if you don't like Trac. Try out Basecamp. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | ZacharyP: Why not both? Install one of them as the base, grab something like VirtualBox[1], and install both of them in virtual machines. Take a week or so, then pick your favorite. As a bonus, once you've picked, you can mimic having a production server on that machine with a Linux VM with just the basics (Apache/lighttpd + interpreter).I'm actually in a similar boat. I'll be building a dual-core box (intel barebones + cheap processor + 4 GB for <$300) to use as a dev machine in addition to my Mac.[1] = VirtualBox doesn't support multiprocessors for hosts. You may want another solution, but I haven't investigated the free Linux virtualization market at all (I think VMWare has a free Linux server, but I have no idea of its features). Paravirtualization is another option for a Linux-on-Linux solution, but I think it's too complex for this. |
What does the ideal deployment process look like for this scenario? | blender: "Unscheduled downtime of more than a couple minutes is unacceptable any time."Sounds like HA should be your #1 priority. DRBD + Heartbeat is a one solution but non-trivial to setup. There are some high-end hosting providers (BlueLock, Terremark) that offer VMWare HA configurations.Sounds like VCS should be #2 - checkout cvsdude.com (no affiliation but we've used them and they're good)Cheers |
Web app feedback (chatting site redux) | pedalpete: going to the site now, the 'Top Chat Rooms' is empty, and I don't see any other directory of chat rooms, and the tags is also empty.
Makes it pretty difficult to give you any feedback.I think having the 'my settings' so prominently focused on the bottom of the page is a bit of overkill. Better to have that link to another page.But without any content, it is difficult to give a review. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | jcapote: RH = the windows of linux, stay away. |
Movable Type or Wordpress for personal blog? | ScottWhigham: Thanks, all. I went w/ WP :) |
Estimating ad revenue for a business plan? | pedalpete: I'm not a qualified expert, but it does somewhat depend on the market you are after, how integrated ads are in the site, etc.For example (assuming standard banner ads), if you are talking about using adwords for content based ads, you are likely going to be looking at a $1-4CPM (is my understanding). However, if you are more of a social network tool, etc. it seems the CPM's are MUCH lower, in the 0.05 - 0.75 range.
If you provide a solid branding opportunity for advertisers (likely targeting a very specific market), you could be looking at a $7-9CPM.This is what i have gathered from my limited research and discussions with friends in marketing. |
Best resources on SEO | tstegart: NetConcepts case studies page: http://www.netconcepts.com/tag/case-studies.
I've found it to be the best site out there to learn what needs to be done without coming across as an infomercial, which a lot of SEO sites annoying do. |
Best resources on SEO | procyon: www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ - Google webtools have been incredibly helpful for us. Also http://www.vanessafoxnude.com/ (no..it is not an adult site!) is a good blog on SEO |
Best resources on SEO | tortilla: http://www.seomoz.org/http://www.seobook.com/Not really SEO, but I love this book:
http://www.calltoactionbook.com/ |
Best resources on SEO | brm: Here it is: http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engi...
They call it the beginners guide but unless you're thinking about running an seo firm its more than you ever need. |
Best resources on SEO | ra: If you want the best, Aaron Wall's SEO Book is IMHO unsurpassed: http://training.seobook.com/ |
Best resources on SEO | fallentimes: http://SEOmoz.org (as mentioned by others) is certainly one of the best.http://Websitegrader.com provides a quick and dirty analysis of your site.The SEO Web Developer's Cheat Sheet is very handy:
http://seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.p... |
Best resources on SEO | makimaki: Try http://www.sphinn.com ... social news site specifically for SEO related topics. |
Web server development platform, Red Hat or Ubuntu | hs: try OpenBSD, it's simplerfast install: ~5 mins default + ~5 mins untar my-essentials.tgz + ~5 mins mercurial sync ... my box is production ready (sans user database)easy upgrade: untar the tgzs, kernel, sync /etc from newer OpenBSDno automatic update: it makes default install uniform, when $hit happens, just order another colo server with default install, ftp my-essential and resyncpackage & port & source: complete freedom ... for contrast, try to build (then patch) vim from source in ubuntu (you can't)now the 'bad' thing:
few forums: but most questions are answerable from OpenBSD's FAQ, afterboot and man pagesless new driver: good luck installing bluetooth (can't)older software: only firefox 2, no ff 3 in packages and snapshot port (ff3 site lists binaries for xp, osx, and .mar? source ... no idea how to compile .mar)i use OpenBSD as server (colo) and desktop ... then vnc my mac mini for ff3+firebug (i don't bother with linux emulation, dual boot, vmware etc)old simple vnc works across OS/arch ... i avoid fancy newer tech. Can you run i386-ubuntu and powerpc-tiger in one desktop?i had enough of ubuntu, can't install from source, auto-update always break things (i finally quit after my ubuntu retarded to 800x640 and failed attempts at xorg.conf)oh wait, did i mention about the quality of the OS by OpenSSH maker? Last time my colo lasted 4xx+ days without reboot |
Best resources on SEO | papa: Another great resource from SEOmoz that some might miss (b/c it's not exactly easy to find on their site) is their "Search Engine Ranking Factors" report (it's free).http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factorsThe report tries to identify which SEO factors have consensus among a panel of 3-dozen or so SEO experts (as well as which factors are deemed dubious). It's a great way to get a large number of opinions on specific topics and try to focus in on a few high ROI factors (if you've got limited resources/time like I do). |
Best resources on SEO | s3graham: Wow, really seems like there's an awful lot of "tea leaf reading" going on.The human neural network being imperfectly trained by Google's algorithms, which probably have some sort of network learning involved. Funny stuff. |
Best resources on SEO | sonink: http://www.tutorial-reports.com/internet/seo-search-engine-o... |
What do you use for HTML sanitization? | cperciva: I don't do HTML sanitization. I escape everything except [A-Za-z0-9,. ].Attempts to sanitize HTML (or SQL...) by eliminating a set of "dangerous" inputs inevitably end up as whack-a-mole processes as people keep discovering new evil things to throw at you. The only secure solution is to escape everything except a small set of "safe" inputs -- this is analogous to the situation with packet filtering firewalls, where "default deny all" is widely accepted as the right way to do things. |
What do you use for HTML sanitization? | ScottWhigham: I use PeterBlum.com's controls for ASP.NET plus some hand-rolled stuff. |
Our new logo — Tell us what you think | mechanical_fish: Just in case anybody can't indentify the red thingy — that's a headset (The ones that real customer support warriors use).In my case, this comment was sadly perceptive. A play-by-play of my thoughts:1) "Oh, no! Smiley has been injured!"2) "No, wait, Smiley is putting on clown makeup"3) "No, he's licking something off his face!"....735) "Ah, the text tells me that the smiley is using a headset!"I'm no artist, but my advice is to play with the colors of the headset. Red evokes too many other things, including makeup, blood, and a tongue.It is challenging to convey the notion of a headset when your character has no ears or head. It's like trying to create a still photo of Homestar Runner juggling. |
Our new logo — Tell us what you think | gasull: You don't get it's a headset unless you know it's related with helpdesk. |
Our new logo — Tell us what you think | bkrausz: Shouldn't the headset be either over or below the mouth? |
Best resources on SEO | procyon: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/marketing/search... link specifically for SEO but they have plenty of information for website optimization |
Anyone use Windows Server? | Shorel: Windows Server has been painless for me. We use MSSQL Server which is a good database, much better than your MySQL.We use PHP, ASP and ASP.NET in no particular order. I prefer PHP and use PHP. It works flawlessly in IIS.Also, the subversion server is very easy to manage (tortoiseSVN to create repositories, etc).However, for email, Linux is much better. Email hosting in Windows sucks. MS wants you to buy Exchange.This is my experience with a dedicated Windows box. Shared hosting in a Windows machine is the world of pain other posts describe. |
tips for starting as a freelance coder | ScottWhigham: The best place to start as a freelancer is by working for your old company as a freelancer or for your old company's clients. |
tips for starting as a freelance coder | tstegart: I would strongly recommend building a side project while you work on finding your jobs. Clients are impressed when they see what you can actually do rather than just what you say you can do. Not to mention a side project would not have the constraints of a client, so you can make it really awesome (i.e. no "we need to use teal, its our company color"). Another plus is multiple side projects in different languages, so it shows you have wicked programming smarts and can pick up new skills if needed. |
Questions For & About Startups | LukeG: OK, honestly, what kind of schedule & hours do you guys (and ladies) really keep? |
Questions For & About Startups | fallentimes: What was your biggest time waster? |
Questions For & About Startups | marketer: Why would someone sacrifice their secure job with good benefits and plunge into the startup world?Have you ever watched Scoble interview startup founders? It's completely unscripted, yet he does a remarkable job (in my opinion). You can tell he's passionate about discovering neat technology, and he always gets excited over some cool features. It's very authentic. You might want to check out his style. This is a good example:http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/a-really-useful-way-take-not... |
Questions For & About Startups | mooders: In retrospect, did you do it the hard way, or the easy way (whatever each constitutes in your context)?What will you do differently next time?How transparent are the founders in their info-sharing? |
Questions For & About Startups | rokhayakebe: 1- how will you make money? What if that doesn't work? What about your plan C to generate revenue?2- What is your exit strategy?3- What if Yahoo, Google or Microsoft launchs a competitive product?4- What would you do if you were not startupping?5- What other startup do you like? |
Questions For & About Startups | evanlong: How did you meet the people you work with in your startup (past jobs, school, randomly, etc...)?How do you solve disputes within the team?If you were not doing startups or technical things, what types of things would you pursue?Was the original idea for the startup the one you stuck with?Was there any AHA moments within the team that were notable? |
Questions For & About Startups | aneesh: If you have paying customers, how did you find them? And how are you planning to get more? |
Questions For & About Startups | anamax: (1) What are you doing?
(2) What is important to you?If (1) doesn't directly contribute to (2)....For CEOs, "What are the last three important things about engineering/development that you didn't hear from the VP-Engr?For VP-Engr/managers, "What are the last three important things about the biz that you heard from your reports?"In both cases, the followup is "What did you do with that information?" |
Questions For & About Startups | paulgb: How many monitors do the programmers use?Not because I need a bunch of monitors, but it seems like a rough indicator of how much programmers are valued in the company. A company looking for code monkeys isn't going to find the marginal return of another monitor worth the investment. |
Questions For & About Startups | ALee: 1) What are the weaknesses of your startup?2) How do you manage between letting people have a say in product versus micro-management? |
Questions For & About Startups | cperciva: This might be a very difficult question to get answered, but I think it could be very interesting: In retrospect, how closely (or not) did the allocation of ownership (between founders, and also founders vs. employees) match the contributions people ended up making to the company?Bonus points if you can ask several people at a company and get different opinions about the relative values of each other's contributions. :-) |
Questions For & About Startups | mace: 1. Why did you start your company(ie. what problem are you trying to solve)?2. Has your original idea/product changed over time?3. Have you started a company before?4. What are your funding goals (if any)?5. Where do you see your startup in 1 year?6. What is your best advice to other entrepreneurs? |
Questions For & About Startups | DenisM: Which advice have you ignored at the outset, only to regret it later? |
Questions For & About Startups | DenisM: Man, these are awesome questions.Talk about success story in crowd-sourcing. |
Questions For & About Startups | edw519: What keeps you up at night? |
Questions For & About Startups | watmough: Some more questions:1. How do you ensure that ideas are listened to?2. How do you find technical, business and recruiting talent?3. What are the 1 - 3 central tenets to your business? What do you do if people stray from these ideas?4. Are people expected to work 12 hours a day, or is there a work-life balance?5. Will the company make a reasonable effort to accommodate the requirements of techies, such as a quiet office, or are you expected to sit in a bullpen next to salespeople or tech support?6. Do I get my own printer / second monitor / fast pc / team morale budget / software budget / 20% time etc.? |
Questions For & About Startups | maryrosecook: Do you hang out together outside work? |
Need Mobile Beta App Testers | zacharye: username: zacharyeI've enjoyed the site a lot, definitely willing to check out the mobile version. |
Online routines and distractions? | parenthesis: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=192654 |
Questions For & About Startups | cmos: What was your biggest mistake? We want the gory details. |
Need Mobile Beta App Testers | zacharye: One more suggestion as I continue to play. The service as-is is awesome for checking out 'your' stocks, but adding functionality to search for a company by name rather than only symbol would be great in the mobile app (and the standard website as well for that matter). If I hear about a company while on the go, it would be cool to have a one-stop shop where I don't have to hit Google or some other mobile site to identify the ticker symbol before I can do some reading on StreetRead. |
do non-dev staff at your company use version control? | olefoo: I've setup a system using mercurial where a versioned archive shadows a directory of assets (html snippets and images) that is edited by customers and support staff. It works, although the rollback interface is a commandline rather than a web page at this time.In my experience the term 'version control' might as well be martian to most customers and non-tech staff. |
do non-dev staff at your company use version control? | sqs: Right now the non-dev people at my company use FVC, but we are trying hard to get them to use Subversion (simpler than Git and adequate for their needs). Version control is so important that everybody should be using it.FVC = Filename Version Control. SpecificationsDraft.doc, Specifications1.doc, Specifications-FINAL.doc, Specifications-FINALFINAL.doc, Specifications-FINAL3.doc etc. :) |
do non-dev staff at your company use version control? | shabda: http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.666973.1... |
Questions For & About Startups | netcan: DO you have an exit strategy?If so, when did you formulate it?If early on, how has it affected your product? |
do non-dev staff at your company use version control? | gaius: Yep, tho' they probably aren't aware that they are, it's built into the intranet that they store all their Office documents on. This is probably the best way to do it. |
Our new logo — Tell us what you think | jauco: about the headset, but more general:If you feel the need to explain your logo (as in "Just in case anybody can't indentify the red thingy") then it still needs some work. |
Top 10 Hacks of All Time | paraschopra: The Slashdot article is old (year 1999) but still lists some cool hacks such as CC, Perl, and even AK-47.Am wondering which all hacks would you rate as top 10 hacks of all time? Mine would be:Karma System,
Python,
Hacker News,
Y Combinator,
Electric Guitar,
Google,
Firefox,
Hotmail (it was a pioneer in web-based email),
APIs,
Wikiepdia |
Top 10 Hacks of All Time | steveplace: One of the best hack stories was that of the Direct TV smartcard. They slowly uploaded updates to the card to create a dynamic programming interface. The first 8 computer bytes of all hacked cards were rewritten to read "GAME OVER".Full story:http://slashdot.org/articles/01/01/25/1343218.shtml |
Online routines and distractions? | ScottWhigham: We sleep less than most so that we can have the time to be distracted yet still work more than 4 other humans... Or maybe that's just me! |
do non-dev staff at your company use version control? | michaelbuckbee: From a non-dev perspective I'm not sure they would see much of a difference in complexity between SVN and GIT.It might be helpful if you could specify if the "non devs" are also "non contributors". |
Co-founding | tstegart: I think the price of obtaining limited liability is so low these days it doesn't make sense not to do it. It also seems obtaining limited liability would go hand in hand with putting your agreement in writing, so I'm failing to see your potential co-founder's reasons for not doing this. Unless you're going on a handshake (which I doubt), you'll decide on how much equity is "the lion's share" and then divide it using some form of agreement or equity division. You can't have equity division without a company to divide, and the company you start will hopefully limit your liability. |
Co-founding | cmos: Bail.If I can summarize your words:
worry, illegal, unethical?, gray area, personally accountable, lions share, 'did not site well with me', final say, dubious.At no point did you say 'exciting' or 'amazing' or anything remotely exciting about it. |
Co-founding | tstegart: On the equity division issue, if its bothering you, then you need to let him know that and negotiate a compromise. If you can't do compromise on that issue, you probably won't be able to compromise on much, and thats a bad recipe for starting a company together. I would also suggest nailing down an exact number, the "lion's share" isn't exactly accurate.As far as majority control, I'm a big fan on someone having majority control to prevent deadlock. But with minority protections built in. You can have one person with majority control, but at the same time require two votes to make certain decisions, like selling, buying another company, changing compensation, changing the operating agreement, etc. That way, even though one partner has more equity, that can't completely screw the other one over. |
Co-founding | trevelyan: It isn't clear what you bring to the table, which makes it difficult for anyone to give you an answer. What can you do for the company that this guy cannot do for himself. |
Co-founding | timcederman: It is not a grey area, it is illegal and a copyright violation. What is it with all these supposed lawyers offering supposed advice to people that what they're doing isn't wrong? |
Co-founding | rubentopo: You should be equals, that's what i'd demand, i don't see a partnership where the partners are not equals...but that's my opinion. |
Co-founding | edw519: He says once he can afford it he will payRun, don't walk, the other way!Ethics is the bedrock of any relationship or business.It is also binary; you have it or you don't.You don't.I once had a partner who disconnected his speedometer to increase his resale value. No big deal, huh? Next thing you know, he was "compromising" all over the place, with customers, vendors, and eventually, me. Don't make the same mistake.The simple fact that this discussion is here is evidence that you already know the answer. |
Co-founding | webwright: Hard to tell about the lion's share issue. If the site has traction or good IP, it MIGHT be fair. Probably not. The question to ask is, "how hard would it be to duplicate the effort"? The way to ask HIM is: "How much have you reduced my risk with your headstart?" and "If we take 4 years to build this and win, what percentage of the total effort/work/risk is your headstart?".If he's flailed for several years with limited success, that time is (unfortunately for him) not worth very much.If he wants blanket veto power over all decisions, I'd say bail if you aren't comfortable with it.The legal gray area is up to you-- YouTube certain was in gray territory. Given the risk, asking for a formalized corporation to throw up a little liability screen isn't a bad idea.Regardless of all this DO NOT PROCEED without an agreement in place. It doesn't have to be bulletproof. It can be as simple as an memo of understanding, but there is too much up in the air right now and it'd be easy to be 6-months in and be wondering, "wait, how much equity do I get?". |
Co-founding | tptacek: Psychology aside --- obviously you're talking yourself out of this gig:* It takes 1-2 days to set up an LLC. Without the LLC, you can't invoice and you can't buy insurance. Unless you get to manage the incorporation on day 1, don't sign on until they incorporate.* The risk with scraping isn't just that you'll get sued, but, more likely, that you're simply going to be locked out. If your business model depends on the data, sneaking it out seems like a bad strategy.* You have to make the call about whether you're ok with a subordinate role in the company. There's nothing inherently wrong with demanding more equity to compensate the work already done. |
Co-founding | mattmaroon: What data is he scraping? Unless he's doing streaming stat updates, it's a lot cheaper than that. And if he's doing live stat updates, it's a lot more expensive than that.Also, I'd tend to disbelieve that there's any gray area there at all, seems flat out illegal to me. Might want to talk to a lawyer yourself about that. I can recommend one who does a lot of work in the area if you need. |
Co-founding | netcan: "He says once he can afford it he will pay"
There's a few things that I never could believe:A woman when she weepsA merchant when he swearsA thief who says he'll pay -A lawyer when he caresA snake when he is sleepingA drunkard when he praysI don't believe you go to heaven when you're goodEverything goes to hell, anyway...(Everything Goes to Hell, Tom Waits, ) |
Co-founding | ninjaa: As someone who has been screwed before:
Make a buyout date and clause. Value the IP based on time, calculate your share and set an end date on your agreementpast which you can demand cash from him for your stake. This way he may have final say on all issues, but if you disagree with the general direction after a couple months you can deal him a punishment by demanding a cash out. It is vital to set said date and amount in writing at the outset. |
Co-founding | sutro: Your prospective partner's positions on both legality and equity seem reasonable to me. A startup is going to be full of risk regardless. I say take the leap of faith and go for it. Even if it all goes to hell, you'll learn a lot. |
Co-founding | gojomo: Lots of successful and respected startups have begun with questionable reuse of easy-to-collect data from others. Whether it really crosses a dangerous liability line, or is indicative of other ethical stretches, would require more details not in evidence here.You should do the research to assess the risk -- and that means sharing more specifics with people with relevant legal or business expertise. But it's also possible that if these are the kinds of things that especially worry you, this isn't the right startup for you. |
Co-founding | gojomo: Someone has to have final say -- practically, even if not formally. A perfect 50/50 partnership can deadlock or dally when any decision is better than more discussion. So it's not unreasonable for the person who created the idea and first working version to resist giving up the control they've had so far. |
Co-founding | gojomo: Right now he owns 100%, even if it's not incorporated.If you ask for 50%, at some level you're implying that [your value going forward] is equal to [his value going forward] plus [the value he's already created]. That might be insulting to him. |
how to get tough | comatose_kid: Lie under a coconut tree, and have a friend climb up the tree and drop coconuts on your abdomen [1].References
[1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxGYtOXUP4 |
how to get tough | alaskamiller: Start a fight club but don't talk about it |
how to get tough | tstegart: Do something really hard that takes you past your limits. It doesn't have to be a start-up, it could be anything (like running a marathon). |
how to get tough | gaius: Regularly place yourself in situations where failure is a distinct possibility.Start to observe that failure is actually less likely than you thought it was.Repeat until desired level of toughness is acquired. |
Feedback and CoFounder - privatetransit.org | tstegart: Is it working yet? What's with the map screenshot on the front page, is that supposed to be something? Also, don't repeat the menu in any screen shots, it confuses people into thinking they're clickable and do something. Remove the tabs from screenshots.Your marketing on the front page needs a lot of work. I didn't know there was a tour until I clicked next. It also seems very small, why aren't you using your screen real estate? Is it supposed to be a mobile site?I also clicked on "my transit" and got more tabs to show up, but then I couldn't get back to the homepage, I was stuck there no matter how many times I clicked on the home tab. .You should have more descriptive text on the tour instead of repeating those two lines about public and private transit. I expected them to be descriptive and relevant to the picture being shown on the tour. Their graphical hierarchy made me expect that was where my eyes should look first, and instead it was just lines from the home page. I've read those two lines, no need to repeat them on every tour page.I don't mean to be harsh, just asking a lot of questions. |
how to get tough | browndog: Make a list of things you have a mental block against. Then make opportunities to do them. Every failure that you learn and recover from makes you stronger. Practice your decision-making skills. Act on your decisions. And communicate decisively. Good luck! |
Feedback and CoFounder - privatetransit.org | gasull: 1) Where do you live? You probably want your cofounder to live in the same urban area.2) You want a good hacker to be your cofounder. How to find a good hacker. Paul Graham gives some advice about this:http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html"What you should do in college is work on your own projects. Hackers should do this even if they don't plan to start startups, because it's the only real way to learn how to program. In some cases you may collaborate with other students, and this is the best way to get to know good hackers. The project may even grow into a startup. But once again, I wouldn't aim too directly at either target. Don't force things; just work on stuff you like with people you like."What if you are not in school? I would welcome an article in HN about how to find a cofounder for a startup. You might want to go to startup events and take part in an open source project. |
How do you meet a hacker to start a startup with if you are not in college? | inklesspen: Go to local "ruby user groups" or whatever your language of choice is. Or, heck, go to "ruby/python/blub++ user groups" even if you use Java; you'll meet some smart people there anyway. |
How do you meet a hacker to start a startup with if you are not in college? | debtkid: craigslist? |
How do you meet a hacker to start a startup with if you are not in college? | dmix: The best option is to go out to all the local get togethers for hackers and entrepreneurs, barcamps, and conventions. Plus try to introduce yourself to people online, this worked out much better for me then I expected.Have your idea fleshed out and know it inside out. Theres a lot at stake when you bring on a co-founder you only met recently. If the person is sincerely interested and is asking the right questions then you can give it a shot... just make sure it's a necessity before deciding to find someone.I was in a similar situation earlier this year. From my experience starting a business with a close friend, that knowing and trusting a person is only half the battle. They have to have the skills necessary for the start-up. Just knowing a programming language or being a good speaker may not be good enough. Some people aren't cut out to be founders.Recently I decided that I would rather raise capital and hire a developer with a nice stock option, mainly because I have a technical and business background. Although co-founders are still a great asset. |
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