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Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | Lagged2Death: If Dilbert started his own company, then Dilbert would become the pointy-haired boss, or the VC that controlled his fate would be the pointy-haired boss. And the underlings would become Dilbert. Nothing would really change.Dilbert (the comic strip) isn't really about any particular character. It's about p... |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | seregine: See Achewood calling out Dilbert:http://www.achewood.com/index.php?date=07312008 |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | Tichy: Because secretly he likes feeling smarter than his co-workers, and he dreads the responsibility of accomplishing something real. |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | Misanthrope: First, remember that he is an engineer, not a computer programmer. There isn't much demand for engineers in this once great nation. For him to move to another enterprise, he'd probably have to emigrate to Elbonia.Second, many engineers, while incredibly bright, are not the types to know how to successfully... |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | zitterbewegung: Because its Dilbert. Not ycombinator. |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | yaj: he needs to pay the bills |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | MaysonL: Because he loves bitching about how fucked up everybody else is. |
Advertising networks that pay per click, but are flexible. | mrtron: I have found that if you do your homework and use well targeted ads you will make much more using non-PPC advertising.
edit: I was avoiding introducing too many new acronyms, but I was suggesting CPALet's say you use some sort of program and get paid per lead - I would suggest CJ/Linkshare/Neverblueads[1]. Th... |
Advertising networks that pay per click, but are flexible. | staunch: > For a webapp where you don't have any page reloads, the exsting google adsense is pretty useless.You could just auto-refresh the javascript using an iframe if necessary. That would solve that problem at least, although it may raise some additional ones. |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | donniefitz2: He's working through some things right now. |
Multi-Monitor w/ Laptop? | jlogic77: I run 3 monitors.1. Open Laptop
2. 22" Widescreen LCD connected to laptop
3. 17" LCD to a desktop computerDesktop and Laptop share a keyboard and mouse using Synergy. http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/ which makes it seamless to use! |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | rudyfink: Stockholm Syndrome |
Why doesn't Dilbert quit? | michaelneale: I don't pity Dilbert - he whines constantly yet makes no effort improve things. He is very cynical, and has no interest in improving his lot of those around him, so he gets what he deserves.I wonder if that is part of Scott Adams intent - people pity him, yet he is not really worthy of pity (which most pe... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | zacharye: Definitely don't ignore them. Learn from them. Do all you can to see what works for them and what doesn't. Pay close attention to what users (and blogs) are saying about the product. What do they like? What do they dislike? What features are they asking for? This competitor will give you they best market rese... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | run4yourlives: Of course it's normal. Ask everyone from Pepsi to Burger King. :-)That being said, from the sounds of it, the competitor seems to be very visible in the market. Given that, can you see that there is something that they're not doing? Is there are group of users that are under-served? Do you figure one mig... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | matthewking: I've been reviewing web apps recently for accounting within my startup, there's a lot of offerings and most of them cover all the same functionality.But even though they all do the same thing, its the way that they've implemented the functions that makes each app different, and has ultimately influenced my... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | olefoo: If the market supports a number of competitors that are doing OK, and you are fine with working in that market, then go for it.If you were wanting to be a category-killer then it doesn't sound like your market is suitable for that. So if you're playing "Go Big or Go Home."; you should find another market. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | oldgregg: Large markets almost always have room for a #2. However, unless you can make substantive improvements over their product or target a different niche that they are missing, you could be in for a hard slog. |
Password managers? | mechanical_fish: I created a complex paper-based system once. Then I got bored with the tedium of retyping big strings of characters off a sheet of paper and started just using 1Password for everything.You can use 1Password to create passwords that aren't associated with websites and stuff them into the equivalent of e... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | fallentimes: Two things:1. Respond to all user emails within 24 hours or less - even if it's just to say "thanks" or "this should be released next month". Not only will you know exactly what your users want; they'll tell your friends how quickly you responded. And of course, don't ever ever use form responses/letters.2... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | menloparkbum: Go for it. One of the projects I am working on is Yet Another Photo-sharing Site. Here in SF the first thing people ask is "Why? Why not just use Flickr?"But when I leave SF, I tell people "I am making a photo sharing site, kind of like Flickr, but how I want it." The response I get is "Sounds Cool - what... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | wheels: There will always be competition. There are probably half a dozen other companies doing similar things that you just don't know about yet. Most of the really successful companies that I can think of weren't the first ones on the market.Like others have said, learn from them. Figure out some need that they'r... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | furiouslol: I'm probably going to be the sole wet blanket here.Ask yourself this question. Will your product be substantially different from this competitor's product?If yes, you might want to do something else. Like what you said, this competitor has growing traction. It'll be difficult for you to break the momentum e... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | rokhayakebe: If you have same set of features, then beat them on the UI. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | metajack: If you believe in your idea, keep going. While they may have hit first, you can adjust your strategy now that their hand has been played.This sort of thing happens all the time; few ideas are truly original. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | JD12: Profit, is the 100 pound gorilla. Can two company survive and make money both at the same time? |
Which entrepreneur(s) do you admire the most? | MaysonL: Muhammad Yunus, Nikola Tesla, Akio Morita, Kiichiro Toyoda, Jeff Bezos. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | vaksel: there are millions of people in this country. Even now when I tell people about craigslist they ask what is that? There is always place to compete.I mean look at eBay, they are in world known, but their user base is only 144 million people world wide. Sure it sounds huge, but in reality its just a tiny portion.... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | jonny_noog: I would definitely suggest that you not give up development of your idea.As someone else has already said, learn from your competition and make your product better as a result.If the idea you're working on is a good one, then you're almost bound to have competition. So I see competition as a sign that I'm o... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | drawkbox: Google wasn't the first search engine. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | mattmaroon: Wrap a dead fish up in some newspaper. Mail it to them with a kind but clear warning that they better pack it up and go elsewhere. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | 13ren: Competition also validates the market in that some won't buy unless there is more than one supplier; the first doesn't always win (Edison had the 19th light bulb patent); and your greatest competitor is non-consumption (not this competitor).There's one danger in learning from them: don't become fixated or intimi... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | TCL15: You should look at this as a good thing. You can use them to see what work and what doesn't. Adjust your product and add features that your competitor lacks. Any market worth while will have competitors. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | ojbyrne: I saw reddit as a digg.com competitor when they launched. Much, much smaller, less hyped, but guess who found an exit first? Small competitors to large, VC-funded products often do well, perhaps partially helped by the hype surrounding the leader. Jaiku would be another example. |
Advertising networks that pay per click, but are flexible. | netcan: Look at it from this angle: With ppc, the advertiser needs to make buying clicks worth his while. A big part of that is advertising in the correct place.If you the 'publisher' want control over what ads appear, how often etc. you'll need to remove any risk from the advertiser - CPA/affiliate so that it's always... |
Algorithm to identify the same events based on semantic similarity | aristus: The current consensus is to use statistics without trying to write a program that "understands" human language.A common approach is to break your items down into a vector of "features" (words, phrases, tokens, etc) and apply standard IR techniques like kNN, singular value decomposition (SVD), tf/idf, etc.One i... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | tptacek: In 2003, me and a partner decided it'd be pretty neat if companies could deploy firewalls that filtered AOL Instant Messenger, Jabber, and MSN IM, with rules for users and groups, not IP addresses, and with automatic encryption and message relaying to keep corporate secrets off the OSCAR servers.Then AOL annou... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | rtf: You have the "second move" in this chess game of monopolistic competition. Even highly successful, technically superior, first-to-market products have been beaten out by competitors. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | pageman: what's your exit strategy? For example, if you were planning on getting bought let's say 100M - with a competing company, that might mean you might get bought for higher or lower depending on the timing. Assuming a bidding war, if someone buys your competitor first, the losing bidder might just buy your compan... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | Eliezer: Ask Graham's Question: Are you still creating value? Take your eyes off the greenbacks for a second - are there still more-satisfied users at the end of your quest, or is it now only about the money? |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | umangjaipuria: It's not as much about the idea as about the execution.
But your idea has been validated. And so has your idea-generation. Quit your 9-5 and start off on this full time. |
Algorithm to identify the same events based on semantic similarity | joshu: I recommend an IR and/or NLP book.Check into Jaccard distance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaccard_indexYou might consider looking at WordNet for generalizing words... |
Algorithm to identify the same events based on semantic similarity | snprbob86: Will these people be mentioning the same URLs, by chance? :-) |
Free-to-Premium business models. Any working examples? | jacobscott: Chris Anderson's article on Free in Wired is six months old but probably a good reference if you haven't seen it:http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free?curre...I guess his book isn't out yet but it looks like he's blogging about free @ the long tail:http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/ |
Free-to-Premium business models. Any working examples? | webwright: 37Signals stuff, Wufoo, BlinkSale, Flickr, Freshbooks, RescueTime, Harvest, etc.If you want some good data, you'll really want to read this:
http://particletree.com/features/web-app-autopsy/ |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | splenda: What kind of application is it? How you would compete depends a lot on the nature of your audience. |
Free-to-Premium business models. Any working examples? | rantfoil: Smugmug is a pioneer in this. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | blader: If you are screwed because somebody beat you to the punch - then you were screwed anyway. Sustainable companies have a lot more going for them than just being a few months early than the other guy. |
Free-to-Premium business models. Any working examples? | tstegart: Isn't Flickr the perfect example? I know a lot of people that pay for it, and a lot of people that don't. Some blogging platforms also use the model successfully. |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | leonroy: Paul Graham mentioned in one of his essays that although ViaWeb faced tough competition he knew that working hard enough, his team could implement features that would force his competitors to drag themselves over rocky terrain just to try and keep up.If you think there's a chance in hell, give it a go. Otherwi... |
Beaten to the punch by a competitor, advice? | NoBSWebDesign: If you love what you do, keep doing it. Improve upon what they have, whether that be the customer support, the interface, an extra feature or two, integration with other services... competition is good for you. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | noodle: a good idea keeps me from starting my next startup right now.i've said this many times before here, but one of the biggest things that prevent people from starting a startup is the instability of the startup. the family man or person with larger financial responsibilities will usually need the steady paycheck.... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | ComputerGuru: It's an incorrect assumption that you can't work on a startup while working at a company. If you have a boring 8 hour day job, you still have sixteen hours left in the day. The first 8 hours may be mind-numbing and leave you exhausted and incapable of independant thought, but focus hard enough and you can... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | maxklein: Offer him a pathway. Making a startup will be hard on him, so if you offer a soft job and allow him time to work on his ideas, he will stay.But if he has the bug, he will leave at some point. You can't hold down a ramblin man... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | swombat: Nothing, I'm on my second one.Oh, and to answer your question, what made me go start my own business is I couldn't stand the way things were done in the big corp world.I'm impatient. I want to get things done. I want to achieve things. I cannot stand the idea of being given orders. I have no respect for author... |
Algorithm to identify the same events based on semantic similarity | sbt: What you are trying to do is very hard. Statistical NLP is the way to go for unbounded domains. You might be able to do better semantic analysis for smaller closed domains.There is a relatively new great book on NLP out now that I suggest you take a look at. Particularly the chapters semantics are very useful, but... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | perdurabo: Lack of what I perceive to be a solid idea that I can maintain interest and passion in. ADHD is a bitch.I tend to be a jack of all trades (master of all, too) flitting from one thing to the next.Other than that, little fear about the rest of the stuff you mention. I'm hungry for an idea I can be devoted to. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | vaksel: Savings is the most important thing...once you have enough savings you can walk out.If you really want to keep the guy around, make it easy for him to do his startup while he still works for you. i.e. have him spend 60% of the time working on your stuff, and 40% of the time are free for him to work on his start... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | brm: Sometimes it not as much about money as it is control of your destiny and the ability to do interesting work |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | ph0rque: To join the several comments here: let him work on his startup part-time (20-40%) during work hours, as long as he gets his responsibilities done. I've quantified this idea a bit in a blog post: http://blog.ezlearnz.com/post/40316576/the-6-hour-workday |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | mooders: This may sound glib, but have you asked him?Have you explored with him, with you in a Coaching/Mentoring role, where he sees himself heading; who he sees himself being; what effects he sees himself making over the next year / 2 years / 5 years / at retirement?Once you have the answers to those (and he may not ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | mannylee1: Knowledge. I believe it is very important to know the code behind the startup. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | johnrob: A start up is desirable because:1) Chance for a life changing payday, that could free you from the burden of working (if that were desirable - I have a theory that working is more fun when it isn't required).2) Ability to control how the game is played. You don't want to lose because you were forced to follow... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | chriskelley: For me, it's freedom. And only he can give that to himself. I would say your best option is to support his decision, but give him a big welcoming door to walk back in if his startup doesn't work out. Sometimes people with the drive to do things on their own need to try it first, and maybe it won't wor... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | ryanwaggoner: Have I missed anything?Yeah, you've missed everything. It's a nice idea to try and give an employee what he's looking for from a startup within your corporate environment, but it's just not possible. Corporate employees exist to build wealth for someone else. That's just the reality of the situation. ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | jsmcgd: I would agree that most people quit their boss and not their job, there's empirical evidence to support this. However it isn't true all the time. I'm wondering if what he wants to do more interesting to him than what he is doing at the moment? Does it scratch his itch? |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | ptn: Im in Peru, so I first have to figure out a way to move to a startup hub and only then can I start. I'm possibly going for a scholarship to do a masters, which would delay me (I must finish it, being a scholarship I can't drop out), but at least would get me there. This is kinda frustrating, because to get a sch... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | mseebach: Have you ever made him do something in a specific way, because of "enterprise"-reasons, politics and "that's the way we do it" instead of arguments?Do you make him run windows, when he'd rather use a Mac or Linux, because he has to use Visual Studio? Did he ever suggest that you do a project in Ruby or Python... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | rokhayakebe: Be the first to fund his startup.This is one mistake employers do. Do not try to retain him. If he wants it enough (and in this case he does) he will sooner or later find a way to make it happen.Join him. Give him office space. You can still use his brain while he is around.EDIT: Entrepreneurs should also ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | tjr: I like to create new things; develop new ideas and build them. In most jobs, you are but a cog in the machine, and have relatively little creative allowance. I just churn out code per requirements, or test code per requirements, or write requirements per requirements. Not a whole lot of in-depth thinking seems ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | webwright: I don't think startup people are "quitting their boss" (i.e. running FROM something), but they are rather running TO something that is magical and not entirely rationale. Statistically/financially, it's a dumb decision to start a startup-- but it doesn't matter. You can sit down, run the numbers, make pro... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | rthomas6: A killer idea. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | mdasen: Risk. I'm risk-averse (as most people who objectively have it pretty good are). I have shit to loose.Bureaucracy. I hate that I can't just do something. Ironically, the level of bureaucracy might be less at my job than if I worked for myself because if I work for myself I have to do lots of crap like dealin... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | gasull: Procrastination. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | pavelludiq: I'm still in high school, but this summer i had a chance of getting a job. I didn't get one, instead i decided that i need to learn to program better and learn a few new languages. I also learned to draw, and I've been working on my writing style and my English. I also learned a lot of otter stuff(how to me... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | Flemlord: If you don't think you can stop him, don't try to fight it. Let him quit, and work out a part-time consulting deal. If you really think so highly of this guy, offer to become his first client and maybe invest in his new venture. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | dawie: 20% to do whatever you want (as long as it makes things better), kept me in the corporate environment ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | floozyspeak: The security blanket is nice and its probably what keeps most people in their place in a kind of Matrix mentality. Startups only offer the truth of what you dare to be vs what the blue pill offers you.He has you, and all that corporate goodness but thats just it, you have him. He needs more.I think only ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | donniefitz2: Freedom. You can't keep someone employed that values freedom. A startup offers freedom from being a "wage-slave". It offers liberation from indentured servitude and if that is what your employee values, nothing you do will satisfy him. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | ajmoir: The freedom to develop code I want to in the manner I wish to. Enough of the usual crappy corporate tools/procedures/apathy.To be judged on what I produce not how many hours I'm in the office.Rewards equal to my contribution, this is where corporations fall down completely. If I'm ten times more productive th... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | jwilliams: For me it's the need to try and do something for myself, and to do something that is excellent - something I'm proud of.I've been in large corporates for 10 years. A corporate can basically never compete against this kind of desire (which, is actually quite rare).Even though I've got more senior over the yea... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | lallysingh: Depending on how far you're willing to go with this, there is the best of both worlds. Give him command over a group. If they get somewhere, offer the chance to lead a spinoff.The other thing that'll hold a hacker in a job is a hot wife and a good family life. A man's focus can change over life, and one ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | anamax: Why is it so important for you to keep him? |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | brandon272: Your post in and of itself is why your employee wants to found a startup. Instead of sitting down directly with him and saying, "What will it take to keep you here?" and listening to the nitty gritty of what he wants for himself, which would totally make your post here unncessary, you are posting here, tryi... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | sjs382: I work 30 hours a week. I'm taking a heavier course load than I ever have. And to top it off, I'm in a semi-long-distance relationship (3 hour drive) and make every effort to see my SO.My current job isn't so bad, either. The pay is peanuts, but it isn't "corporate" (100-ish employees, but just 6 in my depart... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | omfut: I have been working for more than a decade in startups, and when folks as me why im still continuing doing so, simple answer is- the passion and the drive to work on something innovate, that, someday will change the world. |
How Would you Implement this? | jwilliams: Option #3/4: In a software project, you have three main levers - time, quality and cost. Improve one, then you need to lose on one or both of the others.If you want real ballpark to start the thinking process (can't really promise much more than that without a lot more information) - well I'd say that a loca... |
What does your room look like? | kylec: Sorry to come so late to the party, but I just got around to cleaning my desk. Here it is:http://modos.org/desk.pngIt's nothing special, but I like it. It's two pieces of plywood glued together and suspended around the perimeter. I prefer the feel of real wood to that fake stuff in low-end desks. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | edw519: Have I missed anything?Yes.No matter how pretty you make your diapers, they still have your baby's shit in them.Entrepreneurs want to change their own babies' diapers. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | hopeless: What stops me starting a business or even working for a startup?A 6 month old daughter and a wife who's been made redundant. All dreams and ambitions play second fiddle to keeping your family alive.My day job was a smallish business that got bought out by one of the largest IT companies in the world and the ... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | iigs: Is it influence, decision making, and direction setting? Well, we kinda fall down there. Many cooks in this kitchen, and most have greater influence than is available to him. His voice is heard of course, and great ideas are easy to spot no matter who they come from, but if he expects his voice to win out every t... |
Algorithm to identify the same events based on semantic similarity | MaysonL: There was a great Google teck talk posted here a while ago:
The Next Generation of Neural Networks by Geoffrey Hinton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyzOUbkUf3M that might be applicable. |
Password managers? | ScottWhigham: I use http://keepass.info/ and have for a while now. Works great and is free. |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | briancooley: Let's not forget the other things that corporate life provides that Start Ups simply can't compete against: we've got cash which means all your standard developer care and feeding: snacks, beverages, free lunches. With cash comes profit sharing, job security, benefits, paid vacations, etc.These are the kin... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | unalone: I'm slow to develop mine for the worst reason in the world: I can't program.Oh, don't get me wrong. I have a coder's mind. I'm content with sitting down for hours and nitpicking code until it works just fine. It's just that I don't know the languages I need to know, and so development happens slowly.It's happe... |
What keeps you from beginning your Start Up? | icey: I jump between working for myself and working for other people somewhat regularly.Right now for example, I have what I think is the perfect job. The pay is good, I work on interesting problems, I drive all the dates and functionality; basically I am getting paid to make all the IT decisions and I have enough budg... |
Looking for hard-working, ambitious co-founder | dcurtis: I'm looking for a beautiful blonde attractive wife. She has to be ready to live with me in a deep relationship, starting immediately. I have a good idea of where I want the relationship to go, as I have some experience-- I previously had a successful marriage with 2 kids and a minivan.Contact me if interested.... |
Looking for hard-working, ambitious co-founder | Brushfire: Seriously?OK. I'm in. But I need 55% ownership and a 75k/yr Salary + benefits. Also, I prefer to do the business side, so I'll go ahead and file all the papers and then hire you as an employee (dont worry, you can still be silent, minority investor too, but I'm afraid I cant give you any real voting rights).... |
Looking for hard-working, ambitious co-founder | an0nymous: I am a charismatic figure, often seen leaping tall buildings in a single bound or moving faster than a speeding bullet. I have been known to build houses for the homeless in the slums of Harlem on my lunch breaks. I walk old ladies across the street, I write motivational speeches, and I double down on twenty... |
Looking for hard-working, ambitious co-founder | dthefounder: You guys are giving me a hard time.
I'm just tired of trying to convince my friends to start a business.
I wanted to outline my "forces" in this post; just hint about what I'm capable of.
As for Craigslist: it's too local, not technical enough to find anyone.
I just want to meet someone who share the same ... |
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