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Clojure as a first progamming language? | kunley: I'd say something a bit different that most responses, well I guess it's worth taking your time.Choose language which seems most natural to think in. It's really important.For example, many people just don't have that wires in brain which cause them to see everything as objects, so all that OO & design patterns... |
Clojure as a first progamming language? | patrickdlogan: Clojure has a simple functional language foundation that should be good for learning as a first language. The biggest impediment may be the lack of a tutorial from a beginner's perspective, that focuses on that foundation. Using most material for Clojure a beginner will soon be exposed to features probab... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | rudd: A weird problem I'm getting: it focused in at the top of Brooklyn for me (where I am), and showed some restaurant deal (this: http://postabon.com/pc/deal?guid=138&lat=40.694&long...). However, it was at the top of the map. Instead of trying to click a small target, I pulled the map down so that it would be in the... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | pchickey: The app looks good, and you've made a lot of great design decisions. However, it took me a little too long to figure out what the idea was. Three suggestions:'shop. save. share' doesn't tell me enough right off the bat. Maybe users who aren't logged in should get a 15-word blurb ("Postabon allows you to find ... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | Freebytes: I actually found all of the pop-up divs a bit annoying. It is a nice feature to have the pages display the pop-ups that darken the remainder of the page for features where you do not feel like you should leave the page, but honestly, I would prefer some of the other pages to load. I am not sure if you know... |
What do you use for SaaS subscription billing? | jlarkin: Another SaaS based Subscription billing provider: Aria Systems - startups through enterprise. http://www.AriaSystems.com |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | JoachimSchipper: http://postabon.com/pc/deal?guid=451&lat=40.757&long... has some broken encoding. Did someone copy/paste from Word? |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | zitterbewegung: Looks pretty nice, clean interface and well polished. What is your profit strategy? Do you plan on making money through sponsorship? |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | simplify: I figured out what the site was about when I first loaded the page, but only because the popup told me "No _deals_ around you, redirecting to...". You _need_ to have the word "deal" somewhere on the page in big bold letters. As soon as I saw that word, I immediately knew what the site was about. But it was on... |
developer turned manager | keeptrying: You've been a developer much longer than you've been a manager. The first step is to realise that your probably a "bad" or "not-so-good" manager. Realise that it is okay to suck at anything that you've only done for a little while.Second step is to read about management. There are many many factors involved... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | gruseom: Your About page has waaaay too much text on it. Pare it down to less than half that. It's hard, but you'll be forced to clarify. (Also, typo: "good dead" => "good deed".)If I were you, I'd be thinking a lot about how to take advantage of game dynamics. If Foursquare can do that about going places, surely you c... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | txxxxd: I see an alert box with "Unable to figure out your location! Defaulting to New York City" when I load the page. It would be a nicer experience if you displayed this message above the map (or somewhere on the page) instead of a using modal dialog.The site navigation links at the top of the page have very small h... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | ovi256: Abandon the 'bon' word ASAP. Nobody really likes cutesy made-up words. I know that in French it means coupon, but use common language.It's like the recommendation to not use custom UI. Same reason, nobody likes to learn something just to be able to use your site. It raises the cost of entry for new users, and h... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | tsestrich: Two things about the community page and user pages in general...It would be nice to see a "More..." or "All..." option to see more than just the top 25 users, in case someone wanted to see where they fell for instance.Also, the user pages: the URL has some GET information that seems sorta odd... like the lat... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | tdoggette: "No deals around you, redirecting to New York City"That's my first interaction with the site, after opening it in a background tab: it created a focus-stealing window to inform me that it couldn't help me. |
best simple 1U server to purchase? | pquerna: I would use Silicon Mechanics or Dell
http://www.siliconmechanics.com/
http://www.dell.comBoth of them have 1u server builds pretty cheap, with 2-4 SATA or SAS disks depending on your needs.Most everywhere else will be the same prices or more expensive for the base servers. |
best simple 1U server to purchase? | brk: I've had good luck with options from SuperMicro and the configure-it-yourself stuff at TigerDirect/GlobalComputer (forget what brand they sell it under).Also, you'll often find a huge price difference between a 2U unit and a 1U unit of the same specs (2U being cheaper...). Might be worthwhile to spend a little mo... |
developer turned manager | bhousel: Rands has written bunch of great essays (and a book - I haven't read it yet myself) about what you're going through.Start Here: http://www.randsinrepose.com/cat_management.html |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | nearestneighbor: Which CL do you use? I find some popular CL implementations too buggy to be usable. |
Have you changed your mind about global warming? | cpr: I've long been a skeptic of AGW, because of the tie-in between the one-world-government/population control people and this particular "OMG the world's ending unless we all scale back immediately!" set of folks. I like my science to be less ideologically-driven from the start.Also I think the science has not shown ... |
Have you changed your mind about global warming? | bdfh42: Let's start with the basics. Climate change is inevitable - it has always been a continuous process and always will be. Looking back at the past one might well assume that the world will be ice bound again or that the world will be (again) a warm watery place. So the question is not really about climate change ... |
best simple 1U server to purchase? | nwatson: Before you buy your servers make sure the "4U" space is really all about space and not about power consumption.At Hurricane Electric in bay area California you can rent sub-rack space that could hold, say, 8U. However, if you try to fill all that space with SuperMicro high-density 1U systems you'll far outstr... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | sgrytoyr: Interesting. I recently spent a few months implementing almost exactly the same idea. It’s at http://gotosale.net/It’s been dormant for a few months now, after I realized people wouldn’t just magically start posting sales for the benefit of random strangers, especially when practically no one knows the site e... |
best simple 1U server to purchase? | cd34: While you have 4U, how much power do you have allotted to that 4U?If you run a Q8400 with a 260w power supply for a 1U, you have a max load of 2.16A and probably an operational .9A-1.1A under normal load. Make sure you can run 4-5 Amps in your 4U. Many colo facilities allow 20 Amps per 44U so average consumptio... |
Rate my startup, Gradifi.com | theli0nheart: I realize that most of you won't actually be able to create an account, so forgive me in advance for that. The service revolves around college students at a few select schools, and if you don't have an alumni or current email address for any of those schools, you're out of luck.So, my biggest worry is con... |
Rate my startup, Gradifi.com | DanielStraight: I think the biggest barrier to entry is that the front page doesn't tell you anything about the product. I can't even tell what the product IS. Is it a website? A desktop app? A smartphone app? A Facebook app? What does it do? How does it work? What does it look like? Where are the answers to these ques... |
Quick tips to get more performance out of your server | jacquesm: Mount your filesystems with noatime. |
Quick tips to get more performance out of your server | jeromec: Re-check code for better efficiency. |
Rate my startup, Gradifi.com | spokey: The purpose of the site as expressed on the about page ("We think choosing courses is hard, and we're here to do something about that.") seems to bear no relation to the purpose expressed on the homepage ("Share your notes. Sell your books. Make money. Get better grades. Dominate."). Of the two, I think the ab... |
provide feedback for loc.is | ErrantX: Pretty neat.However it is not immediately clear what to put in the search box. It might be obvious but I actually had to think about it for a second :) |
developer turned manager | japanesejay: lol. I think the first two responses sums it up.
...and I think you've answered yourself. If you enjoy development, stay where you are. Theres no need to rush into being a manager. Having the power to create and be creative can be a lot more rewarding than being part of the "management team" (depending o... |
How do you start a blog? | icey: Rule number 1 is to write, write, and keep writing.You'll figure out your style and your stride with a ton of practice. The biggest thing that people do wrong is that they don't write enough. |
How do you start a blog? | jmonegro: Make sure you have something to say/have some expertise on a subject. |
Have you changed your mind about global warming? | brc: Well, for me, I flip flop as the issue goes along. I was a long time non-believer but started to sway when the whole 'scientific consensus' line was thrown around. I figured, 'well, if they all say it's true'.Since then I'm more a non-believer in the AGW line as presented by the IPCC and some of it's main champi... |
How do you start a blog? | Mz: I think you need to pick some kind of theme. It doesn't need to be overly narrow or specific but I think to be successful you can't just willy-nilly talk about everything under the sun that strikes your fancy.A reason to not start a blog: If you don't have clear boundaries and/or you are not very Net-savvy, the ri... |
How do you start a blog? | blahedo: Don't write for "an audience". You have two main options on who to write for: yourself alone (i.e. a public diary) if you have the discipline to keep it up, or some specific person, e.g. your mom, your spouse, your officemate. Either way, don't worry about your readership. It'll come or it won't, but the su... |
Review My (Common Lisp backed) Startup | kluv2run1600: It's about time we got a decent location-based deal searcher. The website runs very smoothly for an initial release, and combines tech and business acumen :)My suggestions may have already been previously suggested, but here they are
- Instead of saying "No deals around you, defaulting to NYC", you may ... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | jv2222: http://tweetminer.net/stats -- I spent $zero! :)(check out http://techzinglive.com for weekly updates on how the business has been built)Oops I guess the domain was an original cost $9 |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | pplante: Mostly just time invested so far, thats the biggest chunk by far. Funds spent so far: $500 for legal, domains, hosting, etc. |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | atkuebler: To those who have said and are going to say that the time they have spent isn't worth anything, it is. The time you spend on your start-up is time you could be spending working a paying job, be it a "real" job, a freelance job, a consulting job, etc. You time is not free!Now there is nothing wrong with this.... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | patio11: Disclaimer: I had full-time employment to put a roof over my head and food on the table for the entire duration I've had a business.$58.17 of my own money, spent in the one month before I had enough sales to fund all business expenses out of incoming revenue.If I had to do it over again, I'd tell my younger se... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | pxlpshr: This is an interesting question because I spent the better half a year ignoring consulting work and focusing solely on our mobile software company. So if you include opportunity costs, you could say about $60k was "spent" over the course of about a year (about $5-7k or so was hard cash, the rest was 6-months o... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | apowell: $70, because domains names were expensive in 1998. Best $70 I ever spent, that's for sure. |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | yosho: i wonder if there is a correlation between initial spending vs later success.In some cases, i would be willing to bet that high initial spending lead to a greater turnout because you're able to leverage the money and convert it into increased traffic and sales. |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | sosuke: Well, I spend enough for a nice new BMW or Mercedes Benz and I'm no where near ramen profitable after 6 months. |
How many of you have been to a psychiatrist? Did it help? | jelloman: throwaway account; my normal username is my real name.My GF of three years is clinically diagnosed with OCD and in the past has suffered from depression (history of emotional and physical abuse). One of her psychiatrists was helpful, the other(s) were not so much.I went with her at her request on a visit to ... |
How do I find a marketing/sales/business guy (university)? | Scott_MacGregor: 1. Take out an ad on Craig’s List.2. Look for someone who has some maturity and a few years experience. Try to interview a few people so as to give yourself some selection.3. Make sure you supervise this person closely in order to ensure s/he is actually working everyday for a full day. |
How do I find a marketing/sales/business guy (university)? | cwan: Consider talking to marketing professors for recommendations. I've found that professors in general are pretty receptive to giving free advice and help though the obvious caveat is that book smart doesn't always translate (try meeting with them during office hours - they may even provide you with some free advic... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | Raphael: Mr. Simpson, I didn't get rich writing a lot of checks. |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | wlievens: Working on a new game project; spent $590 for art, $20 on domains, using a server I'm already renting on another budget. Spent about 200 manhours on it (worth €10k or something). |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | fookyong: I stopped doing consulting and lived off my savings whilst building my first SaaS app. It took a few months to get ramen profitable and I had zero income the whole time during development. Looking back, that was actually kinda stupid of me...But we're not talking about time or opportunity cost, we're talkin... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | jacquesm: Camarades.com was funded from a software licensing scheme that brought in about 700,000 annually. In one year all the licensing income was spent on salaries for employees we hired and bandwidth (which was very expensive back then), the second year the business became profitable when we added 24x7 media advert... |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | Concours: I'm still spending, altought it's more of time and energy, so far probaly >1000 $, I won't count my time I hope to break-even in January 2010.I will post it here. |
How much did you spend on your startup before you got ramen profitable? | ag: Around 10K€ or $15K in USD. |
What to do with 1 hour per day? | sidmitra: > I want to increase my problem solving skillsTry these if you haven't
http://projecteuler.net/
http://www.pythonchallenge.com/ |
What to do with 1 hour per day? | losethos: Pray |
What equity percentage for a co-founder joining after de-risking? | brk: He believes in the business and his projections suggest it can be very profitable.He damn well better, otherwise, what's the point?This "how much equity" thing comes up ALL the time here. There is no pat answer, but it often seems like every founder/co-founder and first employee has delusions of grandeur about th... |
What equity percentage for a co-founder joining after de-risking? | petervandijck: Whatever you are both slightly unhappy with, while still beig able to live with it, is probably the best answer. If one of you feels they got a good deal, it's probably not right. |
How do I find a marketing/sales/business guy (university)? | rcmorin: drew: i'm in boston. here's a project i'm working on: http://www.slideshare.net/rcmorin/say-hi-presentationlet's connect. rcmorin (at) gmail.com |
What equity percentage for a co-founder joining after de-risking? | petervandijck: It sounds like Alice isn't ready to join until Bob reduces risks. Fine. Then they shouldn't agree on a percentage now, they should negotiate AFTER those risks have been reduced. Else you're talking theory in lala land. Alice should walk away, saying "call me when". Bob should reduce risk while continuing... |
What equity percentage for a co-founder joining after de-risking? | volida: "but points out that since Alice will be assuming less risk at that point"Why is it going to be less risky for Alice? As I can see there is no software and no revenue/customers.How are risks going to be lowered exactly so that is attractive for Alice to join?While there is no product yet, practically this means... |
What equity percentage for a co-founder joining after de-risking? | joolz237: I've been in this situation a couple of times - as Alice. What it tended to come down to was my other opportunities were well-paid jobs that I could take but that didn't have the potential pay-off of a startup. Because most startups fail the choice was between high guaranteed income + not much fun or a lower ... |
How many of you have been to a psychiatrist? Did it help? | jelloman2: Throwaway account for same reasons.My experience with a psychiatrist did not help much. My main problem being with dealing with people, I really hated having to talk to one more person. I dealt with whatever problems I had on my own and I think I'm fine now. Still, I really wish there was a good AI I could t... |
Apple webserver hardware | jrwoodruff: I don't have the mini, but I'm running os x 1.4 server on an old G4 xserve. Coming from a graphic design/mac background, the initial server setup was dead simple. The workgroup and server admin tools are excellent and allow you to administer every function of the server remotely. It ships with Apache, tomc... |
How do you overcome perfectionism? | brk: You have too much hacker and not enough capitalist in your DNA.No one is going to use or pay for a product they can't access.Without users/payers, you're going to remain pretty broke for the foreseeable future.You can toil away to perfectionism (and likely bankruptcy) or can release now and start to build value (a... |
Review this product / startup | DanBlake: Clickable links:Main view: http://ioj.com/v/qzbp3Alternate Theme, Settings open: http://ioj.com/v/0xretIndividual item view: http://ioj.com/v/yui6v |
Question on situation | brk: I don't really think they are obligated to describe to you how they make the sausage.As long as the end result is what you paid for, does it really matter if they employ trained professionals, or monkeys with notepad.exe? |
Question on situation | tbgvi: You'd be surprised how common that is.The same thing has happened to me and I didn't know until after the project was over. In the end, as long as your happy with the design it shouldn't matter who worked on it. That being said, stopping the project is def. within your rights since you're the client :) |
Question on situation | huangm: You hire a design firm because you like their portfolio work. As a client, you shouldn't have to ask if the same people responsible for the portfolio work are going to work on your project. My guess is that this is an assumption that most clients will make (I certainly would), so it certainly seems that their a... |
Question on situation | timr: This is really common in the design world, especially in this crappy economy. Design firms don't have steady demand right now, and a lot of them have laid off former full-time designers, only to pull them back in on contract when work comes through the door. I have friends who are/were in exactly this situation... |
Question on situation | roedog88: I don't think you overreacted. I would find it difficult to trust a consultant who pulled a bait-and-switch on me.An alternative to firing them might have been to re-negotiate their fees based on the less known designer, or to defer payment until the job was finished to your satisfaction.But given the breach... |
Enterprise SaaS UI Design resources | maxdemarzi: Whatever you use, have a template system to let your customers use their logos and company colors to brand their piece of the site. |
Question on situation | tdavis: I don't think they were wrong or that you overreacted.The thing about design firms that have a very distinctive look is that they have probably taken the time to refine and largely automate the design process (Photoshop actions, etc.) Take for example Metalab (which I would guess is who you hired, as they immed... |
Question on situation | gte910h: You overreacted.If you want quality guarantees, make those.If you want a certain style, specify that.Otherwise, calm down, breath easy, and be aware that companies sometimes hire people. Actually, that's pretty much the definitive factor between hiring a company and hiring a freelancer: The company is made up ... |
What equity percentage for a co-founder joining after de-risking? | peripatetic: I cannot imagine what you could do to "de-risk" a company with zero capital, zero customers and zero product. |
Review My Weekend Web App | calminferno: Bookmrk is a simple web application that allows you to easily save and orginize your bookmarks via tags. You may choose to make your bookmarks public, which allows other to enjoy what you have already found.It is an experiment to play with redis. I'm using the phpredis extension as well. It's pretty basic ... |
Question on situation | tptacek: Yes. Fire them.When you do contracts next time, include a clause that says subcontractors aren't allowed without prior approval. That's standard in the industry I work in, and subcontractors are a fact of life here.Meanwhile, it doesn't matter who's right and who's wrong. It is a sensible business decision to ... |
Equity for a first employee | iag: Interesting question.Assuming this engineer is fairly valuable to your startup due to the non-technical co-founders, you might have to give up more than normal (0.5-1.5% equity). I don't have a number in mind, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this.Guys, thoughts? |
Equity for a first employee | jhancock: With similar funding, I've given 5% reverse vested shares to a tech employee. It created vast incentive, and if he stays with the company for 3 to 4 years, he certainly earn the 5%. I also gave 7% to a key tech employee before...no regrets. |
Equity for a first employee | tptacek: 1-2%. A lot of people say 5%. 5% is what you'll give to an executive down the road. First employees are very important, but probably not as important as your second CEO. 6% is what you give to YC. First employees are very important, but a first employee who is worth almost as much as YC should probably be your... |
Equity for a first employee | sganesh: Depends on the pay. If you're paying market, < 1 %. If you're not paying market, match the difference to a max of 3%. Either way, make sure it is vested 1/36 every month for a period of 36 months. But if you get bought out, or go IPO before that time frame, make sure all of that is vested. And also, if you get... |
Equity for a first employee | jimboyoungblood: Are you the prospective employee or the employer? |
What more is needed in Ecmascript 5 to turn it into a mainstream lisp? | mbrubeck: Atoms/symbols. Continuations. |
Equity for a first employee | efsavage: I hate to get too Paul Graham-y on you, but it depends if this person is genuinely interested in your problem. 1-2% equity isn't going to solely motivate a talented engineer because that's unlikely to convert into life-changing money. |
What more is needed in Ecmascript 5 to turn it into a mainstream lisp? | pivo: It can't really have proper Lisp macros with its current syntax. |
Equity for a first employee | jacobscott: It seems like there's vague consensus on first engineer equity. Are there any common rule-of-thumbs for Nth engineer (or Nth employee) equity? |
Review My Weekend Web App | christiancoomer: I arrived at your home page and found nothing that indicates that it's any different than something like Delicious.com. This caused me not to register since I already have an account on Delicious.I'd mention on your home page what makes your app different than your competition. |
Equity for a first employee | luckydude: The people saying 5% are probably wishful thinkers. It's a fact of life that in all but very very few cases it is only the VC's and (sometimes) the founders that get rich.There are exceptions, I got a tiny part of google because I was there (briefly) very early and that paid off nicely. And there are other... |
Equity for a first employee | minalecs: how do you guys feel about .. how much equity first employee should receive with little to no pay, as sort of like a side project ? |
Equity for a first employee | bokonist: I joined a startup in a very similar position. I ended up taking 4-5% equity, and about 50% market salary. This was perhaps a bit low, as it was barely enough to get me and keep me on board at the early stages. But the salary went up as we grew, so now I'm quite happy.Also remember this is an early round, ... |
How do you overcome perfectionism? | drobilla: Realise that adding features does not make anything "perfect". Perfect software is robust, stable, tested, used, solid, etc. The only way of attaining this is to have it be widely used.Therefore, in order to make perfect software, you have to crank out releases and get it into the hands of users who will fi... |
Equity for a first employee | enjo: My rule of thumb (early stage at least):Start at 2% and increase by 1% for every $10k under market your paying in salary.I'm happy to give 5% in equity to a top-notch engineer who is taking a 30% pay cut. |
Apple webserver hardware | towndrunk: I'm using a mini for a server in the home office. Basically, it's just a file server but I do have Tomcat and MySQL on there as well. Like the other poster said, it's dead simple to set up and work with. |
What Can I Do About this Freelance Gig Gone Wrong? | brk: What can I do?What's wrong with "so long, and thanks for all the fish"?Tell them it's not working out, it's not worth your time, and that you found something better.If you're 3 weeks behind and they're paying you $2000/month, it seems that your worst-case liability is that you owe them $1500-$2000. I would probab... |
Equity for a first employee | trunnell: If software is the product, I suggest the first engineer should be taken on as a co-founder and/or get the same equity as the non-technical founders. Anything less will undervalue the incredible and unique contribution of that engineer.Otherwise, I've seen two methods of valuing startup equity offers:1. Opti... |
Equity for a first employee | jarsj: You do not describe the nature of the company. If its a technical company and you do plan to stick around, you should negotiate founder stakes, which degrade to employee options if you quit within say 4-5 years. Since none of the co-founders is technical this is reasonable. |
Regression to the mean math question | mbrubeck: Regression to the mean does not imply that the first slope should be less than one.If for some reason only the above-average students regressed, then the slope would be <1. But regression to the mean also affects the scores of students who started below average; as a group we should expect them to regress up... |
Equity for a first employee | alexdmoore: 2-2.5% and a lowball salary is right. I would argue that folks are only getting more when the founders are weak in some area. If you are weak and the 1st emp is a sick engineer give whatever it takes to lock up the talent. Otherwise 2% and 50k is right. |
Question on situation | tboxer854: In addition - this design firm put out a ad the day before my project started looking for a new designer. If this person was so good, why didn't they just fill that job? |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | jonaldomo: I hate job hunting. |
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