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Rate my site (DebateZone) | nkabbara: I like the logo. |
Is functional programming really worth it? | lolcraft: From experience I can tell you the lack of libraries in these languages kills off almost any code size advantage you get from using them. So I ask you all, be honest to yourself; is using such a language worth it?Save lines of code != get work done quicker. What might appear as a paradox should be obvious: we spend more time debugging, modifying, expanding and organizing than writing.IMO, imperative programming cleanly maps out to the real world.More so does CUDA with a random number generator. You can't get more precise than quantum (yet).Truth is it's so much more easier to think imperative.That's like saying it's easier for a Chinese to speak Mandarin than for a French.So, Is functional programming really worth it?To use, it depends. To learn, yes. One can't learn too much in life. |
Would you buy webapps? | terrellm: I don't see how the fact that it's a web app, content site, or desktop software would matter. You value an asset, taking into consideration the acquisition and maintenance costs. I haven't figured out the $250k for Retweet but I tend to be more ROI-based with my purchases.As far as good code vs bad code, if you intend on maintaining the site then you probably want to setup a code review via remote desktop where you can review some of the code.I'm in talks to buy the assets of a company that developed a desktop software program. The software was developed in an archaic language I've never heard of and am not interested in learning, so I was pretty frank that the source has no value to me since my interest is in converting the customers over to my desktop product. Had the code been in something like .Net that could easily be maintained, I'd place a higher value on the asset.I'm also in the process of selling a custom classified site written in .Net. When I sell the site, I'll be providing the contact information of the contractor developer who created it. The new owner will have the option of continuing with this developer or finding their own developer. |
Would you buy webapps? | JayNeely: As with any business, you'd want to do due diligence. If I couldn't look at the code, I wouldn't buy it. Most web apps could be reproduced without ever looking at the code behind it, so allowing you to do so shouldn't be an issue.Buying a web app makes sense when:1) you have a clear path to making more from it than you'd pay for it, in a short enough amount of time that it makes sense to buy the app rather than spend it elsewhere / develop it yourself.and you:a) have a relevant advantage that the current owner doesn't, like target market connections, a distribution network, or an app with complementary functionality.-or-b) can get an advantage with the app, that you need for something else. |
Account password recovery? | ABrandt: Just email pg and request for it to be changed. It was pretty painless when I did it, but given that it is application season... |
Is functional programming really worth it? | jacoblyles: Do the lisp lovers ever miss compile-time type-checking? All the programming language theorists at university love OCaml and Haskell because they are really into type systems for preventing errors in code. But lisp/Clojure seems to be more popular outside the university.Could someone that has used both statically and dynamically typed functional languages comment on what they liked and disliked from both experiences? I am interested in exploring a functional language because they seem to have cool ideas in them, but I'm not sure what road to start down. |
Is functional programming really worth it? | swah: It's more about the concepts, IMHO. Google has implemented MapReduce in C++. Which is probably why they're dominating the world while I'm playing with another language I'll never get to write anything in... |
Is functional programming really worth it? | makmanalp: It's not brain brain racking once your brain has adjusted to the slightly different mode of thinking. |
Xbox 360 or PS3? Please tell me which one I should get... | aliasaria: You should get the one most of your friends have. |
How do you fight procrastination? | cianestro: Try not to rationalize your troubles; doing so will only make them bigger, that is to say there are no problems--only challenges. You cannot conceptualize your work away, work can only be worked away. Once you have followed this thread for a while you'll realize work is something infinite--to which there is no end. For this reason, I have accepted that there are no accomplishments in life and so I will never waste time patting myself on the back, nor will I become upset if I do not finish something on time. Like the great article about the "cult of busy" discussed, the more you glorify work the harder it will seem to do. |
Xbox 360 or PS3? Please tell me which one I should get... | xelfer: What do you want to do with it? I'm mostly a PC gamer and use my PS3 for streaming media from my PC to my TV, as well as watching blurays and play the occasional game. Both could fulfill this job, so I guess it could come down to which of the exclusive titles you want to play. |
Xbox 360 or PS3? Please tell me which one I should get... | ten7: At this point, we're at 52% Xbox. Here's an HTML page with all results so far: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tQ_S9H40SLxVJ0wwCcSRG... |
Is functional programming really worth it? | ezyang: Lots of comments, so I'm going to remark on one thing in particular: functional programming really makes static typing shine: the types make putting functions together like legos; really obvious when you're very clearly doing it wrong, whereas imperative style is all about saying "do this" and then "do that", which is not something that the type system can help you with. |
Xbox 360 or PS3? Please tell me which one I should get... | prodigal_erik: I could have knowingly paid good money for hardware I'm not allowed to tinker with, but that would be hard to reconcile with who I want to be. So I dropped a better video card into my PC. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | SwellJoe: CouchDB is a pretty well-known "didn't get accepted, but kept going anyway" project. Not really a business success story, but it is a project that has had an impact on web technology, and on a scale that many YC companies have not. It's an Apache Foundation project now, but I don't know what that means for its business case.And, of course, several teams have been rejected once or twice and then gotten in later. A few have even blogged about it; notably wheels of Directed Edge. |
Dealing with abusive users | anthony_franco: We've always dealt with abusive users in a polite manner. A lot of times they just love the attention and drama.But time and time again, once we fed them the attention they craved, they became some of our biggest allies in the community. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | Alex3917: "My question is what is the biggest success that YC missed out on"There is a company that makes iPhone software that was rejected by YC, and they recently turned down a buyout offer of 10M. I can't really give more details than that since obviously it's not public. |
Meetup in SF for YC rejects | ww520: This is a great idea. Love to meet with fellow entrepreneur. You can use http://www.meetup.com/ for arrangement. |
Is functional programming really worth it? | troystribling: I cannot say if this is generally true for functional languages but a good comparison of the efficiency of erlang as compared to java can be found by comparing the code footprint of ejabberd, an erlang xmpp server, and openfire, a java xmpp server. The servers are functionally similar yet the source code footprint of ejabberd is approximately 300 files at 5MB and openfire is approximatley 4000 files at 100MB. The erlang server has more then an order of magnitude less code. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | jeromec: AfterTheDeadline was rejected, and got acquired last year by Automattic (WordPress). http://blog.afterthedeadline.com/2009/09/08/after-the-deadli...Edit: I should note that Paul Graham mentioned in his interview on Mixergy that picking companies is one area where they are weak. That may be true, but I'd wager the YC batting average would be higher than typical Angels/VCs. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | leif: I believe Directed Edge got rejected, kept going anyway, and got accepted a year later. They had already done a bunch of work and had customers in the pipeline, which let them make great use of the network once they were there. |
Good, lightweight bug tracking system for small team? | jbm: More of a project management tool, but I used thymer (thymer.stunf.com/) while putting together a social network for dogs for a client. They would just mark the bugs, I'd comment on it, and we'd have a point of reference for when we talked together. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | smanek: My company was rejected from YC W09, but raised $1.5M in VC 2 months later.We just buckled down, and launched anyways (ahead of schedule!). Once you get users and have some promising data, raising money is definitely doable. |
Dealing with abusive users | cullenking: I personally wouldn't ban them unless they were actively making it difficult and unenjoyable for other users. I don't mind laughing a bit at a disparaging message, but I have a thicker skin than most. However, what I wouldn't mind doing for the really abusive is grabbing a beer and cooking up something that makes them feel abashed. A personal homepage for their account with something like 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' plastered across the top. Man, maybe even make the banner randomly draw from a list of trite sayings...'Consideration for others is an important virtue'.We get a few rough emails/suggestions come through, but haven't had to deal with anything profane. Usually it's something like "This site is terrible, it doesn't work worth crap and I can't believe you have any users". It's almost always something really hilarious that causes it (javascript being turned off, they are using IE6). I respond with an explanation, query for more and try to help. Everytime the person turns their attitude around and says thanks, that we have good service. I am sure that will change when our userbase grows, but it is working well so far.On a sort of related note, I did have a user put in a name of F YOU (but fully spelled out, yes all in caps). Best part is they were an active and seemingly happy member. I am not for censorship, however, we are currently a small site, so his name might come up semi-often for other users. Enough to drive down the value for other users, which is when I draw the line. I decided to change it to LOVE YOU. It's still there, even though the person has used the site many times since I made the change. They must have a good sense of humour :) |
Is functional programming really worth it? | mjw: Personally I love Haskell, but I did a bunch of mathematical logic at university so that might explain it :)For practical work though I think hybrid FP/OO languages like Ruby and Scala (maybe Python and LISP too) are usually a better choice. Pure functional programming requires too much of an appreciation of higher structural aspects of mathematics, logic and theoretical computer science, to be viable for use with mixed-background teams on bigger projects.I'm also not convinced Monads are the final word as a scalable structure for software engineering with FP. I think (hope?) research will yield something better.But in environments where a lot of smart math/comp-sci oriented people work on a codebase, I think something pure functional can be a good choice. eg stuff like darcs (which is very algebraic), compilers, comp sci research, people at algorithmic trading firms, projects that want powerful code verification capabilities. |
Would you buy webapps? | jacquesm: I'm not sure how 'qualified' I am to give you an answer, but I do technical due dilligence as a part of my consulting work, and some of that has been evaluating web based applications.In general the criteria I use are: - is the team a part of the acquisition or is it just the code
- how much of the knowledge about the code is present in
the heads of the authors and how much of it is
transferrable
- is the codebase in a language that you can easily get
developers for
- how much time is invested in the code
- what is the 'backlog' in terms of open critical tickets
and such
- what is my estimate on time to re-write the whole thing
from scratch (some help here from wordcount and gzip)
- how well will the current implementation scale
All those (and a whole bunch of other, but less relevant) criteria together make up the main ingredients of what goes in to determining what the value is of the code behind a web app.I hope there is something of use in there for you. |
Dealing with abusive users | DenisM: In addition to already suggested hellban I suggest exponential back-off in response time as a way of dealing with anyone you don't like. They will either calm down or leave in frustration. |
How do you fight procrastination? | jaytee_clone: The solution that worked for me the most:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeboxingPlan out your schedule for the entire day (as detail as possible, i.e. when to have lunch and for how long) the day before and follow it.The key is to get into the habit of timeboxing. Forget about tricks. There's no easy way out. You have a bad habit of procrastination. It will take much effort to undo that. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | freshfunk: I definitely intend on continuing development on my projects. If you're a YC reject and want to join the community of rejects in moving forward, I'm putting together a group (in SF).http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1191553 |
Dealing with abusive users | MicahWedemeyer: I really strongly disagree with all the suggestions that involve punking, shaming, or otherwise battling the offenders. Like I said, they are never paying members. It's not my job to teach them anything, and they're not going to learn it anyway.If I spend time punking worthless trolls, it's not time spent enhancing the site for the users I do care about. It can be fun to get down in the mud and fight with someone, but considering that they will never become a paying subscriber, it's really just a waste of my time.Instead, I just want to minimize the amount of trouble they cause. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | DaniFong: We were rejected, with some recommendations on what to work on next; we changed our application for our technology when we heard that twice, then after nine months we raised money from a top green VC at a multimillion dollar valuation. We just made it through series B, and we're going to power the developing world before coal can get its pants on. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | blader: I was rejected the first time, got in the second time, but dropped out a week later to run a different company. We were profitable at 32 employees and got acquired by Zynga last month. |
Dealing with abusive users | drm237: You may want to experiment with adding an "Emotional State" option to your support form following the Wufoo approach. They say that a large number of people fill it out and the byproduct is that people use calmer language because they are conveying how they feel through the dropdown instead of having to do it in the text.edit: Here's the link to their blog post: http://particletree.com/features/on-asking-users-for-their-f... |
Meetup in SF for YC rejects | stevederico: if you make this on a weekend, you might get more people to make it up the city. I would love to attend, either way. |
Meetup in SF for YC rejects | ryanjmo: Sweet, this sounds like fun! |
Good, lightweight bug tracking system for small team? | s3graham: If it's just bugs, I like the built-in google code or bitbucket ones just fine. |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | zaveri: Prototype url: http://yc.ethanjfast.com |
How do you fight procrastination? | prole: It's all in the mind. Framing is essential. As you've worded it, "[I need to] buckle down and start working" sounds like the beginning a painful trek that anyone would try to avoid. Instead, thinking about the exact same thing as "[I] finally have the chance to play with this interesting problem" will do wonders for self-motivation. As others have mentioned, it's not something that changes overnight, and requires daily practice.Now, I can already hear the little voices whispering in a few of your heads "that's some optimistic bullshit, lying to yourself, etc." If you've read Self-Discipline in 10 Days, this nagging is said to come from a part of your subconscious dubbed "Hyde." Here's a brief description from the book:=== BEGIN ===This Jekyll/Hyde approach is one of the more important
concepts to understand in your attempts to develop self-
discipline. Time and time again, participants in my workshops, seminars, and courses have reaffirmed that this concept, understanding it and applying it, has been instrumental in their self-discipline successes. So, you will begin by learning about how your personal Hyde operates.Hyde believes:
If I begin a structured, organized journey toward any
chosen goal:
- I'll become a slave to routine
- I'll lose my freedom
- I'll lose my sense of fun
- I'll drown in a sea of responsibilities
- I'll put too much pressure on myselfWe all have a rebellious side to our personalities that resists any form of structure. We bring this rebellious seed from our childhood. One of the first words a child learns to say emphatically is "NO." The child we once were still lives inside us, and every child battles authority. Hyde, the name we will call your inner childlike rebel, battles any form of authority, even if the authority is you. Hyde subconsciously says: "Nobody can tell me what to do, not even me."=== END ===I find that similar to the framing-work-tasks-as-WoW-quests mentioned above, if I can tell myself that my projects are fun (and it helps if they are, which is why I code as a hobby), I'll be eager to get cracking. That childish Hyde character is still out for a good time, and mine still enjoys solving puzzles if he thinks it'll be fun. A good litmus test is to try and explain what you're doing to a non-techie. If you want to energetically share the details of your project, you're doing something right! If you'd rather not discuss it because it's "boring" or "work"... well, it's obvious where your procrastination stems from. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | tophercyll: I don't have a "YC missed out on investing in our insanely profitable company" story, but I did get rejected before finding myself at a YC company anyways.Evan Miller (emiller) and I applied for Summer 06. Evan had to do most of the work on our application because I had deadlines with my publisher on my Ruby book. I was proud that I was writing a book, so I mentioned it in my bio.In retrospect, I wonder if that doomed us. Sorry, Evan. If I was reading applications, I'd have been like, "This guy thinks he's writing a book and starting a company? Fuggedaboutit."But another one of my friends got into Winter 07 and he's very persuasive. A year after their session ended he convinced me to leave the corporate world and join him and his cofounder.Wish I could finish the story by saying we're insanely profitable already, but hey, we're still alive, we've got a great product, and that's awesome.There are a ton of ways to get a business off the ground, so one rejection from one incubator is really just the beginning. To everyone in that situation, don't give up. And if this one doesn't pan out, maybe you'll go even further with the next one! |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | jacquesm: ok, Feedback:- great idea!- I think the homepage needs to show better what the site is about, above you have a nice start of a blurb, if you can trim that a bit it would make for a nice sub-title- Why does looking at the entries for awesome work require registration ?- why limit yourself to 'free' ?- how will you monetize this ?- I don't understand the link between the name and the product. Maybe there doesn't have to be one but then you could pick an easier one! |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | lambdom: The video is a bit long. You want to say in a nice way: People offer job and trade karma. People accept job and get karma. I don't need to watch a 2min video with login, logout, login, logout, login, logout to understand that. Otherwise, I like the idea. |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | jballanc: Not trying to be too harsh, but since you asked:What makes your site different than a Stack Exchange site?How do you plan to entice users to do work, for free?If you plan to entice them with Karma alone (i.e. no monetary pay-out), how do you guarantee that there will be something they wish to purchase with the Karma they earn? (i.e. How are you going to build to critical mass?)For that matter, if I'm going to do work for others to earn Karma, and then spend that Karma to hire work from others...why wouldn't I just do work for others to earn money, and then spend that money for a whole range of things beyond just what I can find on your site?Edit: Just realized I wasn't very constructive there...to expand on my last point: there are downsides to doing work for money (i.e. finding buyers/sellers/clients/contractors, contracts, rate negotiations, tax forms, etc.). So, I'm not saying your idea couldn't work, but as it is presented now, it's just not horribly interesting. |
VC is to startup like a major record label is to an artist? | jacquesm: I don't think so. A record label is more like a specialized bank with a distribution network grafted on.A VC is more like a partner that brings money to the table, and possibly contacts and advice and they don't take the largest cut by default.Your negotiation position with a VC is much stronger than a typical no-name artist that wants to get distribution.Very few artists have the capability to outmaneuver the system, but plenty of start-ups get to a strong negotiation position without funding.By the time they do take on capital they're strong enough to get a good deal, whereas in the music industry the vast majority get the short end of the stick, even some surprisingly big name artists.A typical record costs about $100K to $200K to produce, that's not including snazzy videos or other extras. For that an artist basically gets a loan that they can 'earn back' using the proceeds (if any) from the record company.The record company controls the distribution, and it is not rare to have extra riders including multiple albums and a cut of the proceeds of merchandising and such added on.And if your record doesn't earn back the investment it isn't rare that you are now in hock to the record company. There are plenty of 'fast' operators that will sign up new artists to draconian terms, get them a 'demo' grade recording and a few hundred cd's cut then spit them out again, in the hope that they get some play somewhere. Then afterwards they find out that their 'friends' that got them the demo need to be bought out before any major label can touch them.These are extremely lousy deals (the major label ones less so but still very bad for the artist), but since everybody is doing it there are very few alternatives. |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | techiferous: This reminds me of a recent HN post that contrasted product vs. technology vs. business. I get your product but not your business.A business turns something into money. What is it that you are turning into money? How are you turning this into money?This also reminds me of a not-so-recent HN post describing different business personalities that are needed in a startup: the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. It looks like you're strong in the technician area, but what about the entrepreneurial area? Your video describes how your product works--that's how technicians think. It doesn't directly address the user's problems--that's how an entrepreneur thinks. What problem are you solving for your users and is their problem bad enough that they will pay someone money to solve it? |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | astrec: Interesting. It's a start, but I think the idea needs work.What is the upside in completing a job then pitching for the contract vs. pitching for the contract then completing the job? |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | whalesalad: I think the concept of trading services based on karma points is good. If I can build a simple site for a plumber or mechanic, to have them fix a broken pipe or replace my clutch, that's pretty valuable. Things aren't that black and white or simple, but this is a start to getting back into a society where people help each other in exchange for services. This might be more of a local (think craigslist) thing too. I do think the name is pretty horrible though. |
Are you a single founder ? | cperciva: 1) Since September 2006.2) No, but the fact that I couldn't relocate to the bay area was a factor in this.3) No. I've been approached by a few angels, but (apart from one early attempt which didn't work) I've avoided going down that route in favour of bootstrapping.4) http://www.tarsnap.com/ |
Where to find open source libraries? | Rust: http://planet-source-code.com has been kind to me in the past, although it seems to be lower quality than most. |
Where to find open source libraries? | cperciva: Generally speaking, I don't look. If I'm not already aware of a library, it's probably not mature enough for me to be willing to trust it. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | pg: We've definitely missed good startups. But one advantage of having so many competitors is that we're much more likely now to learn when we screw up. When a startup from one of the other YC-like organizations does well, I often check their YC application to see how we missed them. Usually it's because they were good guys but working on a terrible idea, which they later changed. So in response to that we now make a conscious effort to pay less attention to the idea and more to the people when we read applications. |
Feedback on BijectKarma, our YC prototype | zackattack: Get rid of the first 5 seconds of the video .. "this will be a small screencast to demo functionality". It's redundant, the information is implicit.i stopped watching after the first 15 seconds, you gotta get to the juicy parts quicker. Because after first glance i have no idea wtf your site does. |
Are you a single founder ? | idlewords: Didn't we just have this thread?1) about a year2) never considered YC (and I'm sure the feeling is mutual)3) no4) http://pinboard.in |
Are you a single founder ? | patio11: 1) Since late June 2006.2) I have not applied to YC, and do not have plans to do so in the immediate future. (Never say never.) Nothing personal: I love what YC does, but to make the deal mutually beneficial, I'd have to take outside investment in my business, swing for the fences, and achieve an exit in the next few years. These do not match my personal vision for the next few years of my life.3) My feelings on outside investment: I have had a relationship before where somebody could call me and berate me for the lack of progress in my projects. He was my boss. At least he had the decency to pay me money every month. I do not fancy having a relationship in which someone can call me up to berate me for my lack of progress and then say, at the end of the call, "Don't forget, we want you to pay us lots of money!"4) http://www.bingocardcreator.com and more projects early in the pipeline |
Where to find open source libraries? | Concours: http://code.google.com/ has been a good place for me. |
Are you a single founder ? | nlabs: 1) 6 months2) Applied last minute - No3) no - going the bootstrap route investing 15k of my own money.4) demo currently offline -will be up later. |
Are you a single founder ? | froo: 1) My idea is fairly new, so I've been working on trying to prove the concept first before I take it further with building a startup around it2) No, I didn't apply3) It wouldn't be appropriate at this time.4) I'll make a note to add a link sometime in the future. |
Are you a single founder ? | nreece: 1) Since late 20062) No. Never applied.3) No. Bootstrapped.4) http://feedity.comFeedity is a profitable startup. I'm currently working on a new project and hoping to go full-time sometime this year. |
Web app to monitor all receipts for tax purposes? | proexploit: http://www.neatco.com/ comes close as anything I've seen. |
Are you a single founder ? | chops: 1) Started officially working on the project December '05 (before that, it was just a personal project for fun - no serious business intentions)2) Never applied3) No. Bootstrapped, launched running a single crappy tower server in colo (AMD XP 2100 with a gig of RAM). Started part time, on the side from consulting work. I was offered a pretty meager sum ($20k) in my earliest days, but I was already profitable, and turned it down.4) http://www.dkpsystem.comI've been profitable since the beginning, and went full-time January '07. Business has been much slower lately, but I'm working to adapt. |
Are you a single founder ? | dmharrison: 1) Full time 3 weeks ;), thinking and planning, 3 years
2) No - YC isn't for me. Think bootstrapping is probably the better model, particularly for an Australian based company.
3) No - self financed.
3) http://knowtu.com |
Are you a single founder ? | Concours: 1) since December 2008 </br>2)No, never applied</br>3)No, I've avoid the route in favor of bootstrapping</br>4)http://www.mcsquare.me</br> |
Are you a single founder ? | paraschopra: 1) Jan 2009
2) Did not apply (not based out of US)
3) No, need to make a detailed case on how money could be used effectively.
4) http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ |
Are you a single founder ? | jazzychad: 1) Varies... but let's say about 3 months.2) Yes.3) Not yet, but planning to.4) Can't say quiet yet :) Launching this week! Currently working on the boring parts of the site like FAQ, Terms, Privacy, About, etc... the rest is pretty much ready to go! |
Are you a single founder ? | eam: 1) since March 20082) didn't apply3) bootstrapped4) http://www.bulldogbyte.com |
Are you a single founder ? | ww520: 1) 3 to 4 months2) Applied to YC10S, rejected3) No, can self-fund4) http://mercedhill.com, the product is in alpha and a newer version will be released soon. |
Are you a single founder ? | jerguismi: 1) Almost a year now2) Never applied (not from USA)3) Never raised any kind of money4) http://www.kangasbros.fi |
Are you a single founder ? | CoachRufus87: 1) 3 mo
2) never applied
3) nope
4) http://www.dailydealsdirect.com |
Are you a single founder ? | eande: 1) about 3 months2) didn't apply YC, but graduated from founder institute3) bootstrapped, maybe later planning to raise money4) www.lellan.com |
Viewing dead links | sparky: Just a guess, but maybe it's a matter of providing traffic, PageRank, ad revenue, etc. to garbage sites. In the case of "stuff that's interesting, but not quite HN-appropriate", that argument falls down a bit. Maybe keeping the URL in text form without linking is a good compromise? |
Are you a single founder ? | rendezvouscp: 1) Two years (March 2008).2) Never applied; would love to do it, but it’s just not right for me right now.3) No (and I have no intention to).4) https://ironmoney.com/ |
What accounting appz do you use? | jjudge: xero.com |
Are you a single founder ? | njl: 1) About a week. Finally free of the previous failed startup, got my feet back with a quick project (co-founder finder, http://amb.itio.us).2) Didn't try... I'd have tried for this round, but I didn't want to start any new work until I was completely clear of the previous gig. Lack of co-founders made it a real impossibility (partly inspiring me to write the co-founder finder).3) I'm going to bootstrap, at least for the short term. Any course of action that leaves me in a position where I'm not substantially the master of my own destiny goes against the whole reason I'm pursuing this startup stuff.4) http://localhost:8000/ and http://localhost:8001/ at the moment ;) |
Where to find open source libraries? | scorpioxy: A library to do what? Maybe we can help.You typically don't go looking for libraries, you would have a certain task in mind and then use your google fu to look for that specific term which would hopefully turn you into some of them. |
Are you a single founder ? | rnugent: 2 years
Nope, didn't apply as I'm not 22
Nope again. They aren't exactly funding many companies right now...
www.smartscalesystems.com |
Are you a single founder ? | afrombie: 1) Two years2) Never applied to YC but attended Startup School in 20063) Raised two rounds from VC4) http://www.socialcast.com |
Are you a single founder ? | rgrieselhuber: 1) Over a year
2) Ask me again in a few weeks
3) No
4) http://ginzahq.com (be prepared for the ugly; working on that) |
Are you a single founder ? | chriskelley: 1) Little over a year2) Never applied3) No, bootstrapped4) http://mographstock.com |
Are you a single founder ? | mohamedsa: 1) Since early 2010 (but changed the idea several twice, began working on my first idea early 2008). 2) Nope 3) No again. |
Are you a single founder ? | necrecious: 1) Almost a year on current project, but had two previous failure since I went solo.2) Never applied and don't plan to3) Not yet, hoping to bootstrap then raise money when needing rocket fuel.4) http://alwaysontechnologies.com |
Are you a single founder ? | barmstrong: 1. few years (amongst other projects)
2. no
3. no (have not tried/no desire to)
4. http://www.UniversityTutor.com |
Are you a single founder ? | donny: 1) About a week or two. Finished 2 days ago2) Never applied3) No, self-funded4) https://text-factory.appspot.com/ |
Where to find open source libraries? | savant: Depending upon the area you are searching, I would turn to that community.For example, Rails developers might turn to http://rubygems.org/ for Rails gems. I tried to replicate this for the CakePHP framework by building CakePackages (http://cakepackages.com/) .Outside of a framework, try searching Google Groups and asking on IRC for places where code is indexed for your specific language/development stack. I find pestering the framework/language core developers is an easy way to find out the information I need, and they are usually happy to answer questions as long as I document and answer those questions for others later (blogging, updating documentation, etc.). |
Where to find open source libraries? | beagle3: http://freshmeat.net/ - the biggest catalog you can find of released open source software, be it libraries or full blown. Strictly speaking, it is Linux/Unix software -- but almost all of it is open source.Like with commercial software, projects vary greatly in their quality and maturity; but freshmeat also collects release history with changes per release, which would give you a good idea of how well maintained, and how responsive project maintainers are. |
Are you a single founder ? | braindead_in: 1) 2 years.
2) Never applied.
3) No. Bootstrapping.
4) http://callgraph.biz |
Are you a single founder ? | bryanh: 1) Several months (say... November '09?). Spending about 2-3 months to build and launch each project (trying to get something with a little traction).2) Never applied.3) Not even close. Highly doubtful anyone wants to invest in my part-time startups, though angels might be more into this than VCs...4) http://rankiac.com/ & http://bitbuffet.com/ |
Are you a single founder ? | jalammar: 1) Since June 2006. Last year gave equity to two team members in exchange for work they already completed.2) Didn't apply3) Didn't start looking. It's bootstrapped so far and I want to continue doing it this way until I no longer can. Not that there are any valley-type VCs in Saudi Arabia, but was approached by a couple of interested investors. One didn't really get web startups. Still in talks with the other one though. Investment is not currently needed, but can certainly accelerate growth.4) http://www.qaym.com (in Arabic) |
Are you a single founder ? | mxh: 1.) Since Sept. 2009 (Working on other things as far back as Feb. 2008.)2.) No. (I usually apply, though.)3.) No. (Doesn't seem like a good use of time to try.)4.) http://www.fairoakslabs.com/iknowpeople/ or http://itunes.apple.com/app/iknowpeople/id349918351?mt=8 |
Are you a single founder ? | dyogenez: 1) 6 months2) Never applied, probably not the right idea/goals for it. Plus don't live in CA.3) No VC, but who knows what the future holds. Just a for-fun project scratching my own itch at this point.4) http://movief.ly |
Are you a single founder ? | mayanks: 1) Since Oct 20092) Not applied3) Not applicable4) http://www.smstweet.in : send tweets by a simple SMS
http://www.ideabubbles.in : loyalty program on mobile phone
and other such ideas |
Are you a single founder ? | melito: 1) In my spare time for a few months.
2) I have never applied.
3) No, I am entirely self funded.
4) http://www.sliceapp.com / http://www.clevercollie.com |
Are you a single founder ? | awolf: 1) Since October 2009.2) I haven't applied to YC. I participated in the inaugural San Diego Founder Institute session which finished a few weeks ago.3) I'm not raising money yet. I'm still working a (percentage of a) full time software engineering job. I think I can get pretty far in terms of traction without funding.4) I'm still in private beta and not ready to share just yet. |
Are you a single founder ? | jarsj: 1) 18 months.
2) No (3 subsequent rejects).
3) No.
4) Will be announcing soon. |
Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway? | jasonwilk: The guys from MyFit are doing well, (by well I mean raised a series A) and they were rejected from YC. But, In my opinion, if you get rejected by YC, it doesn't mean your idea is awful. From my experience, it seems PG likes ideas that with a ton of hard work in 3 months can go from concept to market. Some ideas, such as MyFit, were going to to take too long to get a proof of concept ready and thus it's not exemplary of the program.If you are thinking about applying, or re-applying, keep your idea simple and concise. Let PG and all the amazing YC contacts help you figure out what the killer feature is of your app that will turn it into the multi-million dollar idea. |
Are you a single founder ? | p6: No Im currently seeing someone. Sorry. |
Is functional programming really worth it? | p6: No functional programming is just something people pretend to like to make themselves feel smarter than others. Notice there are no libraries for functional languages - there is a reason.Also, pg and his "blub language" argument is lame. All languages that are Turing complete are equivalent. Everything else is syntactic sugar. Pick what you like. |
Are you a single founder ? | tmsh: 1) Since March 20092) Rejected YC S10. (Attended/enjoyed Startup School 09.)3) Not yet4) http://p10q.com |
Are you a single founder ? | daveungerer: 1) Registered the domain in Aug 2008 to do market research and to decide whether I wanted to go ahead with it. That was followed by minor prototyping and learning about the industry. Started working on it full-time a year ago.2) Never applied. I'm not in the USA anyway.3) Nope. One of my first customers did want to invest, but I didn't need it.4) http://www.simplepay.co.za (Online payroll software. Not really applicable if you're not South African. For now...) |
Are you a single founder ? | abalashov: Yes, of a consulting and services company. Black sheep of HN! |
Are you a single founder ? | lsc: 1. since 2005 or so.2. no. I think I applied at one point, but really it is good that I did not get accepted. I'm not really in a 'get big fast and sell it' business; if I were to sell, people would expect to pay about one years earnings. (I'm a little surprised anyone sells at those prices; even with the capital gains advantages of selling vs. paying yourself salary, that seems a little like killing the golden goose. I mean, duck is delicious, but golden eggs, man, golden eggs.)3. no.4. http://prgmr.com/xenI think my case is interesting because I am in an industry that is generally thought to be capital intensive; I buy capital goods and rent them out. The thing is, it lends itself fairly well to a 'buy as you go' strategy, for my little plans, a server pays for itself in about a month an a half. (for the big plans, a server takes 4 or 5 months to pay for itself) Support costs scale fairly lineally with customers, so at first there is plenty of time for consulting, and as time goes on, I earn more and more of my income from the servers, until I can stop consulting (It's been maybe 8 months now that I've been full time)Note, buy as you go means that you will be turning away customers, and this does hurt you in the eyes of customers. You need to be sensitive to this, but there are some people who will tolerate it. Make sure to /always/ prioritize existing customers over accepting new customers. Even a few bad words in public about you can be impressively damning. Treat everyone as if they were a high-profile blogger. (at this point, nearly all your customers might as well be, in terms of how much influence they have over other customers searching for your business name.)This is actually kindof hard, because on an emotional level, it hurts when people say bad things about me in public; but responding in a hostile manner is about the worst thing a business owner can do. Offer a refund to every disgruntled customer (at least of the last month) The surprising part is that many people won't take the refund, offering it is often enough. Accepting personal responsibility and explaining what went wrong goes a long way. (even better is to explain how you are going to prevent that from happening in the future)Key here is finding a market that sells something that is simple for you to maintain (I've been a computer janitor since I was 12. really, there is nothing I'm better at doing.) and then slogging it out until the thing is profitable enough to support you. I wouldn't really call myself disciplined. Stubborn, or maybe arrogant, but not disciplined. It's a slog; you deal with emergencies when they happen, then on good days you go and write code so that there is less work to do, but mostly it's this slog of buying equipment and renting it out until you can buy more equipment. For me, at least, it's a lot easier than showing up at the office every day at the same time.I've taken a different tack on marketing compared to many in this industry; advertising, I am given to understand, is often as expensive as hardware. Me, I have focused on brand-building to the exclusion of 'user acquisition' advertising like affiliate programs and pay-per-click ads - I don't know if I made the right choice. writing the book was an incredibly expensive brand-building excersise, and I don't know if what I did was the most effective and cheapest way to attract customers, but at this point I can largely ignore the advertising; I've got more customers than I've got hardware to rent, so finally, it /might/ make sense to get VC, but at this point I'm ramen profitable and the number of servers I can buy every month is increasing, so I'm really reluctant to break and let someone else come in and tell me how to do my job. Besides, slow growth means that my mistakes happen in more manageable chunks. I can tell you right now that if I started out in 2005 with all the cash I ended up spending on the thing, I would have failed miserably, due to some early dumb mistakes.Another key to being a single-founder is knowing people who are both good and willing to work for low wages. I've been super lucky to get some awesome people for wages I could afford to pay. I'm a little worried because I'm almost out of poor but competent friends at this point (most of them are still friends; just they now have the opportunity to work for more than I can afford to pay. If you are going to underpay people, you /must/ be understanding and even happy for them when they graduate to a job with 'real pay' - That is what you are paying them; a chance to have some real experience they can use to get a real job later. ) |
Are you a single founder ? | jgresula: 1) Since November 2009, launched this March.2) Never applied.3) No, self-funded.4) http://pdfcrowd.com - html to pdf online API |
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