5 ms·

HN help wanted board (Google Docs)

87 points by sdrinf 16y ago

sdrinf 16y ago
HN help wanted board Inspired by the success of previous spreadsheets, here's a pet peve of mine. Startup dating is broken. The skills that are really valuable in getting a business up&running are not malleable to easy proxy measurement (such as CV, or forms, or cover letters). So let's try it from a demand point of view. Post your most pressing need in your startup business, that you want to get help with strictly on a voluntary basis, along with the larger scope of the project. The most important column is the "First steps to start with". Put here a _minimum viable_ qualification task, something that would test for the ability to "get things done" for the value of "task" you're looking help with; eg. a git repos, and a bug id; "get 20 customers" for sales, "beat my 0.78% CTR on adwords" for marketing, I'm sure you can think of something.
- sdrinf 16y ago
  Some people get confused about this, so: The spreadsheet is specifically not a job board; and I will excercise extreme prejudice against non-"getting things done" measurement for first steps, including "send me your resume", "send me an e-mail", and such. Seriously, coming up with something that is actionable for candidates is the best communication starter, and filter 99% of the crap out immediately.
- bhiggins 16y ago
  Google has a forms tool that you may find handy. I think you could share the resulting spreadsheet it feeds into.
- AmberShah 16y ago
  At first I thought this was more a "gigs" board, which I was happy to use but now I'm not so sure. Is it a startup co-founder matching board? If so it should be renamed as such (help wanted sounds exactly like a job board or gigs board) So we're supposed to post something we want someone to do for free? Since this is startup focused, and it works out, are they going to be expecting equity and/or payment? Seems odd not to get some sense of that before investing time together.
endlessvoid94 16y ago
Did someone remove the post I put in there? Just because it wasn't a "software" need doesn't disqualify it... whatever.
- acangiano 16y ago
  I can see it above mine.
  - endlessvoid94 16y ago
    yeah i added it back. strange.
jackolas 16y ago
Someone add a open source option maybe?
- sdrinf 16y ago
  There are a lot of open source boards already out there (sourceforge el al); this is more for startup dating with extreme pre-selection.
  - possibilistic 16y ago
    It's rather difficult to find developer interest for new open source projects. Sourceforge, etc, have no real means of high-volume social networking. Besides, I'd really like to find someone from HN that is interested in my area of research (distributed web tech). I understand if you're going to keep this spreadsheet specifically for the purposes of startup networking, but I politely request that you consider allowing open source projects as well. I don't think it would overcrowd your data.
makmanalp 16y ago
I don't know what to be amazed more at: * 100+ people working on the same document seamlessly in near real time * The fact that no one is ruining it or deliberately stepping on each other's toes.
- possibilistic 16y ago
  I hope I didn't step on any toes. It made me nervous that so many people had the document open all at once... (Go Google!)
- aaronkaplan 16y ago
  Right now all I see is two URLs unrelated to the topic and a couple of people using columns A and B to chat. Vandalism, or a google docs issue? Update: now the whole spreadsheet is completely blank.
patrickmclaren 16y ago
Can you disable editing by anonymous users? jvargas, I just restored your email and product url, someone replaced it with gibberish.
pcampbell 16y ago
If you are a startup or a job seeker, you can also come to our startup career fair and meet other entrepreneurs on August 17th at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, CA. Here is the link to register: www.careerelement.com/jobfair We expect over 300 tech job seekers and 20-30 startups. If you are an early stage startup that is hiring, we might be willing to waive the registration fee for you. Send me an email at paul.campbell@careerelement.com and we can discuss. Cheers, Paul
- mmt 16y ago
  It seems this overlaps the second half of the Founder Conference http://founderconference.eventbrite.com/ http://founderconference.eventbrite.com/ That suggests you're not likely to see some of the early-stage startups who might otherwise be interested. How late do you expect your event to run?

87 points by sdrinf 16y ago

HN help wanted board Inspired by the success of previous spreadsheets, here's a pet peve of mine. Startup dating is broken. The skills that are really valuable in getting a business up&running are not malleable to easy proxy measurement (such as CV, or forms, or cover letters). So let's try it from a demand point of view. Post your most pressing need in your startup business, that you want to get help with strictly on a voluntary basis, along with the larger scope of the project. The most important column is the "First steps to start with". Put here a _minimum viable_ qualification task, something that would test for the ability to "get things done" for the value of "task" you're looking help with; eg. a git repos, and a bug id; "get 20 customers" for sales, "beat my 0.78% CTR on adwords" for marketing, I'm sure you can think of something.

sdrinf 16y ago
Some people get confused about this, so: The spreadsheet is specifically not a job board; and I will excercise extreme prejudice against non-"getting things done" measurement for first steps, including "send me your resume", "send me an e-mail", and such. Seriously, coming up with something that is actionable for candidates is the best communication starter, and filter 99% of the crap out immediately.
bhiggins 16y ago
Google has a forms tool that you may find handy. I think you could share the resulting spreadsheet it feeds into.
AmberShah 16y ago
At first I thought this was more a "gigs" board, which I was happy to use but now I'm not so sure. Is it a startup co-founder matching board? If so it should be renamed as such (help wanted sounds exactly like a job board or gigs board) So we're supposed to post something we want someone to do for free? Since this is startup focused, and it works out, are they going to be expecting equity and/or payment? Seems odd not to get some sense of that before investing time together.

endlessvoid94 16y ago

Did someone remove the post I put in there? Just because it wasn't a "software" need doesn't disqualify it... whatever.

acangiano 16y ago
I can see it above mine.
- endlessvoid94 16y ago
  yeah i added it back. strange.

jackolas 16y ago

Someone add a open source option maybe?

sdrinf 16y ago
There are a lot of open source boards already out there (sourceforge el al); this is more for startup dating with extreme pre-selection.
- possibilistic 16y ago
  It's rather difficult to find developer interest for new open source projects. Sourceforge, etc, have no real means of high-volume social networking. Besides, I'd really like to find someone from HN that is interested in my area of research (distributed web tech). I understand if you're going to keep this spreadsheet specifically for the purposes of startup networking, but I politely request that you consider allowing open source projects as well. I don't think it would overcrowd your data.

makmanalp 16y ago

I don't know what to be amazed more at: * 100+ people working on the same document seamlessly in near real time * The fact that no one is ruining it or deliberately stepping on each other's toes.

possibilistic 16y ago
I hope I didn't step on any toes. It made me nervous that so many people had the document open all at once... (Go Google!)
aaronkaplan 16y ago
Right now all I see is two URLs unrelated to the topic and a couple of people using columns A and B to chat. Vandalism, or a google docs issue? Update: now the whole spreadsheet is completely blank.

patrickmclaren 16y ago

Can you disable editing by anonymous users? jvargas, I just restored your email and product url, someone replaced it with gibberish.

pcampbell 16y ago

If you are a startup or a job seeker, you can also come to our startup career fair and meet other entrepreneurs on August 17th at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, CA. Here is the link to register: www.careerelement.com/jobfair We expect over 300 tech job seekers and 20-30 startups. If you are an early stage startup that is hiring, we might be willing to waive the registration fee for you. Send me an email at paul.campbell@careerelement.com and we can discuss. Cheers, Paul

mmt 16y ago
It seems this overlaps the second half of the Founder Conference http://founderconference.eventbrite.com/ http://founderconference.eventbrite.com/ That suggests you're not likely to see some of the early-stage startups who might otherwise be interested. How late do you expect your event to run?