4 ms·

Exec Crunchie Nomination Rap and PG Making it Rain

68 points by leoalmighty 14y ago

richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
PG made it rain? I just checked https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/ https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/ and clearly he hasn't yet. Noone has.
- eminkel 14y ago
  He made it rain at the end of the video.
- richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
  We're a startup too and you can see the story behind this service here https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about Having said that, congrats to exec. Definitely not our intention to take away any spotlight from them by posting that here. We just found it fitting. We'll gladly take down this link if the OP asks.
  - alanctgardner2 14y ago
    I get that the name is from a meme, or something, but it's all just a bit too ridiculous. It sounds like a tumblr of spoiled suburban kids' tweets, not what I gather is gittip for twitter - which seems like a shaky premise. The downvotes are probably because you aren't adding anything to the discussion, just blindly pimping your site. If it comes up in a discussion, or it's relevant to the topic at hand, throw in a plug. But making an account expressly for spamming is a poor choice.
    - richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
      We're well aware of the fact that this is rather ridiculous. That is part of what captivates people about the service when we tell them about it. As for the premise of the service, it's somewhat different from what you have in mind. Clicking the "i" at the top right explains what the service really is. In any case, I didn't want to get into the details before but we were actually unable to post the link to HN using this account as a "new" submission so we had given up on posting to HN. Trust me, I, like you hate when people plug their service on someone else's post. Having said that, when we were reading HN today and saw this headline, we couldn't resist.
  - alanctgardner2 14y ago
    It could definitely use a better description; basically I'm throwing my money into a well, and you guys get a cut? If there's some charitable component, or the destination of the cash was more transparent, then I get it. Otherwise it just seems like paying a lot of money for a tweet, which I guess somw people might be into. So, I guess, good luck. It seems really weird and unlikely.
    - richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
      Fair enough. In all honesty, there are an infinite number of purchases displayed on the richkidsofinstagram website that I cannot understand or ever justify but it caters to a crowd that thinks and operates far differently than you or I - and those are the ones we are targeting. Hence the somewhat "arrogant" language in the info page. Thanks for the "luck".
- richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
  I have no choice but to respond to the down-votes. I promised myself I wouldn't at -1 but at -3 I have no choice. This is not a complaint of any sort but I would like to say the following: We have been active HN readers/contributors for over 3 years. The "richkidsoftwtr" HN handle is one we created simply for this service and not for our personal use. Having said that, one thing this community appreciates is a good story about a hard working group of guys using innovative ways to solve not only the problems that their customers face but also their internal problems (i.e. how are we going to survive until the next payment is received, etc...). If you were to honestly take time to read the "about" link (https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about) you would see that we're an honest group of guys trying to do something unique to solve our own cash shortage. We're not just being opportunistic douches but rather capitalizing on this opportunity given the Exec team referred to "Making It Rain" in their post. After all, having been in this rat-race for a few years, we appreciate just as much as the next person the amount of daily grunt work required to make it. This is just part of our effort. Kudos to all the other rats who appreciate our effort.
- carlosom 14y ago
  I don't know why everyone is worked up about this. Having read their about page and seeing their service it Seems like a pretty legitimate startup story to me. Kind of a cool way to raise money if you ask me.
- bobbles 14y ago
  As someone who doesn't know what you do or who this is for the home and about pages both need a lot of work. From what I can see your service lets me give money to someone in a 'fun' way but you guys get a %? Other than that I have no idea
  - richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
    We have no issues answering your questions: > As someone who doesn't know what you do or who this is We are very hesitant to associate ourselves or our core business with the Rich Kid$ of Twitter service we have created on the side. This is not because we are intentionally trying to be "shady" or anything. It is because we feel being associated with this service (which we rightfully admit is silly) will hurt us professionally with our core business. Although this service may prove successful in helping us raise funds, we feel it may do us a disservice when it comes to being taken seriously by potential investors/clients. > The home and about pages both need a lot of work We wanted to keep those pages rather clean and simple. Clicking the "i" button at the top right explains what the core business is and isn't fairly well. > From what I can see your service lets me give money to someone in a 'fun' way but you guys get a %? This is actually not the case. No money is actually transferred to the other user. This is more or less a platform for us to fundraise money for our core business Again, this is explained clearly in the info section exposed by the "i" button. --- I'll conclude with this, if you don't understand the culture around "making it rain" and the attitudes demonstrated by those that take part in that culture, it is hard to understand this service.
kyro 14y ago
I take issue with the quick denial of having a Grindr account and it is this very type of discrimination that is ruining the valley. Nah, kidding. Best part was PG, though, clearly unaware of the appropriate way to make it rain. In fact, I suggest someone make a gif of just that part and it be made the background of HN every time a YC company is acquired.
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  I'm always surprised that the LGBT community doesn't intersect more with the engineering community, given that both San Francisco and New York are major hubs for both. I know several gay men (and a few lesbian women or transgendered people) who work in the startup world, but even then they tend to be non-engineering positions. A former co-worker of mine and I started an NYC meetup for this exact purpose - we're actually having a game night tonight if any engineers are interested: http://www.meetup.com/Identity-Hackers/ http://www.meetup.com/Identity-Hackers/ [0] Speaking only for myself, I've never felt any kind of discrimination, though I imagine if I were female or transgender, that experience may be different. I was also pretty lucky, though - my first experience working as a startup was at an incredibly gay-friendly dating website, so when your job is to work on posts like these[1], it's pretty easy to feel comfortable. That doesn't really solve the problem of getting people in the door, though, and I've often wondered why more LGBT people go into engineering in the first place. I went to a very gay-friendly school, and even there the LGBT crowd seemed underrepresented in the engineering classes. I imagine this is related to the question of why we don't have more female engineers (whether straight/cis or not), but that's a much larger discussion. [0] I hope the timeliness and relevance is enough to forgive this shameless plug! [1] http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/gay-sex-vs-straight-sex/ http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/gay-sex-vs-straight-sex/
  - Finbarr 14y ago
    This hasn't been my experience so far working as a software engineer in the valley. I've worked with/know several gay engineers and startup folks. To be fair, I don't know whether the proportion is representative of the wider population or not.
wasd 14y ago
Rain making happens at 3:49.
- swanson 14y ago
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FLHiPyyyO-c#t=230s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F...
tomjakubowski 14y ago
PG making it rain? Tell me when he calls a square dance as good as Guy Steele: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZzLgcHfcM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZzLgcHfcM
rdl 14y ago
The US flag in the background of the treadmill is kind of offensive -- it touches the ground, etc. (and the waving them around parts outdoors, too, later in the video). The flag-pants are not something I'd ever wear, but that's more ambiguous. Awesome video overall, though!
- cma 14y ago
  Maybe offensive to a hardcore nationalist...
  - rdl 14y ago
    Hardcore nationalist = you must display flag. Anyone who follows US flag code (military, older people, etc.) just believes "no obligation to use the flag, and in fact it's way overused, but if you're going to display it, do it in a respectful way". I hate people with flags/ribbons/etc. on their cars, generally.
ianstallings 14y ago
Time for Rap Genius to represent Brooklyn.
killahpriest 14y ago
Arrington = R Kelly. ROFL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FLHiPyyyO-c#t=62s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
YuriNiyazov 14y ago
There's no way I would've made it through the whole video if it wasn't for the promise of PG making it rain. OP did deliver.

68 points by leoalmighty 14y ago

PG made it rain? I just checked https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/ https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/ and clearly he hasn't yet. Noone has.

eminkel 14y ago
He made it rain at the end of the video.
richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
We're a startup too and you can see the story behind this service here https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about Having said that, congrats to exec. Definitely not our intention to take away any spotlight from them by posting that here. We just found it fitting. We'll gladly take down this link if the OP asks.
- alanctgardner2 14y ago
  I get that the name is from a meme, or something, but it's all just a bit too ridiculous. It sounds like a tumblr of spoiled suburban kids' tweets, not what I gather is gittip for twitter - which seems like a shaky premise. The downvotes are probably because you aren't adding anything to the discussion, just blindly pimping your site. If it comes up in a discussion, or it's relevant to the topic at hand, throw in a plug. But making an account expressly for spamming is a poor choice.
  - richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
    We're well aware of the fact that this is rather ridiculous. That is part of what captivates people about the service when we tell them about it. As for the premise of the service, it's somewhat different from what you have in mind. Clicking the "i" at the top right explains what the service really is. In any case, I didn't want to get into the details before but we were actually unable to post the link to HN using this account as a "new" submission so we had given up on posting to HN. Trust me, I, like you hate when people plug their service on someone else's post. Having said that, when we were reading HN today and saw this headline, we couldn't resist.
- alanctgardner2 14y ago
  It could definitely use a better description; basically I'm throwing my money into a well, and you guys get a cut? If there's some charitable component, or the destination of the cash was more transparent, then I get it. Otherwise it just seems like paying a lot of money for a tweet, which I guess somw people might be into. So, I guess, good luck. It seems really weird and unlikely.
  - richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
    Fair enough. In all honesty, there are an infinite number of purchases displayed on the richkidsofinstagram website that I cannot understand or ever justify but it caters to a crowd that thinks and operates far differently than you or I - and those are the ones we are targeting. Hence the somewhat "arrogant" language in the info page. Thanks for the "luck".
richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
I have no choice but to respond to the down-votes. I promised myself I wouldn't at -1 but at -3 I have no choice. This is not a complaint of any sort but I would like to say the following: We have been active HN readers/contributors for over 3 years. The "richkidsoftwtr" HN handle is one we created simply for this service and not for our personal use. Having said that, one thing this community appreciates is a good story about a hard working group of guys using innovative ways to solve not only the problems that their customers face but also their internal problems (i.e. how are we going to survive until the next payment is received, etc...). If you were to honestly take time to read the "about" link (https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about https://www.richkidsoftwtr.com/about) you would see that we're an honest group of guys trying to do something unique to solve our own cash shortage. We're not just being opportunistic douches but rather capitalizing on this opportunity given the Exec team referred to "Making It Rain" in their post. After all, having been in this rat-race for a few years, we appreciate just as much as the next person the amount of daily grunt work required to make it. This is just part of our effort. Kudos to all the other rats who appreciate our effort.
carlosom 14y ago
I don't know why everyone is worked up about this. Having read their about page and seeing their service it Seems like a pretty legitimate startup story to me. Kind of a cool way to raise money if you ask me.
bobbles 14y ago
As someone who doesn't know what you do or who this is for the home and about pages both need a lot of work. From what I can see your service lets me give money to someone in a 'fun' way but you guys get a %? Other than that I have no idea
- richkidsoftwtr 14y ago
  We have no issues answering your questions: > As someone who doesn't know what you do or who this is We are very hesitant to associate ourselves or our core business with the Rich Kid$ of Twitter service we have created on the side. This is not because we are intentionally trying to be "shady" or anything. It is because we feel being associated with this service (which we rightfully admit is silly) will hurt us professionally with our core business. Although this service may prove successful in helping us raise funds, we feel it may do us a disservice when it comes to being taken seriously by potential investors/clients. > The home and about pages both need a lot of work We wanted to keep those pages rather clean and simple. Clicking the "i" button at the top right explains what the core business is and isn't fairly well. > From what I can see your service lets me give money to someone in a 'fun' way but you guys get a %? This is actually not the case. No money is actually transferred to the other user. This is more or less a platform for us to fundraise money for our core business Again, this is explained clearly in the info section exposed by the "i" button. --- I'll conclude with this, if you don't understand the culture around "making it rain" and the attitudes demonstrated by those that take part in that culture, it is hard to understand this service.

kyro 14y ago

I take issue with the quick denial of having a Grindr account and it is this very type of discrimination that is ruining the valley. Nah, kidding. Best part was PG, though, clearly unaware of the appropriate way to make it rain. In fact, I suggest someone make a gif of just that part and it be made the background of HN every time a YC company is acquired.

chimeracoder 14y ago
I'm always surprised that the LGBT community doesn't intersect more with the engineering community, given that both San Francisco and New York are major hubs for both. I know several gay men (and a few lesbian women or transgendered people) who work in the startup world, but even then they tend to be non-engineering positions. A former co-worker of mine and I started an NYC meetup for this exact purpose - we're actually having a game night tonight if any engineers are interested: http://www.meetup.com/Identity-Hackers/ http://www.meetup.com/Identity-Hackers/ [0] Speaking only for myself, I've never felt any kind of discrimination, though I imagine if I were female or transgender, that experience may be different. I was also pretty lucky, though - my first experience working as a startup was at an incredibly gay-friendly dating website, so when your job is to work on posts like these[1], it's pretty easy to feel comfortable. That doesn't really solve the problem of getting people in the door, though, and I've often wondered why more LGBT people go into engineering in the first place. I went to a very gay-friendly school, and even there the LGBT crowd seemed underrepresented in the engineering classes. I imagine this is related to the question of why we don't have more female engineers (whether straight/cis or not), but that's a much larger discussion. [0] I hope the timeliness and relevance is enough to forgive this shameless plug! [1] http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/gay-sex-vs-straight-sex/ http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/gay-sex-vs-straight-sex/
- Finbarr 14y ago
  This hasn't been my experience so far working as a software engineer in the valley. I've worked with/know several gay engineers and startup folks. To be fair, I don't know whether the proportion is representative of the wider population or not.

wasd 14y ago

Rain making happens at 3:49.

swanson 14y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FLHiPyyyO-c#t=230s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F...

tomjakubowski 14y ago

PG making it rain? Tell me when he calls a square dance as good as Guy Steele: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZzLgcHfcM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZzLgcHfcM

rdl 14y ago

The US flag in the background of the treadmill is kind of offensive -- it touches the ground, etc. (and the waving them around parts outdoors, too, later in the video). The flag-pants are not something I'd ever wear, but that's more ambiguous. Awesome video overall, though!

cma 14y ago
Maybe offensive to a hardcore nationalist...
- rdl 14y ago
  Hardcore nationalist = you must display flag. Anyone who follows US flag code (military, older people, etc.) just believes "no obligation to use the flag, and in fact it's way overused, but if you're going to display it, do it in a respectful way". I hate people with flags/ribbons/etc. on their cars, generally.

ianstallings 14y ago

Time for Rap Genius to represent Brooklyn.

killahpriest 14y ago

Arrington = R Kelly. ROFL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FLHiPyyyO-c#t=62s http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

YuriNiyazov 14y ago

There's no way I would've made it through the whole video if it wasn't for the promise of PG making it rain. OP did deliver.