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What a 4am haircut taught me about hackathons
- kurtalee 11y ago"What I love most about hackathons is that failure is everywhere. When you’re not afraid to fail, you’re not afraid to push your limits, and that’s an attitude everyone can benefit from." Truth!
- jonmarkgo 11y agoYeah, one of my favorite things about them is that they're a risk-free creative environment when compared to school or work. It lets people get outside their comfort zones more.
- busterarm 11y agoSo who is willing to risk their barber's license offering this service...? There's a reason we require licensing of that profession...
- ryandvm 11y agoWow - I completely forgot that you need a license to cut hair in most of the US. I find it amusing that you could write the software for controlling a self-driving car without so much as a high school diploma, but we're still requiring licenses for hair stylists.
- wnevets 11y agothat's an odd comparison.
- VLM 11y agoIts the mom exemption where you don't need a license to cut a relatives hair non-commercially, and that existing legal framework collides with the current bubble of internet-coordinated-mom-replacement startups. "Mom can you drive me to the mall?" and next thing you know governments are out to destroy a startup.
- s73v3r 11y agoYou'd still need a license to actually put the car on the road
- Cushman 11y agoYou don't need a license to write code for a hair-cutting robot either, but I'll bet you want one before you put it on somebody's head.
- nocman 11y agoUm, pardon my ignorance or lack of perception, but exactly what risk are you talking about? Does it have something to do with where the haircut is being performed? Are you referring to sanitation issues or something? I'm obviously not following you.
- vilhelm_s 11y agoSo what _is_ the reason? I have always assumed that this is an example of regulatory capture: existing barbers gain from raising the barrier of entry for competitors, while non-barbers don't care enough about it to lobby.
- AjithAntony 11y ago2000hrs of barber training
- andrewvc 11y agoThe reason is that barbers have sharp things and deal with many people. Also lice. There's a very real public health risk if done incorrectly.
- jusben1369 11y agoProving that there are reasons for some certification is not really an answer though. I think the question is "Does it really take 2 years to get a solid grasp on those things?" (I've noticed several answers with a similar answer not just yours)
- Retra 11y agoThere are of rules for proper sanitation and safety, as well as continuing education requirements that are enforced through licensing.
- pkaye 11y agoAnd some of it is regulatory capture... restrict how easy it is for others to enter the market.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- s73v3r 11y agoThere's a lot of shit to learn.
- 8_hours_ago 11y agoI was curious so I looked up the regulations for California[1]. A barber license requires a 2-year full-time apprenticeship, classroom instruction, a written test, and a practical test. In my opinion, those requirements are way too stringent for someone who is just going to be cutting my hair. I've had family members cut my hair and I still have all of my ears. What are the legitimate reasons for the current license requirements? Are there any, or is this a law that is a relic of a past which did have reasons for it? It seems like the market could solve the issue of under performing barbers. [1]: http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/applicants/index.shtml http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/applicants/index.shtml EDIT: From reading this page, it looks like the service described in the article is illegal because in-home services are only available for "anyone whose illness or other physical or mental incapacitation prevents them from visiting a licensed salon or barbershop". And, of course, it still requires a licensed barber. http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/consumers/inhome_srv_factsheet.shtml http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/consumers/inhome_srv_factsheet...
- pkaye 11y agoIt is probably easier to get a Class A commercial drivers license and drive an 18-wheeler.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> In my opinion, those requirements are way too stringent for someone who is just going to be cutting my hair. Commercial barbers do more than just cut hair, and the license applies to more than just hair cutting [0]. So, yes, its maybe slightly overkill for just cutting hair (OTOH, managing more different grades of barbering licenses would increase regulatory complexity.) [0] http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/forms_pubs/publications/barbering.pdf http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/forms_pubs/publications/barber...
- Kluny 11y agoYou're a dude. As a woman, I have MUCH higher requirements of my hairstylists.
- DanBC 11y ago
- s73v3r 11y agoWould there be a risk? Wouldn't this app just be a scheduling assistant type thing?
- dimino 11y agoFor some strange reason, the idea of this being the Uber for haircuts, even down to the flagrant disobedience of licensure, is hilarious to me.
- busterarm 11y agothere's more of these...And I agree! www.getshortcut.co
- dsheynin 11y agoI would totally use this
- infinitone 11y agoUber for X services thrive on high retention something which is low for hair cuts. How often do people get them? Also, hair styling can be subjective making it hard to quantitatively define quality- which makes it hard to scale.
- s73v3r 11y agoI know I don't get haircuts anywhere near as often as I should.
- protomyth 11y ago"high retention something which is low for hair cuts" Maybe for a certain set of guys, but not in general. [edit: people find who they like and stick with them - high retention and reputation gets very important]
- jusben1369 11y agoThere might be a lot of reasons to turn down a hair cutting app. TAM though wouldn't be one of them I don't think.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> Uber for X services thrive on high retention something which is low for hair cuts. I think, more specifically, they thrive on high repetition rate, high platform retention, and high commoditization (or, equivalently, low provider retention.) Hair cutting/styling, AFAICT, has fairly low repetition rate for most users, and low commoditization / high provider retention (and that's even more true among the segment of the population which does have a high repetition rate), and so the utility of the market platform seems pretty low for most users and providers.
- bluedino 11y ago>> How often do people get them? Many people get them every 2-3 months but there's a large amount of the population that go to the barber shop every week.
- mymum_is_a_nun 11y agoY'all watch Barbershop the movie? It's great.
- boser 11y agoRead this article hoping for some insights about hackathon culture. Actually, its just an excuse to promote a friend's app followed by some vague platitudes about tech/innovation. Yawn.
- RainforestCx 11y agoI would absolutely use this, and kind of realize in this moment that I've been waiting for this kind of service for quite some time...
- jusben1369 11y agoAs I read this I couldn't help but think of PG's essay on Growth. "The constraints that limit ordinary companies also protect them. That's the tradeoff. If you start a barbershop, you only have to compete with other local barbers." He might have to rewrite that paragraph if this goes big!