TheSkeptic

13 ms·

1.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
"We treat this entire idea purely as a bonus in the unlikely even of a future sale/IPO." At far too many companies, equity is seen by the employer and employee as a form of cash-equivalent compensation, even though it isn't unless that equi
2.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
You should do your research before making statements like "especially since he's stayed away from wall street's games and made extraordinary efforts to keep things above board for decades." Buffett didn't sit idly by while his holdings were
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Funny. Buffett certainly didn't mind a little coddling in 2008. He was arguably one of the largest individual beneficiaries of bailouts which shifted ungodly amounts of toxic debt from failed private institutions to taxpayers. See http://b
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
"BART, which has its own police force, must be held to constitutional standards." This sounds nice, but do you actually know what those Constitutional standards are? First, as you seem to recognize, the area in which cell phone service was
5.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
YC S11 Company Seeks Uber Python Dev We're a young company that's so hot, we melt ice in our sleep. Some of our investors even believe we're responsible for global warming. Out hotness is to be expected: our 5 founders hail from top enginee
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
I think you miss the entire point of my comment. I am not suggesting that companies describe equity stakes in percentage or "you would make $x" terms (they can do neither), or that they provide anti-dilution protection to rank-and-file em
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
1. Were your developers granted actual stock, or were they granted options? 2. Your company is angel-backed. If and when it wants or needs to raise additional funds, is the company obligated to protect said developers from dilution? Assumin
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Dead on. The problem with equity is that at most venture backed companies, rank and file employees don't know what percentage of the company their equity package represents, or could represent in the future. Naive employees (most of them yo
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Under premises liability law, a tenant is generally responsible for personal injuries to guests, invitees and others (who are legally on the premises) if the tenant had control of the premises or was responsible for creating the dangerous c
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
AirBnB's guarantee doesn't affect this at all. Here's an example: You rent an apartment and have a standard lease that forbids subletting. You travel a lot on business and decide to rent out your apartment for $150/night five days a month a
11.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
AirBnB's fundamental flaw is that the potential costs (in the form of monetary losses) of renting out a home to a stranger far exceed the economic benefits that can ever be realized, particularly for hosts who are violating local laws and/o
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
"Offer me a decent salary" should be on the top of this list. If you have a solid, established relationship with somebody technical, and he or she is interested in a startup endeavor, raising the possibility of going into business together
13.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
I think you missed the poster's obvious sarcasm. As for "China's economy has plenty of growth left in it": the issue is not the amount of growth, but the source and quality of the growth.
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
In China, "private industry" doesn't truly exist in many industries. To do business, you need to be politically connected to some degree. In other words, campaign contributions are unnecessary; the state and private industry are already mar
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Bingo. It's truly amazing that after all the world has seen in the past several years, many fail to recognize a house of cards when they see one.
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
After pointing out that "The central bankers throughout the world have lost touch with reality" and discussing the messes that have been created in large part by inept bureaucrats, The Smartest Man in Europe dismisses all of the problems br
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
The author has a point, and it's quite possible his idea wasn't worth pursuing further. This said, a few points should be made: 1. A picture is worth a thousand words. It shouldn't be assumed that individuals you poll about ideas and abstra
18.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
"If you’ve already identified that your goal is not to work for soulless companies, you need to start working for startups." This is a false choice. It assumes that most established companies have no "soul", but that most startups do. This
19.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
1. You do not need a "CTO"; you need a solid web developer. They are not the same thing. 2. While I think many posters here have focused too much on the the job-posting-as-dating-profile approach, the reality is that something like this
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Everybody should give the people behind Mt. Gox a break. These guys make real banks look good - no small feat!
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
You don't earn a technical co-founder any more than you earn your first secretary. Every person who is recruited to join a business must be convinced that he or she is going to get something out of the deal. The problem quite simply is
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
1. Involving your friend in your wife's employment is a huge no-no. It only makes you more dependent on him, and he certainly knows this. If he places your wife in a job, don't be surprised to see him leveraging this in the worst way possib
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
What everyone should keep in mind here is that, at its core, OnSwipe is trying to be an ad network. See http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/06/21/an-inside-look-at-ons... . Also see http://blog.onswipe.com/news/the-road-ahead , written by On
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Frankly, I think you're looking at this the wrong way. From your description, your wealthy friend: 1. Came up with an idea that he would like to pursue. 2. Has the money to finance the venture. 3. Is willing to contribute his time on part-t
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
First, you seem to confuse "rate of return", "inflation rates", and "interest rate." They are not the same thing, yet you conflate them. But let's roll with it. You still make a number of flawed assumptions: 1. That all investors believe
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
* Everybody else on your team is an engineer or developer. Obviously, this doesn't mean you can't be successful (I know, I know - look at Google), but you should consider the possibility that you're probably missing vital skills needed to
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
When the central banks pump money into economies, it has a cascading effect that influences the behavior of investors directly and indirectly . Take a wealthy individual who is a limited partner in several VC funds. Like most wealthy indiv
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
By the way, I see from your past Ask HN submissions that in the past ~60 days, you've been thinking aboout "an opportunity in creating an ad network for a niche market" and looking for ways to accept payments for iPhone apps you've develope
29.
by TheSkeptic 15y ago
Undercapitalization is one of the most common reasons a company fails. Have successful businesses been started with $5,000 or less? Sure. But don't drink the Kool Aid. Lesson #1: it usually takes a lot more than $5,000 to get a business goi
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by TheSkeptic 15y ago
The HN set may not want to accept it, but in the real world, when somebody trying to build a business doesn't have any clue as to how to allocate their resources, it's a huge red flag. Period.

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