asanwal

62 ms·

511.
by asanwal 16y ago
The challenge with a group for startup founders is that it's a very heterogeneous group, and there is little to "qualify" members (I don't think invites will cut it) On the other hand, something like Forrst for developers and designers is f
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by asanwal 16y ago
I am guessing (and apologies if I'm wrong) that you've not worked in finance else I don't think you wouldn't paint the entire industry with such a broad brush. I don't disagree with you that a lot of stupid, ignorant and misguided things h
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by asanwal 16y ago
Not justifying it, but when people think the whole system could break down, crazya$$ isht happens. The rightness or wrongness of what was done is not what I was getting into. Merely commenting on your point as to why the "finance sector is
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by asanwal 16y ago
When the collapse of Facebook presents systemic risk (or the illusion of system risk depending on your perspective) to the US, I'm sure it will get a "bail out" as well.
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by asanwal 16y ago
I agree with you to some degree. There is a lot that happens well out of public (and sometimes regulatory) purview. I just think views that "finance is bad" or "startups are the best" are myopic, don't advance the discussion and ultimatel
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by asanwal 16y ago
These generalizations about finance being unethical are misguided and misinformed. A bank/VC that gives a loan/investment to small business/startup. That's finance. Hardly unethical. Allowing people to get a car today while paying for it
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by asanwal 16y ago
Article is totally absent of any substantive suggestions to "fix the problem". The real issue is that if you look at the risk-adjusted reward of doing or working at a startup, it doesn't compare well with working on Wall Street. And then t
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Are crappy startups Wall Street's fault?(gigaom.com)
4 points by asanwal 16y ago|0 comments
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Best journalism-job want ad ever.(motherjones.tumblr.com)
56 points by asanwal 16y ago|6 comments
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by asanwal 16y ago
A few other things I'd say are best to hear as an entrepreneur: "We love your product. How can we buy it?" "We just told everyone we know about your product." "We'd like to acquire you for a ton of money. In cash. Up front." "We've never h
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by asanwal 16y ago
We compiled a list of 25 post-mortems which may be useful: http://www.chubbybrain.com/blog/startup-failure-post-mortem/ We also analyzed all the post-mortems to identify the top reasons for failure. That is here: http://www.chubbybrain.
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by asanwal 16y ago
Thanks for clarifying how HN works. I also thought dissenting opinions were welcome. My bad.
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by asanwal 16y ago
Ok - VCs are not like record labels. I'm convinced. Who cares? I know this post is by a venerable member of the HN community and so questioning his posts may get me downvoted into oblivion, but I read this post and wondered why this matte
524.
by asanwal 16y ago
Blekko hasn't proven there is a market for it. They've got some interesting things going on, some good PR in tech circles and have raised some money but until they show revenue, profit and a sustainable business model, the decision on whet
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by asanwal 16y ago
So if I search for "newborn diapers", I will get awesome non-commercial results about the history and science behind diapers from Wikipedia and sponsored ads to the right? And what about a blog with affiliate links? Is that commercial or
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by asanwal 16y ago
Easy there turbo. Was responding to 'bhousel' who wrote -- "Projects" are for fun. Projects may become elevated to "startups" only if they make money.
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by asanwal 16y ago
Most of Google's ad money comes from the commercial searches, i.e., digital camera, diapers, etc. Those are the searches that advertisers bid on and people click Google ads. A "non-commercial" search loses that entire opportunity. So in sh
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by asanwal 16y ago
By that definition, Quora is still a project, I guess?
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by asanwal 16y ago
Does one need graphs or any particular smarts to know this? If 500M people are on FB, it seems obvious that the double-digit growth trend would have to abate. Sorry for the haterade comment, but I don't know why we need "research" to uncov
530.
by asanwal 16y ago
We've been told by some news sources that have used our data/research that "they don't link out" as a policy. As a matter of our own policy, we are less willing to help them in the future and have indicated as such. That said, we usually f
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by asanwal 16y ago
Think there is a phrase for this -- "cutting off my nose to spite my face". Sure, airlines are evil, but they're not this dumb about optimization of Revenue per Available Seat Mile. I'd guess this seat got filled just fine.
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NYC Startup Accelerators - Quick & Dirty Guide to this Summer's Programs(chubbybrain.com)
1 points by asanwal 16y ago|0 comments
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VC blogs that are useful for startups (and who don't whore it up for pageviews)(chubbybrain.com)
3 points by asanwal 16y ago|0 comments
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by asanwal 16y ago
Addressing your comment below as I couldn't find a reply on your comment. Why go into a business with terrible margins from the start? Usually successful biz have great margins to start and then those get eroded with competition, technolog
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by asanwal 16y ago
Glad to hear of market validation you've done. I'd caution against small newsletters which may have low-value audiences. The "CPM" you'll get will be low and so $20 CPM on a 5k newsletter is $100 and if $80 goes to newsletter, that gives y
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by asanwal 16y ago
We run a niche, high-value newsletter and so from experience, I think there is a market for this. To validate, I'd find a newsletter(s) you think you can sell an ad(s) in and talk to the newsletter creator and say "If I can get you a sponso
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Tools to make your small business look bigger(nytimes.com)
2 points by asanwal 16y ago|1 comments
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by asanwal 16y ago
Sorry and this may get me downvoted, but this comment shows significant naivete about both B2B and B2C business models. First, neither is easy. But "B2C is predictable and not too risky" is patently absurd. It requires attracting users, k
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by asanwal 16y ago
Interesting idea, but all use cases above suggest you have to be there in-person to "pass the iPad". Seems like that requirement creates extra friction in the process.
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by asanwal 16y ago
If the angels on AngelList are happy with 5-10% returns (per Jason Calacanis) and those are the types of companies they're funding and finding on AngelList, doesn't it make sense that VCs would "opt out" of this market given 5-10% is not wh

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