h34t

33 ms·

271.
by h34t 19y ago
I spent a year trying to start a company from China with an angel investor and partner remaining in Canada. Suffice to say that, while there are good arguments on either side, and there are certainly special cases, I can understand why YC f
272.
by h34t 19y ago
This solution is already functioning (via self-selection), and without need a top-down "you are only allowed if you meet X criteria" administrative layer. It should keep working this way (hopefully) so long as we keep the front page entirel
273.
by h34t 19y ago
Help us rally together against our common enemy. Send us all to Reddit "by mistake" 10% of the time that we try to access Hacker News. By the time we make it back here, we'll be so distraught by our unexpected exposure to the histrionic twa
274.
by h34t 19y ago
Some people need to hear that it's time to quit, because they're invested in something that's a dead end. Just as you shouldn't throw good money after bad, the same can be said for your time (and your team's time). The important part isn't
275.
by h34t 19y ago
I went to your site, skimmed the FAQ, skimmed the "About" page, and I still don't know what your service actually does or looks like. All I know is that you think email is bad for coordinating "micro-events", and so I'm guessing that someho
276.
by h34t 19y ago
I'm not sure how to fight fluff, but I think there's a strong case to be rather zealous about it. It seems obvious that the direction of these communities is highly reflexive, in that users are determined by content, which is determined b
277.
by h34t 19y ago
Just because a problem is important, doesn't imply that your team is properly positioned to succeed in the market. If you don't have a good chance of succeeding due to changing circumstances, there's no reason to assume that it's worth
278.
by h34t 19y ago
Imagine you form a team of 5 people to build a new product -- for the sake of argument, let's say you've decided to try to build a prototype of a Gubmarine, a submarine made out of an advanced form of bubble-gum that can allow a torpedo to
279.
by h34t 19y ago
Interesting scenario with student government. Remarkably similar to the content of the video, too. I didn't find poor logic in the show per se, but in the discussion within the show -- the thinking of the participants of the meeting. The sh
280.
by h34t 19y ago
I find this "never give up" stuff ridiculous. You'd never apply it to investing money (eg/ "I bought this stock 1 year ago and I'm just going to BELIEVE it into a higher price), so why would you apply it to investing your skills and emotion
281.
by h34t 19y ago
Low living costs + high relative wages for a western-educated human being in South East Asia = my short-term boot-strapping strategy. See below-the-fold for details of that. First, the past: * I bootstrapped my first venture, called Ethical
282.
by h34t 19y ago
The idea of embeddable-apps-in-a-box, or "the widget is the platform", seems pretty compelling to me. What are your reasons for thinking it's over-hyped? I don't find the "most widgets are trivial" argument compelling; the large portion of
283.
by h34t 19y ago
This is 107 days old, but I can't help but mention how ridiculous it was for me to have said that I worked in Guatemala and China "extensively." I don't know what got in to my tea...
284.
by h34t 19y ago
* Interesting idea, to save your best oration until after the first rejection. Does anyone here do this? I can't see it working in most circumstances, but in a boardroom setting where your audience has paid good money for the work you've al
285.
by h34t 19y ago
Earning money by writing a book is wrong because ...?
286.
by h34t 19y ago
What is your definition of a monopoly?
287.
by h34t 19y ago
I don't have personal knowledge of most of what he talks about in his book, but in the case of Guatemala he's spot-on. The CIA removed their first democratically elected leader, Arbenz, in 1954 and the country has never really recovered. I
288.
by h34t 19y ago
The Chinese government is always messing with the internet here. I can't even see photos in Flickr or articles in Wikipedia without using a proxy. They are unpredictable and annoying. Government involvement in this would not surprise me at
289.
by h34t 19y ago
Thanks to everyone who responded to this. I really appreciate everyone taking the time. It's a pretty amazing community going on here!
290.
by h34t 19y ago
What you're saying makes a lot of sense to me. Unfortunately, we may need to make a decision here before we really know whether it's short-term or long-term burnout, because we have to decide pretty-much-100% whether and when I'm going to b
291.
by h34t 19y ago
Thanks for the comment -- three points to make: 1. I didn't write this in the thick of the battle -- I've already had 2 weeks with most of my responsibilities lifted. This is what's given me the presence of mind to write what I have. Also,
292.
by h34t 19y ago
Interesting -- your hypothesis is almost exactly what I wrote down in my journal just this morning, when thinking about how I let my "commitment to the business" override so many other thoughts/desires/gut-reactions. Some level of compromis
293.
by h34t 19y ago
Some of the best experiences I ever had were climbing volcanoes and hiking through the highlands of Guatemala. Time to re-visit this I think.
294.
by h34t 19y ago
Thanks for your advice, and the interesting read. I've had the past couple of weeks off to think about everything, and I think that's why my posting is anywhere near articulate... Two weeks ago I talked to my partners and they recommended t
295.
Ask YC: Experiences with founder burnout?
37 points by h34t 19y ago|38 comments
296.
by h34t 19y ago
Doesn't a user's karma say more about how much time they have to contribute to Hacker News than about how good their judgment is?
297.
by h34t 19y ago
Some of both. A lot of this trade is on a large enough scale (Minimum orders are often 1 container) that the buyer wants to define the packaging to match his brand, but it's usually a lot cheaper to have them to custom packaging here in Ch
298.
by h34t 19y ago
This only makes sense if you believe the negative impact of your contribution to the country's tax revenues (some of which is misspent or supports things you disagree with) is going to be stronger than the positive impact you'll make throug
299.
by h34t 19y ago
... ... ... I'm still here. Please draw the conclusion that this implies :).
300.
Ask YC: Are any of you interested in China / international business?
16 points by h34t 19y ago|28 comments

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