jaf12duke

12 ms·

61.
No offense HN(hnsearch.com)
15 points by jaf12duke 13y ago|12 comments
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
OP here. In past startups I would have agreed with you. When I did my first startup, I worked on it exclusively. I skipped vacations. I skipped classes (I was in school at the time). I did practically nothing else. I burned out. The tit
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Week 23: Changes(blog.jenniferdewalt.com)
104 points by jaf12duke 13y ago|41 comments
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
What would be the best?
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
I'm 34. Married. And don't own a house, nor will anytime soon. It would've been much harder to stomach the risk of starting 42Floors if I had a mortgage. Getting locked into debt, whether that be school loans, credit cards
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
I would love to see if I can help you with your office search. Contact info is in my HN profile. As for blogging. It's core to who I am. I did it before 42Floors, and I'll continue to do it for as long as it brings me meaning.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
That's a fair warning. I would also say that business in general is an opportunity to solve problems. Startups are a subset in which that opportunity starts with no resources. The big change over the last few years is that starting wi
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Now is the time to do a startup(42floors.com)
54 points by jaf12duke 13y ago|65 comments
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
Not lost on me. I wrote this post about a year ago and dug it out of my drafts folder in honor of the man.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
The criticism of my writing style is fair. My intention was to spread the concept in an interesting style, not act as if I made it up. I may have failed in that attempt and, if so, I apologize. As a small piece of proof that I didn't
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Cargo Cults(42floors.com)
32 points by jaf12duke 13y ago|22 comments
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
I'll resist speaking ad hominem and try to generalize here. I've found that founders that are married/have kids are much more concerned about HR policies that protect an employee's family, while startups with younger&#x2
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
OP here. I'm not an expert, but $10 per month sounds too low. Check the policy and make sure it covers your employees against disabilities that still allow them to work minimum-wage jobs. Usually the income-parity clause costs extra.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
You're right. This is an important consideration. A policy that covers your exact occupation is the best. It's easier to get when it's an occupation underwriters really understand. For instance a surgeon can easily get an
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The one HR benefit every startup should add(42floors.com)
243 points by jaf12duke 13y ago|184 comments
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Truly Freakin' Ridiculously Awesome Customer Support(42floors.com)
1 points by jaf12duke 13y ago
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42Floors lives for incredible customer service. Help us(42floors.com)
1 points by jaf12duke 13y ago
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3rd Annual NFTE Launch: Mentor Aspiring Teen Entrepreneurs in SF(42floors.com)
3 points by jaf12duke 13y ago|0 comments
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
Congrats! You'll now find your crazy, brave, audacious career choice to be fairly commonplace here in the Bay Area. It feels wonderful. Ping me directly--I'd be happy to help you get settled here.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
Funny, I have rarely felt that choosing to do a startup was glorified. Quite the opposite, every structure of social pressure seems aligned towards traditional careers. I should also mention, having failed several times, that I was more emp
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
Indeed, the title could be better (OP here). For what it's worth, we do 100% paid parental leave...
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
I have a slight tweak on this. I stopped using an audible alarm clock. I've used a light-only alarm clock for years now-- The real value is that the light rises slowly and your body eventually wakes up when it's ready.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
You bring up some good points. A very powerful part of the YC network is simply being surrounded by awesome people. I've found that type of community throughout the startup ecosystem. When I lived in Boston, before ever getting into YC, I
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
I'm glad you brought this up--I use it as much as any other. Our iteration time for creating a fake mock-up and trying to sell it is only days. We can get through 5 tests in the time it takes to build one of them.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
It's an acknowledgement that the early days of a startup don't need to look like the later days. At 42Floors, we met with every landlord in person and then manually typed in every listing. Obviously, we can't do that at scale, but it was
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
OP here. Contact me today. I'll do a mock-interview with you to prep-- jason at 42floors
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
I don't think passion is limited to fighting for civil rights. But you're right in that I do talk about startups as a mission. And that's because a startup's default result is failing. It takes extraordinary efforts to avoid that default
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
That's not the case for us. The administrative burden is not heavy. Most payroll solutions include this out of the box. The much bigger issue for us is that we don't like rules and policies. We try to take 'do what you think is right' t
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
There's a lot of truth to this. I take a vacation every quarter now. And I do so unapologetically. It does help convey that vacations are socially acceptable.
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by jaf12duke 13y ago
The opposite was intended. See this paragraph: But that doesn’t mean startup people don’t need vacations – we clearly do. If for no other reason than our best ideas come when we’ve been able to disengage from the problem in front of us.

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