johnrob

31 ms·

451.
by johnrob 14y ago
Various partners have definitely acknowledged that they like the 'products for developers' space. They still fund plenty of gold miners though.
452.
by johnrob 14y ago
If they pulled that off it would mean the government effectively repealed the notion of copyright (I could read any book I wanted to on rapgenius). I'm not sure how likely that is.
453.
by johnrob 14y ago
'Customer' is a misleading term if the person in question does not pay for the product. Given the abundance of free products (both past and present), 'User' has become the norm. Customer is however a convenient term for a payment processor
454.
by johnrob 14y ago
I'm not sure if "housecleaning for the masses" is the ideal message. I'm willing to bet that most people either value time (already have cleaner) or money (clean their own house). You normally need a pretty big price drop to create a new
455.
by johnrob 14y ago
The depressing truth about the software business is that most of the success stories take the form "and then I started spending all my time on marketing, and my business took off!". I say depressing because most software developers didn't c
456.
by johnrob 14y ago
It would nonetheless be an easy way to get some valuable knowledge from the internals of paypal.
457.
by johnrob 14y ago
Is the implication here that choice is based on who is better for growth?
458.
by johnrob 14y ago
Uber is in an entirely different legal category. All of their drivers are registered. Their main issue is essentially a turf war between limos and taxis. Lyft and sidecar are being accused of enabling unregistered professional transportat
459.
by johnrob 14y ago
Possibly Riderbee, since IIRC they are similar to sidecar and lyft. Zimride and Ridejoy operate like a traditional bulletin board so they should be fine. When you're dispatching drivers in real time, just like a taxi dispatcher, the law ca
460.
by johnrob 14y ago
The problem is that "communication platforms" don't normally run background checks, process payments, or offer insurance policies. Ironically, getting rid of these things - which serve to make the service safer - probably would make them
461.
by johnrob 14y ago
Lest anyone forget how hard startups are, here is some proven talent armed with tons of cash that is struggling nonetheless.
462.
by johnrob 14y ago
I was operating under the assumption of reasonable execution risk. If you can't even get the product out the door then you'll definitely fail. My main point was that it's hard to disprove ideas that are feasible and are something people w
463.
by johnrob 14y ago
The only way to invalidate an idea is to prove that people don't want the product. While I wouldn't always bet on a business that has a proven demand, I definitely would not bet against one. A great example is Instagram: I wouldn't have be
464.
by johnrob 14y ago
What if 500 Startups has the "misfortune" of landing a black swan? With the firm's then increased valuation, how do they grow that with base hits? I read PGs essay to mean that black swans are like an addiction: once you have one, you need
465.
by johnrob 14y ago
I think getting you to sign up is the start of a process that culminates with you inviting all of your contacts. The username/password step is just the top of the funnel.
466.
by johnrob 14y ago
If my understanding is correct, these are web apps (as opposed to native mobile apps)?
467.
by johnrob 14y ago
The last line is great. Another way it often plays out: Person (1) has idea, (2) pitches investors (who pass), and (3) abandons idea. Step 3 is not merely evidence of the investors being right, it's the reason they are right.
468.
by johnrob 14y ago
Another way of thinking about it: There are N nodes that loop back to themselves. When starting at a given node, what are the odds that you'll never hit one of these N nodes? Additionally, we know that many of the N nodes are very genera
469.
by johnrob 14y ago
I think he was simply ranking the ways by which a startup can seem impressive, in order of importance.
470.
by johnrob 14y ago
One nice thing about printf debugging is that your eyes and brain never leave the code. There is mental overhead in involving a third entity (in addition to the code and command line) which is the debugger. Obviously, if the compile/execut
471.
by johnrob 14y ago
I donated $30 (thought I'd add more social proof while I'm here).
472.
by johnrob 14y ago
The danger in building a beautiful campus is that you attract people who like beautiful campuses.
473.
by johnrob 14y ago
Arrays aren't really in the spirit of relational design. This means that using them will change the ACID characteristics compared to a relational design. In the article's first example, it would seem like adding another item to a purchase
474.
by johnrob 14y ago
As an investor, you aren't susceptible to anything - the company that takes your money bears risk of lawsuit. In this case, given how it's structured, fundersclub would be at risk.
475.
by johnrob 14y ago
Revenue-less companies in silicon valley regularly get acquired for millions - sometimes hundreds of millions. Does that happen anywhere else?
476.
by johnrob 14y ago
Are they really failing? I can agree that many are spending too much time perfecting apps - but I haven't yet heard many stories of companies going belly up. Maybe others have? I'm definitely expecting a pretty big fallout from all the fu
477.
by johnrob 14y ago
If I already use dropbox, should I also use this? It's probably worth listing the reasons I should use this along with dropbox/box/sugarsync/whatever else (although it's perfectly valid if you're targeting users who don't already use one of
478.
by johnrob 14y ago
I didn't see any mention of how you share with people - do they have to have the app as well? Can you just send them a link and let them view in a browser?
479.
by johnrob 14y ago
They might be better served to drop the 'Spreadsheet' moniker. It leads people to incorrect assumptions about the product and likely filters out potential users. 'Whiteboard', 'Slideshow', and 'Scrapbooking' are all terms that seem to bet
480.
by johnrob 14y ago
It seems like the focus is on casual usage (photos, videos, etc). Why not focus more on the business side (i.e. numbers)?

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