niggler

67 ms·

721.
by niggler 14y ago
"Along the way I made several risky bets -- doubling down my money on more than one occasion " While not quite the same, your story reminded me of a story involving the Fedex founder gambling the last dollars in vegas and managing to make e
722.
by niggler 14y ago
I'm going to add a comment about that
723.
by niggler 14y ago
Added "social welfare programs" which encompasses stuff like social security and unemployment benefits.
724.
by niggler 14y ago
Live on social welfare programs (social security, unemployment checks)
725.
by niggler 14y ago
No software is a panacea. Decisions are made which favor some use cases over others. When you are as large as google or facebook or github, those decisions which don't naturally mesh with your workflow become more painful over time. And w
726.
by niggler 14y ago
Earning Spouse: Someone else in your direct household earning enough money
727.
by niggler 14y ago
While "Family" technically includes spouse, I see how my use suggests only parents, grandparents, and other relatives; I'll add "Earning Spouse" to the list
728.
by niggler 14y ago
Side project+: You have an existing job and are continuing either full time or part time while you start the business
729.
by niggler 14y ago
"self-funding through my salary at a $DAYJOB or consulting" You are right, I didn't include the case of doing it on the side. EDIT: added " You have an existing job and are continuing either full time or part time while you start the busine
730.
by niggler 14y ago
You are either doing contract work to extend your existing runway -- you saved up 6 months expenses, and the contract work is what allows you to let the business build for a few extra months (in which case you have a runway and the fourth o
731.
by niggler 14y ago
"You honestly think that most startups are created by people with FU money?" Let's put it to a poll: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5404986
732.
Poll: What was your financial situation when you started your startup?
162 points by niggler 14y ago|140 comments
733.
by niggler 14y ago
Family provided an explicit cushion (e.g. trust frund)
734.
by niggler 14y ago
Family didn't give an explicit cushion but could provide one (e.g. extra mortgage to give you 10-25K if you really desperately needed it)
735.
by niggler 14y ago
Family can't give you funds but can let you live in basement if the startup blows up and you need to find the next thing
736.
by niggler 14y ago
You personally saved up a small runway and minimized costs during the time (forbearance on loans etc) so that, even if things blew over you could survive a few months.
737.
by niggler 14y ago
You have enough saved up so that even if things blew up you could last a year or more
738.
by niggler 14y ago
You have friends you could lean on for support
739.
by niggler 14y ago
Nothing. No one could help me out, and I would be forced to declare bankruptcy or go into prostitution if I didn't make money in a month.
740.
by niggler 14y ago
"regrets building on Rails." I'm surprised they haven't tried to build their own framework / programming language (like Facebook with HipHop). It wasn't a bad idea to start with rails, but now they subject themselves to the issues of Ruby
741.
by niggler 14y ago
"The difference is what they actually do to make money - by creating value or by putting in money." Are you seriously telling me that the next XYZ social media startup is creating more value than the VC that's investing in new technology?
742.
by niggler 14y ago
When they start taxing emails, those separate emails are going to cost a pretty penny :P
743.
by niggler 14y ago
"most VCs don't try to create new value, they just try to create new money." I'd argue that many startups try to create new money too. "The risk they take is minimal compared to startups - it's not their money (it's their investors)," Not t
744.
by niggler 14y ago
Black bar?
745.
by niggler 14y ago
There have been some interesting discussions about disrupting the diamond market as well e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4522922 It's funny to see how that article recirculates. One of my first comments on HN was a link to the
746.
by niggler 14y ago
"is this something to emulate?" Regardless of whether it is worth emulating, clearly many people want to achieve some sort of financial success (i imagine the "entrepreneurs" in the ebook made some money already), and this book caters to th
747.
by niggler 14y ago
"present all the alternatives" Invariably those comparisons will be framed in a way that makes the product (in this case Posthaven) look good.
748.
by niggler 14y ago
I assume you mean http://www.atlassian.com/software/stash/overview Admittedly I didn't realize they offered an internal version. I'm going to try this out!
749.
by niggler 14y ago
Key takeaway: "But, if they can't protect my fucking email address why the hell should I trust them with my clients code?" Who else provides a product/service similar to github enterprise (internally-hosted dead-simple git repo and access s
750.
by niggler 14y ago
"Now, I'm not one to scream series A crunch from the mountain tops" People _are_ screaming it from mountain view

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