paul

11 ms·

61.
by paul 11y ago
A lot of skepticism here, which is understandable given the somewhat unbelievable scope of what they are promising. I'm a very active user of Magic+, so I'll give my perspective. (and of course I've been working with them fro
62.
by paul 11y ago
This is really great! The 90 day window is bad for employees. I'd like to see this become the new standard. (and I hope the IRS doesn't give any trouble!)
63.
by paul 11y ago
I love reading these old articles. Here's another fun one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1719975
64.
by paul 11y ago
A good summary of why I dislike brutalism so much: We were experiencing one of the defining characteristics of Brutalism. The atmosphere of totalitarianism. The brutalists were masters of putting you in your place, which was in submission t
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by paul 11y ago
How is quoting the Palm CEO dishonest? The fact that he was so wrong about Apple is kind of the point.
66.
by paul 11y ago
I love the quote from Ed Colligan: Messrs. Zetsche and Lutz might want to meditate on Palm CEO Ed Colligan’s infelicitous words mocking the newborn iPhone in 2006 [emphasis mine]: “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring o
67.
by paul 11y ago
This also is good advice for anyone applying to YC. I'm not going to read your 10,000 word manifesto -- just tell me what it is you are building! :) We've actually found that the ability to provide clear and concise answers strong
68.
by paul 11y ago
http://blog.ycombinator.com/welcome-ali
69.
by paul 11y ago
Many of our most successful companies entered YC with little more than an idea. Slope is more important than Y intercept - https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-profound-life-lesson...
70.
by paul 11y ago
The point being that if we lack the political ability to simply not kill an innocent person, then more complex things such as updated gun regulations are likely impossible.
71.
by paul 11y ago
A bit of background on the Glossip case (from PG): http://pg.posthaven.com/the-case-of-richard-glossip If we can't stop the state from killing a person known to most likely be innocent, it makes me wonder what hope we
72.
by paul 11y ago
This is ridiculous. Google should delist Amazon.com to "avoid customer confusion" when searchers land there and can't buy a chromecast ;) Their explanation is just insulting.
73.
by paul 11y ago
http://fellowship.ycombinator.com/ :)
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by paul 11y ago
But how could a company that fired the great Michael O. Church possibly be anything other than pure evil? More seriously, I would never want to work at a place that is structurally unable to fire toxic people, which is one of the big downsi
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by paul 11y ago
Indeed. In fact, I think burnout is often one of the causes of failure, either directly, or indirectly through the bad decision making it causes. Building a successful company takes many years. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
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by paul 11y ago
If you know great scientists solving important problems, please encourage them to apply :) That said, great research projects do not necessarily translate into great startups. People doing fundamental research with no clear path to market l
77.
by paul 11y ago
What is your evidence for the claim that, "YC has not shown a good understanding of the life sciences"? (and what evidence will change your mind?) Our biotech investments are currently all too young for something huge like an IPO,
78.
by paul 11y ago
"Almost all women—and therefore men—use a form of birth control at some point in their lives, yet contraception is so politically and legally radioactive that legislators and pharmaceutical companies avoid funding it. So it’s no coinci
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by paul 11y ago
If you don't understand the difference between the original Microsoft tablet and the iPad, then it's not surprising that success appears to be all luck. Details matter.
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by paul 11y ago
I doubt it's possible. Keep in mind that nobody invested in AirBnb until YC, and as I understand it, they were mainly accepted based on the strength of the team.
81.
by paul 11y ago
They said "no" because they didn't want to waste time meeting with such an obviously unpromising startup :) I was one of the angels who simply didn't respond, in part because I was busy with my own startup, but also beca
82.
by paul 11y ago
It's mainly an easy/polite way of saying no. If they knew it was going to be huge, all would have invested.
83.
by paul 11y ago
When choosing between immediate profitability or faster growth, the smart decision is typically faster growth, as that leads to much greater profits down the road. Remember when the HN crowd thought that Facebook could never be profitable b
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Can Women's Wearables Do More Than Look Pretty?(forbes.com)
9 points by paul 11y ago|0 comments
85.
by paul 11y ago
I remember that an engineer we tried to hire at Google in 2000 turned down the offer for the same reason -- he thought that all of the interesting problems were probably already solved :) The reality is typically the opposite. Most startups
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by paul 11y ago
What is the correct way to value art?
87.
by paul 11y ago
Toxic cynicism. Change happens one step at a time. Tell us about the amazing things you are doing.
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by paul 11y ago
Early employees of Google and Facebook made pretty good money.
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by paul 11y ago
They have no concept of how complex ranking is. There are millions of factors being fed into massive machine learning systems that try to predict which results users want (which is different from which they are most likely to click). It&#x2
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by paul 12y ago
"Somehow, the microcomputer industry has assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an extension of their fingers. It just is not so." Apparently people in tech have always been clueless about the real world

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