sethjohn

14 ms·

91.
by sethjohn 19y ago
I think this dilutes the concept rather beyond the point of utility. A memorial site would need to foster a very specific mood and offer a few specific tools for this purpose.
92.
by sethjohn 19y ago
Transparency is good for the entrepeneurs, but perhaps not for VCs. It must take a lot of work to prepare an insightful honest answer. A shady answer gets the entrepeneur out the door without the need for putting together a well-structured
93.
by sethjohn 19y ago
I don't really get that. Corporations don't generally do things because they "get pissed", they do things because because it's economically advantageous in some way or another, no?
94.
by sethjohn 20y ago
The fact that comments may be viewed during the YC app process probably has something to do with creating a focussed audience. But, how much?
95.
by sethjohn 20y ago
I'm excited by what seems to be a boom in micro-seed startup financing...what could less charitably be referred to as the YC-app knockoffs. This guys seems to have a good approach, though, in defining a slightly different niche for what he
96.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Making "something people want" is always good advice. I thought the interesting issue raised by this article was the particular situation where "making something people want" involved playing to the lowest common denominator. Facile content
97.
by sethjohn 20y ago
And, IMHO, in the long term (a few years) they will steadily lose viewers to sites with a better algorithm for quality (insightful and informative) if they don't make these changes.
98.
by sethjohn 20y ago
In the short run, lowbrow material can be quite successful. In the long run, though, quality wins out. People still read the classics, the Simpsons is still around because it's complex and smart. I think the same is true of companies. There
99.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Flash (and other) video compression uses a similar algorithm to look for parts of a video that are more static. (To avoid re-sending information about a static background, for example.) I'd guess it's a modification from compression technol
100.
by sethjohn 20y ago
With all the coverage of Justin.tv, it's surprising that this is the first time I've seen anyone raise the issue of Justin (et al)'s personality. Of course, valleywag (being valleywag) brought it up in a gossipy obnoxious way, but still, sh
101.
by sethjohn 20y ago
I've often wondered whether you could make a lot of progress by bringing together hackers with, for example, doctors or lawyers. These are people who use computers every day but probably don't spend much time thinking about how to hack a so
102.
by sethjohn 20y ago
I wonder if there's going to be a change in traffic (# or composition) at the end of the YC application process.
103.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Again, it depends on how exactly you imagine the situation. If the choice was acquisition by Google for $2 million, or probable destruction by Google in a year...certainly I would take the former. On the other hand, if I was passionate abou
104.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Perhaps the question is meant to be read as sort of a Zen Koan. You are asked to present a rational analysis of a situation that, if you think rationally about it, cannot occur!
105.
by sethjohn 20y ago
That comment was intended to be read somewhat tongue in cheek, but for the sake of argument: 1) What's the point of having money if you aren't going to spend it and have fun? I suppose you could throw a smaller party and write a big check t
106.
by sethjohn 20y ago
A good way to start might be the rule of thumb that startup investors typically want a 10x return on their money (for companies that succeed). If YC invests $20K in your company in return for 6% of the company, and the company sells for 3.3
107.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Also, when total investement doubles from $406 M to $844 M...that's a huge change in the market. It's hard to believe that a change in valuation from $6.63M to $6M is an independant variable that should be taken seriously. Also, also, the c
108.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Prediction: At least two of the first ten .tv-stars will attempt a Borat style character.
109.
by sethjohn 20y ago
My guess is that the real money here is in a product placement advertising model, rather than licensing the platform. They'll get some valuable patents for technology they develop, and a few hundred bucks each off the few hundred people wh
110.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Whaddayaknow, maybe Alexa is the problem! Compete.com shows exactly the opposite trends with increasing 2007 traffic to all the 2.0 sites mentioned. ( http://snapshot.compete.com/techcrunch.com+technorati.com+gigaom.com+) Is there any cons
111.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Very interesting, turns the market upside down. You could run it like a startup model combined with the recent doritos campaign (big cash prize for the winners). Throw around small (seed) money to anyone with a half decent idea...give out "
112.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Product placement will get them generating cash pretty quick. Could be difficult to scale up though, presuming there's only one Justin. What's the chance they've managed to file a patent for this as a 'business concept'?
113.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Higher percentage of success seems like a plausible outcome of the YC model. Everyone involved is clearly committed to something more than the 15-20K. Perhaps that's the advantage of recruiting hackers instead of b-school graduates...it's e
114.
by sethjohn 20y ago
In the black already...with more companies in the pipeline...seems like a great place to be! What's so new about this model? Tapping into an under-exploited resource (hackers)? Or the economics of micro-seed funding?
115.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Is YC a force to reckon with?...a model to replicate? I'd love to hear some guesses about how well they've done so far. I tried to estimate their return on Reddit ( http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=4474), but couldn't find even a ba
116.
by sethjohn 20y ago
If you have an idea and a management team that's good enough to make it with the help of YC, it's hard to believe you couldn't get the funding and make the connections that you need to succeed in another way. I don't know a whole lot about
117.
by sethjohn 20y ago
"On average, Y Combinator will increase your expected outcome by at least 5x. They usually take 2-10% of your stock in exchange. That's a great deal!" That seems like an optimistic way to phrase the proposition. Sure, they increase the outc
118.
by sethjohn 20y ago
Well, yes, the 12-month selloff strategy is probably uncommon for good reason. I suppose most ideas require more than a few months to create real value.
119.
by sethjohn 20y ago
'Build to flip' is a fine idea. Of course you still need to make a good product, but I don't think 'build to last' is right for every company or every idea. A world with 100 new HPs every year would be top-heavy. The ecosystem needs a few b
120.
by sethjohn 20y ago
When you sit down with VCs to set terms for a few million in A-round funding, it will be a question of whether they take 25% or 50% of your company. Between connections, advice, and time, the extra strength you'll have at the bargaining tab

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