Viewing profile — thomasptacek

Advice? I bet you $10 she will not say ``No''. You'll even get ``buying signals''. If I were you, and I wanted to learn more than I wanted to sell? Ask ``why would you want to inve…

You're not a bootstrapper. You're trying to get VC. You're an aspiring VC-funded startup.

Three comments. (1) Reads like "case-in-point" for Norvig's argument that the GoF patterns are artifacts of less expressive languages. Most of these examples battle clearer, more e…

With an inherently smaller addressable population of users ("all businesspeople", as opposed to "all people, and any cartoon characters they like"), LinkedIn probably needs to be m…

Sorry, my fault for being incoherent. Look for the word "coup" in "Submarine". Viaweb injected a factoid into the, uh, press-o-sphere. Reporters love new factoids. What I see work,…

Again amusing that people disagree, and think that a questionairre which allows for "WhatSpace? WhoBook?" should advertise algorithm selection on a splash page.

It's amusing that anyone would disagree with this.

Schwartz. Perfect example. The government-issued PR firm for Boston companies. Competed with 2 companies simultaneously repped by them. Saw, maybe, 5? trade press hits between the …

Too many questions, and why on earth do your users care that you use SIMULATED ANNEALING? I've actually used SIMULATED ANNEALING (for graph layout) and I don't even care.

There's a nationally syndicated radio show about your product? That's awesome.

Slashdot is a PR venue.

Have you ever worked with a PR firm that was actually worth the money? I've worked directly with 4 in the past and got fuck-all from it, but we're handling our own press now and ki…

If he stopped doing it after the rejection, then the criticism is hugely valid.

If, holding talent constant, a developer costs $100k in the bay and $65k in Ann Arbor, Michigan, then Ann Arbor startups have a pronounced recruitment advantage. That's all I'm say…

I understand, and am not arguing with you. Whatever you want to call them, that "second round of folks before later" is harder to hire than the founders. They're employees, not pri…

I think you should ask questions of the conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom says one of the reasons to move a company to the Bay Area is that it's easier to hire developer…

You're making a lot of sense; I'm just saying, my experience was that it was harder to hire in the Bay Area than it has been for me to hire in NYC or Chicago, where I hire now. It'…

This is really cool, thanks. I had no idea about Windylabs and ChicagoBeta. Unfortunately, it looks like ChicagoBeta has flatlined since early summer. Any other pointers like this?…

Just to reiterate, an idea that goes from 100% to 25% based solely on Paul Graham is not a good idea. To restate the original point: I feel like some of the people on this forum ap…

"We know because we make people move for Y Combinator, and it doesn't seem to be a problem. The advantage of being able to work together face to face for three months outweighs the…

By the way, you didn't say they WOULD give up their dreams. You said they SHOULD. Thank you for introducing the idea of BATNA to the discussion.

I am utterly skeeved out that there are people in this forum who think their "chances of pursuing their dream [startup]" are lessened by not getting "funded" by YC, and that their …

My perception, from experience, is that it's actually harder to hire in the Bay Area than, well, anywhere else. Anyone with a modicum of talent that you interview in Sunnyvale can …

It really freaks me out that there are people on this board who think the BATNA for a founder in the YC negotiation is "give up on their dream".

If the preponderance of evidence is that her defense lied in court, $9,250 sounds low.