do it! hit me up when you are in sf - 650 283 6558 / mingyeow@gmail (mrtweet.com/discoverio)
(as long as you do not mind my creaking roof - ear plugs provided!)
Ask HN: Am I crazy?
31–40 of 95 posts
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#32How about reaching out to Mixergy and see if he needs any help?
I'm happy to help. I like this idea a lot.
He can make some guest post in Mixergy :D, it will add some value to mixergy and definitely promote his blog/site/project/ebook/. Of course Andrew that will choose if it's possible or not, but Andrew rulez and everybody knows that ;)
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#33I'd suggest going about the travel differently. Using a car to get from point A to point B is insanely expensive compared to other methods. Greyhound goes practically everywhere (just not on a convenient schedule/time frame for most people). Also, starting off in Chicago, you've got a fairly major Amtrak hub nearby where you can reach nearly any point in the U.S. by train for a reasonable cost as well.
I would set aside enough money to take Greyhound back to wherever you plan to call home afterwards (from the furthest point away, so you cannot get stranded), then plan out cost to ride Greyhound from place to place. This should give you cheaper day to day costs, but puts you at the mercy of where you're going.
This is where the blog/donate will help out. Put at least a week's notice of what date you plan on being in which city, look for folks to interview and a spot to crash. Ideally you'll be able to "tail" someone for a day or two to really see how their business goes while you're interviewing them. This also would provide for a very interesting read (a day in the life of a entrepreneurs, and not just 1 famous guy, even just in the trenches never heard of them before entrepreneurs). And along the way, share what you've learned with readers and subsequent interviewees.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#34You need to be able to convince your interviewees to participate. What's in it for them? See http://scobleizer.com/ for someone else who has solved that problem. One problem is timing. It's not sufficient to turn the interviews into enough money, you have to make that happen at the right time. I think that your budget is a bit low, but that doesn't mean that this will be more doable later or that it's not doable now.
Yeah, this is the thing that's really bugging me. I don't want to bank on people just inherently wanting to share their story and calling in favors. I've got a couple weeks before I can realistically set out, and that will probably be haunting my thoughts the whole time.
Hopefully, I could offer enough exposure to present an incentive, but this only really works for the less established.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#35You're welcome to hit my couch (just outside of Boston) and I"m happy to regale you with stories from our companies first almost-two years.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#36Sorry to rain on your parade but perhaps you should think about getting a job first. Your savings are not much and if that is all you have in the whole world you can easily get in trouble (imagine, for example a car crash in the middle of nowhere).
And even if everything goes smoothly you can find yourself at the end of your adventure with no money at all. Of course you can set up a donations site but you never know how much donations you will get.
A good way to hang out with entrepenurs without risking your neck would be to get a job with a start-up or a small company. Or you can start a consulting biz that helps small companies (such as website creation, fixing setting up computers, etc.)
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#37I always wanted to do this too. Last summer I traveled to various cities talking to early-stage funds/incubators and their participants and learned a lot. Now I'm working on a similar blogging project. Pinged you!
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#38you are crazy.
but it sounds like fun. if you make it to silicon valley be sure to check out the hacker dojo in mountain view: http://hackerdojo.pbworks.com/
Do start a website, and make sure you give your sponsors plenty of publicity. But make the project cool.
If I wasn't spending every penny I can on hardware, (or if I wasn't selling out faster than I can get new servers up) I'd buy some advertising. As it is, I'd be happy to give you some hosting, if you don't have any, and if you make it down here I'll buy or make you dinner.
You should pitch it as "I'm doing this really cool thing, and I think you are really interesting and would add something cool to the project" which should be true. Be aware that respondents will be motivated both by being part of something cool, but mostly by the publicity. But then, it's not good publicity unless it's cool, right?
You probably want to setup the website and build some excitement ahead of time.
so go out and make something cool.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#39I'd suggest going about the travel differently. Using a car to get from point A to point B is insanely expensive compared to other methods. Greyhound goes practically everywhere (just not on a convenient schedule/time frame for most people). Also, starting off in Chicago, you've got a fairly major Amtrak hub nearby where you can reach nearly any point in the U.S. by train for a reasonable cost as well. I would set as…
I agree that a car is expensive, but it doubles it's value by offering me a place to sleep if I can't find one by other means and serving as a big suitcase, allowing me to keep clothes straight and my equipment at the ready.
Re: Ask HN: Am I crazy?
#40Normally I wouldn't advice spending everything to your last penny, but I take it that if you are broke you'll just stay at your parents house? If I understood correctly, you plan the trip so that 1500$ pays for the trip. So on day 1 after the trip you have 0$? Then what? That aside it is a good idea, probably you'll be invited to lots of things, get donations, maybe even some chances to work.
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