Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

news.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 60 posts

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#41
post #38
post #17

> ultra conservative revenue projections HA HA HA based on what? It's an idea.

Don't knock the power of ideas. I have this awesome idea for a teleportation ray that will instantly transport me from one city to another. I even have a 15 page powerpoint presentation and I have 4 of my country club buddies who committed to putting up some cash after I got enough long island iced teas in them. Now all I need is someone to build it for me.

Damn, you know my strategy. However the difference between your idea and mine is that they are drinking buddies that I gave golf lessons to in exchange for money.

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#43
post #39
post #27

You're very different from most "idea guys" as you've done something others haven't: you've proven you can raise funding. Take the funding. Now, be ready to do something difficult: if you want somebody to stick around, you'll need to make them an owner. You've done one part, raise the money, but now you need somebody who can implement this. As such, be willing to offer them over 50% of your equity (what they're doing…

Thank you for your reply. I agree money is currently the easy part, the biggest issue is execution. The ideal is fools gold if I can't transform it from a pitch deck into a reality. You gave me some really great ideas here about reaching out to other engineers that I have worked with and some siblings of friends with CS degrees and startup mentalities. Cost structure is really low right now - I already have a succesf…

> You gave me some really great ideas here about reaching out to other engineers that I have worked with and some siblings of friends with CS degrees and startup mentalities.

Reach out to engineers you've worked with, the ones who already know what you can offer and the ones where you know what they can offer. As I said, make them a founder along with you. Even better, ask them who the best engineers they know are and then in turn ask their friends.

I'd avoid hiring younger siblings of non-technical friends. They need mentoring to reach their full potential (they have to learn how to use version control, how to write clean code, how to test code, how to deploy code to production -- even if they know the fundamentals; you can't teach them that); presence of this potential is something which you (or your non-technical friends) can't tell. College grades do not correlate with programming ability. They are the ones to hire once you already have somebody who can identify those with strong potential (and not those who want a higher salary and a nicer desk than what IBM or Microsoft will give them as a "college hire") and mentor them.

As a side note, when you talk to people, ask for advice on a specific technical problem, not "I am seeking technical co-founder".

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#44
post #5

Next 3 steps. Network, hustle, hustle. In that order.

Thanks - networking is huge and I have a huge network. I just want to make sure that I am fishing in the right pond.

I would recommend using someone from that network who you trust, and can validate as a great engineer, to hire your first engineer. No offense, but although you can probably assess for business...(ality?), you need someone who knows what they're talking about to figure out if your potentials, well, have any.

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#46
post #38
post #17

> ultra conservative revenue projections HA HA HA based on what? It's an idea.

Don't knock the power of ideas. I have this awesome idea for a teleportation ray that will instantly transport me from one city to another. I even have a 15 page powerpoint presentation and I have 4 of my country club buddies who committed to putting up some cash after I got enough long island iced teas in them. Now all I need is someone to build it for me.

send me your routing number, I'm ready to invest.

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#47
post #28
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Insider trading isn't illegal in Brazil."

Yes it is... don't state things like this with no knowledge. I and am Born in Brazil and here it's definetly against the law, the thing here is that it takes forever to arrest them... but they go to jails anyway.

Is there anything else from "The Social Network" that isn't true? Just kidding, but the parent comment was a Zuck quote -- I think in real life in an IM that someone saved.

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#48
This is what I built on http://beepl.com/jan if you want to have a look. Also, I am demoing this to an investor tomorrow. Any word of advice you can give me? Hoping to launch on March the 30rd.. If that doesn't go well, the backend is all programmed by me. And I am sort of a hacker that can program stuff. Maybe I can help with your idea?

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#49
post #40
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree the account is new - this is what happens when you go from /. to digg to reddit and then have your brother point you to HN over the years. I assure you there is nothing trolling here, I have been a successful entrepreneur who sold two businesses for over 1.2 million in the past 5 years. One of these was an ISP / web hosting provider and the other an IT support company for SMB's running windows. A long time memb…

If anything, this post further reinforces the notion of trolling. If this was true, then your original post makes even less sense.

Knowing how to configure Apache and configure Exchange server is a far cry from I need to build a SaaS webapp.

Re: Ask HN: I just thought of a startup, got funding and now I am stuck...

#50
post #28
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Insider trading isn't illegal in Brazil."

Yes it is... don't state things like this with no knowledge. I and am Born in Brazil and here it's definetly against the law, the thing here is that it takes forever to arrest them... but they go to jails anyway.

Was he perhaps trying to say that "if you're a US citizen in Brazil [with a heap of money] then you won't be extradited to the US on a charge of insider trading in the US exchanges".
Post reply on HN