Such a great presentation from Paul. I particularly like the piece on competitors, not worrying about them, and believing in your approach to the market and product. Go get em!
What Startups Are Really Like
111–120 of 128 posts
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess it depends on how you describe it, eh? "I own a software company" does sound like it'd be more successful than "I run an internet startup."
I say "I own a company", exactly because "I have an internet startup" seems like an eye-roller. I agree with the previous comment: the fact that we're out-of-the-ordinary in Chicago is one of the things I like best about Chicago.
It's basic salesmanship. Phrase things in the way that sounds best (within the bounds of honesty of course). "I have an internet startup" sounds a lot like "I fell for a get rich quick scheme. Would you like to buy some vitamins?"
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the weirdest thing. You're explaining my own software to me. (The editor is the part of Viaweb I wrote.) I'd forgotten there was a head-tags variable. But thanks to you I've finally been able to get rid of the annoying Yahoo favicon. Incidentally, you don't have to override head-tags. You can just change the global value on the Variables page. Sorry about the usability issues. It was pretty good for 1997.
I love it that you and the many people you surround yourself with are brilliant web developers - and your site has a 90's almost craigslist asthetic. But like craigslist, it's a very ironic cool and minimalist design that I hope you don't change.
Actually the design of HN derives from the (old) design of del.icio.us/popular. So it's at least an early 2000s aesthetic.
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will tell you one aspect where they're different: I can show a business partner some very evil and cut-throat side of me that I will do anything absolutely necessary to shield from my girlfriend.
Yeah, you're not married--you can't hide that stuff from a wife forever.
Just like modern marriage, startups aren't forever.
I suspect, however, that you refer to sucessful marriage, which could easily span several successful startups.
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#115#14 strikes me as the most startling. It's not that I hadn't guessed VC cluelessness, despite never having talked to them myself.
Rather, it's that so much pretense has been acceptable for so long. If technology knowledge isn't necessary to make successful technology investments, why do the asset managers put up with the charade?
Is it all just an effect of VC rewards being too loosely coupled with results?
(#15 seems to me to follow as a matter of course, and is, arguably, the other side to the same coin)
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#116#14 strikes me as the most startling. It's not that I hadn't guessed VC cluelessness, despite never having talked to them myself. Rather, it's that so much pretense has been acceptable for so long. If technology knowledge isn't necessary to make successful technology investments, why do the asset managers put up with the charade? Is it all just an effect of VC rewards being too loosely coupled with results? (#15 seem…
If it so happens that their primary concern is financial developments, "market trends" etc., is that really news to anyone? I mean I'm a developer myself but I acknowledge that if they don't have as much of a clue as we would like them to have, maybe it's because the market(s) reward their other qualities and it Just Doesn't Matter (or make such a big difference to their returns). (The fact is that not everything that matters to us personally matters on other scales just as much.)
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not overanalyzing it - you're making generalizations about women that are naive and, in my view, offensive.
It seems to me that honest advice about what actually works in dating usually offends people. Go pick up virtually any book by and for pickup artists. (Or start with a website like http://www.seductiontuition.com/. ) You will find it full of incredibly crass generalizations about women that are guaranteed to offend. But it works! Pickup artists aren't worried about being politically correct, they are interested in ge…
Thanks for those links. Hopefully I will now fall for some other traps.
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#118I sometimes wonder if the Valley culture doesn't socially construct some of the startup pathologies. For example, startups taking over your life: why does this happen? Is this because startups take over your life and nothing can be done about this? I am skeptical of this: I run a small business, the time demands are rather modest, and I live a life outside of work. I'm surely not uniquely in a position to do this. No…
Patrick, I definitely both respect and admire the business you built. You can also say I'm pro the 37 signals mantra. But I think your advice is specific to the model you've built and the output you are yielding. I don't remember the numbers but I think you are somewhere around 100k (or less) in yearly revenue? Startups, whether logical/warranted or not, seem to be aiming orders of magnitude more than this, yes?
"But I think your advice is specific to the model you've built and the output you are yielding."
This is equally true for what pg is saying, of course.
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love it that you and the many people you surround yourself with are brilliant web developers - and your site has a 90's almost craigslist asthetic. But like craigslist, it's a very ironic cool and minimalist design that I hope you don't change.
Actually the design of HN derives from the (old) design of del.icio.us/popular. So it's at least an early 2000s aesthetic.
Ok, early 2000s aesthetic sans a flash intro. But we're talkin' internet years here so you're still rockin Air Force 1s, but their as popular as ever. And like I said earlier - it doesn't matter. Not like Buffett and his famous annual letters to shareholders are looked down on because he has a "thrifty" site either http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
Looking at it with firebug, the whole nav is one tall .gif and all the links are mapped via rectangular coordinates. The title for each essay is also a .gif, though they have alt description tags.
I know its your baby, but if you managed this with wordpress or another CMS, it would be really easy and you could be much more flexible to add new things. With wordpress, you could make a theme just like your current, but with CSS styled text links and you would just make static pages for all your new essays and whatnot. I could recreate your whole site in about an hour if you'd like.
Re: What Startups Are Really Like
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I say "I own a company", exactly because "I have an internet startup" seems like an eye-roller. I agree with the previous comment: the fact that we're out-of-the-ordinary in Chicago is one of the things I like best about Chicago.
It's basic salesmanship. Phrase things in the way that sounds best (within the bounds of honesty of course). "I have an internet startup" sounds a lot like "I fell for a get rich quick scheme. Would you like to buy some vitamins?"
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