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Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#231

Post by mixmax »

aswanson wrote: post #230
mixmax wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since fallentimes just asked the same in an e-mail I can copy paste it here :-) Basically it’s an advertising display. The way it works is that you have a motor with an attached circuitboard that has a row of RGB LED’s attached in a line from the center and out. When you spin the circuitboard and modulate the LED’s in the right fashion you can create the illusion of a display that’s hanging in midair. This is pretty…

Great idea, there was a clock display on Wired a few years ago that did something similar. Did you guys roll it out?

No unfortunately we didn't...

Our focus was on building a media channel, and we thought we would be distracted by doing consumer products as well.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#232

Post by andreyf »

rbanffy wrote: post #215
andreyf wrote: post #194

Eat a hearty meal, get a good night's sleep, and think about it in the morning. There's a Russian saying "the morning is wiser than the time between late afternoon and night". It sounds better in Russian (3 words).

Oh. Please. Post the three words.

Utro vechera mudrenee. Morning evening wiser. Evening! That's the word I couldn't think of :-P

And here's a song about evening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KoNUYLBnX8

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#233

Post by melvinram »

wehriam wrote: post #222
melvinram wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One more thing, SHAME CAN BE A HUGE MOTIVATOR. Find everyone she knows and be so loud that she cannot afford to ignore you. I don't know the exact legality involved so become friends with a good lawyer. You have to treat this start up like your baby... and you are mama bear. If someone tries to kill your baby, you need to rise to the occasion. I almost never give this type of advice but it's appropriate and needed in…

This would discourage other developers from working with the company out of fear for their own reputation in case something goes wrong.

Not if you tell the truth. "$78,000 & 12 months later, I don't have a working product."

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#236

Post by mrtron »

melvinram wrote: post #233
wehriam wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would discourage other developers from working with the company out of fear for their own reputation in case something goes wrong.

Not if you tell the truth. "$78,000 & 12 months later, I don't have a working product."

That doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on the developer.

What if 11.5 months later the entire product changed drastically?

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#237

Post by drinko »

mrtron wrote: post #236
melvinram wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you tell the truth. "$78,000 & 12 months later, I don't have a working product."

That doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on the developer. What if 11.5 months later the entire product changed drastically?

it didn't.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#238

Post by iamelgringo »

Xichekolas wrote: post #224
iamelgringo wrote: post #176

OK, so here's a problem. Even if you do get someone from this site to help you, Ms. Django owns 35% of your company regardless. Best case scenario, someone helps you, the product takes off, you have a big exit... you still have to pay her 35%. That's a big problem. The only way that you're going to get rid of her is to close the company and start over. And, she's wasted 14 months of your time with precious little to…

> We have people the commute from Dallas and Oregon to work here. Fly in, work 6 days straight, make 5K and then fly back. How do I get that sweet deal? I assume I need to be a nurse, but are such gigs really that plentiful? I could work like three weeks a year at that rate.

Most hospitals in the Bay area offer "per diem" (4+ shifts a month) positions for nurses like that. The going rate is from $60-80 per hour depending on your shift, experience and position. $70/hr x 12hr shifts x 6 days = $5k gross.

But, yeah. Hospitals nation wide are chronically short of staff and California is certainly no exception. Gigs like that are fairly easy to come by if you work it right.

A lot of hospitals are willing to work with you and schedule you all in a row like that if they know you. Many nurses come to the Bay area as a contract nurses on a 3 month contract. They develop a relationship with a department or manager, and then sign on as a per diem and arrange their schedule so they work 6 shifts in a row at the end of one pay period and the beginning of the next one.

I think there will be more and more of this since there is such a disparity in pay between nursing wages in the South and wages in the Bay and in California in general. A nurse in Alabama can work their heart out for $20-25 an hour taking care of 6-8 patients at a time in the ER, while the same nurse in California will make 2-3 times that and care for no more than 4 patients at a time (state mandated staffing ratios).

Staffing ratios mean that hospitals have to maintain minimum staffing levels and if they don't they get in trouble with the state. That means that nursing salaries go up and they're willing to have nurses commute from TX, or Oregon or wherever.

Re: Ask YC: Startup crisis. Out of money and tech co-founder has bailed.

#239

Post by drinko »

jules wrote: post #200
drinko wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the non intuitive nature of some of the UI features. Instructional copy is written, but not implemented. Lack of help - again written, but not implemented. Lack of privacy settings. Inability to search.

Did you see the application working (partially) or did the developer say that there's nothing to see yet (because the application isn't finished)?

I've seen it, and have it running on my server in alpha.
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