didnt anybody notice that you cannot use greplin without signing up. #fail
How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
61–70 of 73 posts
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#62I thought this was a cool article until I read this line: "But regardless of how successful Greplin is, say, even if we go public someday, my parents won't be satisfied unless I get a degree. They won't speak to me." That's pretty sad, actually :(
I came here to say the same thing (even worded the same way in my head). Why are people so fixated on college degrees -- even if they've already built a profitable company from scratch? Is it to prove something? If so, what?
They're nice in that they force you to learn some subjects you wouldn't normally ... that and the college chicks.
Agree that the idea in that you have little worth without one is a bit absurd.
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
It happened to Facebook Breakup Notifier recently. Facebook revoked API access without notification.
Sure, but why would they do it to Greplin specifically?
because they will eventually have a superset copy of all this data, which these companies are building a business model on. eg. Facebook API access is for Facebook apps that use Facebook credits. Twitter API access is expensive (Gnip charge $10k+ a month plus just for a slice).
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#64I thought this was a cool article until I read this line: "But regardless of how successful Greplin is, say, even if we go public someday, my parents won't be satisfied unless I get a degree. They won't speak to me." That's pretty sad, actually :(
I think I came across slightly more seriously then I indented - as much as they'd prefer me to have a degree, I'm sure they're quite proud.
Hey Daniel,
congratulations, fantastic idea, well done!
I'm really curious, is it a 'personal search engine' where you just give your login details to greplin and you can then search all of your online docs/profiles?
cheers
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#65I just linked my Twitter account and have to say Greplin is scary fast on searches. I am not sure I would like another 3rd party indexing my emails, but will keep an eye on Greplin because of the twitter searches. I always wanted to search just my twitter stream, but I have never found, until now, such an easy and fast way to do it.
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#66From the article, on going to college: "The way it works in Israel, you have to go to the army first" I wonder how much this impacts the entrepreneurial mindset in male youth. I grew up mostly in Singapore, and they too have conscription upon reaching the age of 18 (with some exceptions, eg: for medicine and for national scholarship holders). From what I see from my friends' facebook channels, it's definitely a drain…
I'm Israeli, so I thought I'd share on how the Army has a huge positive impact on entrepreneurship.
For a lot of Israelis who are smart, the army is a great experience that really helps them. For example, there is a very respected Programming Course in the Israeli army, which trains programmers for half a year. These programmers then go on to work on all the Armies' systems for the next 5 1/2 years. This course is called Mamram (I was in it).
This means that programmers in Israel are not only trained in a very intensive course for half a year, but they then go on to work on real-world (and often critical) systems, for 5 1/2 years. Which means there are many Israeli programmers who, at age 24, have 6 years of professional experience working on big, important systems.
Add to this that the Mamram course is very famous (most Israeli companies require programmers to either have a degree or be a graduate of Mamra). Also, serving 6 years in the army (and being in a course with 100 peers) means you get an incredible network of connections. I'm a good example - I'm working on my own startup with two people I served with in the army, and I know many people who either work at or run a lot of Israeli startups, just because I served with them at some point. I'm probably 2 hops from most startups in Israel, just because almost all of them hire programmers from the Mamram course.
OK that came out long. I only focused on the Mamram course since that's what I know best, but there are a lot of other fields the army is great for that have nothing to do with programming.
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#67From the article, on going to college: "The way it works in Israel, you have to go to the army first" I wonder how much this impacts the entrepreneurial mindset in male youth. I grew up mostly in Singapore, and they too have conscription upon reaching the age of 18 (with some exceptions, eg: for medicine and for national scholarship holders). From what I see from my friends' facebook channels, it's definitely a drain…
I'm Israeli, so I thought I'd share on how the Army has a huge positive impact on entrepreneurship. For a lot of Israelis who are smart, the army is a great experience that really helps them. For example, there is a very respected Programming Course in the Israeli army, which trains programmers for half a year. These programmers then go on to work on all the Armies' systems for the next 5 1/2 years. This course is ca…
That sounds great! It seems like the Israeli military system brings with it an integrated approach to pathways in life.
That's far better than the picture that has been painted in front of my eyes (South-East Asian context) with places like Singapore and Vietnam. With the former, it's 2 years of physical grunt work. With the latter, one of my friend's cousins had to serve in the Army for 2 years as a Private after having graduated with an Engineering degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia. =(
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it's sad at all. People seem to forget that college can be about more than career advancement. In this case, he clearly doesn't need a degree to be gainfully employed. Chances are that he's a pretty intelligent kid with other interests. If he puts 3-4 years into startups, not only will he probably be able to pay his own way through college, but will be at a point in life to appreciate the learning optio…
Sorry, but it's definitely sad if your parents are more hung up on some external arbitrary stamp of approval than on your own true achievements and passion for how you spend your time. Especially if it's to the point that they won't speak to you? That's pathetic. How ridiculous would it be if Bill Gates or Steve Jobs parents still refused to speak to them because they had dropped out of school, despite creating two o…
That was my point--why do you assume it's an arbitrary stamp of approval to his parents, and not the reason I mentioned? Anyway, the author's comment above seems to support my point.
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I came here to say the same thing (even worded the same way in my head). Why are people so fixated on college degrees -- even if they've already built a profitable company from scratch? Is it to prove something? If so, what?
They're nice in that they force you to learn some subjects you wouldn't normally ... that and the college chicks. Agree that the idea in that you have little worth without one is a bit absurd.
> college chicks?
Is every founder either a man or a lesbian?
Re: How a 19-Year-Old Raised $5 Million to Revolutionize Search
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're nice in that they force you to learn some subjects you wouldn't normally ... that and the college chicks. Agree that the idea in that you have little worth without one is a bit absurd.
> college chicks? Is every founder either a man or a lesbian?
The answer is leaning heavily toward yes.