Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future • Hacker News Board

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#71

Post by SmellyGeekBoy » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 10:30 AM UTC

Maybe slightly off topic, but I'm subscribed to YC on Soundcloud and had a notification pop up last night to tell me that this interview was available. Hit "play" on the driveway this morning while still connected to wifi and started my commute. 5 minutes later and it cuts out - mobile data dropped out (I live in a rural area).

Does the Soundcloud app not support buffering at all? I'd have thought that 20 minutes of speech would be a couple of MB at most. I see I can "upgrade" to allow offline listening for £9.99 per month, which seems pointless as this is all I'd use the service for.

I suppose I'll have to go down the route of using a legally dubious third party service to download the interview like I did for the Zuckerberg one a few weeks back. Shame they don't offer a more convenient way to listen, as this is shaping up to be a really interesting series.

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#72

Post by mgkimsal » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 11:22 AM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #55

utefan001 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe has transformed the world. In 1999, I was asked to look into how to setup credit card processing for our company. I contacted Authorize.net for technical help. They just asked me to fax some information to them. Two months later my boss receives a bill for $3,000 claiming we had signed a contract agreeing to that fee. I think Stripe has made CC processing a lot easier for everyone.

lot of time passed between 199 and stripe. a little thing called paypal had a pretty huge impact on opening up credit card payments for folks too.

(obviously 1999, not 199!)

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#73

Post by mgkimsal » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 11:28 AM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #31

throwaway991199 wrote: post #12

I have to agree with you there. I'm in Europe and I just polled a whole bunch of friends, anyone using these companies and got a resounding NOPE. I just polled a bunch of US friends too and they say the same. Sure, purely anecdotal. But for me, none of these have changed the world. Maybe if you worship at the alter of YC or a wannabe Paul/Jessica groupie or liberal/progressive fantasist then I guess you totally buy i…

I down voted this comment because it is based on counterfactual anecdotes (those companies do have popular and well-liked products), and builds on those anecdotes to insult people who believe those statistics, and then tries to inoculate itself against criticism by accusing downvoters and flaggers of responding irrationally. The attempt to frame a predictable response as an unreasonable one hurts the discussion witho…

What's interesting is how we now view what is 'mundane'. Pretty much my entire 'normal' life in 2016 - in which pretty much everything is mundane - is beyond what many fiction writers were capable of thinking of just 30 years ago. Instant/live audio/video communication with people around the planet - for essentially free (24/7!) - is now taken as 'mundane'.

I know most of us 'know' this at one level - well, many do, anyway - but given the infrastructure we build on, most of what we end up building is somewhat 'mundane' by comparison.

Lastly, I'm of an 'older' generation. Those younger than me do not remember a time when what's 'mundane' now was ever exciting/new/revolutionary. Much like having grown up with color TV, telephones and refrigeration and not being able to imagine a world without those, my younger family really can not imagine a world without near-free 24/7 access to info/communication.

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#74

Post by bobbylox » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 4:15 PM UTC

Mz wrote: post #33

bobbylox wrote: post #17

I think there needs to be a moratorium on that AirBnB political cereal box story. "The most important thing to do is to focus on your business, but also it's cool if you spend time on a random side business," is a big mixed message.

I don't see a mixed message. They did what they had to do to survive as a company rather than become consultants or get jobs because they were that focused on making the company work.

But they did get jobs. They got jobs at a humorous cereal box company they founded.

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#75

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 4:24 PM UTC

throwaway991199 wrote: post #12

I have to agree with you there. I'm in Europe and I just polled a whole bunch of friends, anyone using these companies and got a resounding NOPE. I just polled a bunch of US friends too and they say the same. Sure, purely anecdotal. But for me, none of these have changed the world. Maybe if you worship at the alter of YC or a wannabe Paul/Jessica groupie or liberal/progressive fantasist then I guess you totally buy i…

I've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the HN guidelines, and because you don't seem to be using this site in good faith. Intentionally or not, your comments have the effect of trolling. (Grandiose rhetoric about YC and the HN community, btw, doesn't insulate an account from needing to follow the rules here.)

If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe you'll follow the rules in the future.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12393868 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#76

Post by aliakhtar » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 4:58 PM UTC

tomhoward wrote: post #58

beambot wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you have ever advocated that move to a portfolio company? I can't imagine any of the partners advocating that tactic during an office hours conversation... It only seems awesome after the fact.

My co-founder and I were most certainly advised by YC partners when we were close to hitting the wall: "just do whatever you have to do to keep your company alive – and do it fast!". The cereal box story serves as a reminder that sometimes it takes the most unlikely, left-field, crazy-seeming idea to get yourself out of the hole. The one my company pulled was very different to this, but it worked, and the company is…

What did you guys do? If you don't mind sharing it.

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#77

Post by aliakhtar » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #53

bobbylox wrote: post #17

I think there needs to be a moratorium on that AirBnB political cereal box story. "The most important thing to do is to focus on your business, but also it's cool if you spend time on a random side business," is a big mixed message.

I hope people remember that AirBnB spammed Craigslist to grow their user base. Not a great example of ethical behavior, IMHO.

source?

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#78

Post by aliakhtar » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 5:18 PM UTC

berpasan wrote: post #67

What Jessica has done in YC is an amazing example of how to build great culture in a Startup (and YC was and still is, in several ways, a startup!). It's a challenge, but I believe YC can be an organization that can outlive its founders by the force of its strong, enduring culture. As a YC founder I didn't have the pleasure to meet Jessica (or Paul) yet (they are in a Sabbatical in London). But just spending those 3…

What's being at YC like? And, any advice you can share on the application and how to get in?

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#79

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

theoh wrote: post #46

HiroshiSan wrote: post #36

The way she looks at Sam is the way a mother would look at their child. Jessica seems very endearing.

As long as we accept that "endearing" and "politically radical" are attributes that can and have been held by many, but equally are often not found in the same person. Afterall, the world will change whether or not YC exists. For both PG and JL, a big requirement is surely avoiding any of the possible and unappealing permutations of the phrase "if I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution". This is ob…

[deleted]

Re: Jessica Livingston: How to Build the Future

#80

Post by haberdasher » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 6:58 PM UTC

So...this page has a YouTube embed, a SoundCloud embed and then also a Scribd embed. I got lazy with the timings / formatting of the transcript, but would be people rather a single link to something like this? https://presentio.us/t/610902

Note: You can click the text in the first few paragraphs to jump to the correct part of the video.

Thoughts?