Frocer

"Starbucks needs to do some corporate soul searching. Take a look at American Express. It doesn't sell credit, it sells membership. Coca-Cola doesn't sell soft drinks, it sells refreshment. Starbucks, what do you sell … besides coffee? What do you stand for? Ambiance? Community? Social consciousness? Until you figure this out, count on losing both customers and shareholders."

This is totally wrong. In my opinion, Starbucks knows exactly what they stand for. They don't sell coffee, they sell a "lifestyle". If Starbucks were just a shop that sells coffee, it would've never become the giant it is today. People go to Starbucks to experience the hip, yuppie, modern ambiance. Not just for the coffee.

Startup.com was a well-filmed documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/

I saw it before I embark on the startup lifestyle, and the story rings true on many levels.

Wow, this is brilliant.

I am definitely going to try this. And will also add facebook.com and techcrunch.com to the list!!

Revenue is much harder to get than profit. As an ex-consultant, you can always cut cost to achieve better profit margin. Revenue is a different story.

You are right that valuation is on a bet that Facebook's revenue will continue to grow. But judging from past performance, and Facebook is still a startup, I think it's a pretty safe bet (comparing to Twitter anyway!).

I think the argument is flawed to begin with... $/user is just a bad comparison. I am no investment banker but I'd think valuations are calculated via a combination of revenue + growth.

If we look at Facebook's estimated 2009 revenue, which is $550M reported by TechCrunch, the valuation is about 20x. It's a bit overvalued at this point but not unreasonable, especially since Facebook's project revenue almost doubled 2008's.

100% agreed. These metrics don't really matter to me. I think the reason why most start-ups have customized metrics tracking system is because we are all different. For a social product, engagement metrics would be much more important. If you are an utility product, metrics that are more important are probably usability, time spent, effectiveness, or whatever that's relevant to the developers.

The metrics I see in that dashboard are just a bunch of numbers that are fun to see, but doesn't give me insights into how I should push my product direction. Google Analytics + CrazyEgg on the other hand, they do.

On the other hand though, that tool may be very handy to track marketing campaigns. So that may be the angle on how you can position the tool. But be warned, web analytic tool is not a good market to be in because it's very hard to scale... you need a direct sales force for instance.

So, basically it's hard to make a quick buck?

But looking at history, while media-centric companies take a longer time to mature, don't they also typically have much bigger exit?

Also, what's your take on user-generated media vs. editorial?

Ah, my bad, I misread

What happens when you have twi.bz point to tinyurl, and tinyurl point to bit.ly, and bit.ly point back to the original twi.bz link? :P

Can I create a URL shortener infinite loop?

Nothing, I just think it's more practical to ask the candidate to solve a problem you are currently facing, rather than trying to solve an arbitrary puzzle. You can also gauge how well the candidate would work in your team when you are bouncing solutions/ideas off each other on a real problem you are facing. It's just a personal preference.

You are absolutely right, and I apologize I didn't clarify. When you ask for second degree references -- always ask your candidate for permission before you contact them. In fact, when you ask the first degree references for additional references, you should make it clear you will get permission from the candidates.

First degree references usually have nothing but good things to say about the candidate, but you will get a much much more accurate picture from talking to someone who isn't on your candidate's top list.

Just want to add another quick note -- this is actually something I learned from Mike Cassidy.

We like to do all of our interviews in 1 day, and when the candidate is in his/her last interview, we will all gather and make a decision right on the spot. If we like the candidate, we will make an offer when the candidate is on the way out. You can say this offer stands pending all reference checks went through. But this serves two purposes:

1. You show you have strong interest and is willing to make decisions quickly.

2. You lower the risk of the candidate going to another interview and receive another on-the-spot offer, and take that offer on the spot.

Great candidates are very hard to come by, and they are in very high demand. So realize your offer won't be the only one they receive. If you are unable to make a decision on the spot, he/she is probably not the right person.

I feel the economic situation didn't make the hiring process easier, but actually much more difficult. We thought it would be easy since there are tons of talents being laid off from top-notch tech companies, and what happened was the exact opposite -- there are THAT many more resumes out on the market, and it takes THAT much more time to find the perfect fit. Keep in mind because we were still a small team, every hire must has the right balance of cultural fit, technical abilities, and entrepreneurial spirits. Finding good guys who can get the job done is easy, but finding the great guy who can take our product to the next level is much more difficult.

After going through thousands of resumes, and conducted probably 100 interviews, we finally brought on-board our first couple of team members. Some tips to share from my experience:

1. Don't bother with job boards, such as Craig's list, Dice, etc. In this economy, there are too many resumes floating around, and reviewing them is an incredibly time consuming process when you can spend the time building the product. Negotiate a low rate with a recruiter and outsoruce that process. We wasted over a month using job boards, and got tons and tons of junk resumes. Probably only 1% of the candidates we got from job boards were interview-able. We got fed up, so we engaged about 5 recruiters simultaneously, and within the first week we got the perfect guy. If you really want to use job boards to try your luck, I had the best experience with Startuply though it still didn't result in a hire.

2. Be extremely selective, if there's something that doesn't seem right, it's probably your gut telling you he/she isn't the right person. For hackers -- my favorite question to ask is "when did you first started hacking?". I have found most great hackers started hacking when they were very young (middle school to high school time frame). I found most people who started hacking in college is because they were forced to, not because they are interested in it. Of course this doesn't apply to every case.

3. Do reference checks. In fact, ask the references for additional references. A candidate can master the art of interview, but reference check may tell a totally different story.

Also, I don't recommend technical puzzles. I recommend you to just ask a technical challenge you are facing right now. e.g. How would you architect JamLegend? How do you solve so-and-so problem? etc. While puzzles can test brain power, I think it's much more practical to have them solve a real problem that you face on a daily basis specific to your product.

Hope that helps, by the way, if you get referrals from personal network you can probably skip a tons of things I mentioned above, and they are usually the best early hires. Good luck with your hiring process!

Investment banks and consulting firms almost always ask for your SAT scores when I was coming out of college. It's just another filter to "guess" how smart you. It's unfortunate that most firms assume high SAT score = high IQ.

But put yourself in their shoes... if you receive 500+ resumes per school, and you only have time to interview 24 candidates in the first round, and 50% of them have 3.5+ GPA, what do you do to narrow down the interview list?

I like Blizzard's jokes the most:

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/terran/terratron.xml

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/characters/archivist.xml

May be you can use Facebook Connect to take down the sign up barriers, and this way, you will also get promoted in your new user's newsfeed when they join / create a group.

But the value prop of what features I would need that Facebook Group doesn't have isn't prominent enough.

What makes "business" so different from "sciences" is that most business skills are not hard skills. There are certainly a few -- such as accounting and finance (btw, corporate finance is not as easy as you think).

"Soft skills" -- such as your presentation skills, your communication skills, client management skills, etc, are actually arguably more important. As a former consultant, I think soft skills is much more critical for your business success.

Business classes are easier than engineering classes because the "hard skills" aren't nearly as complex, but keep in mind you pick up a lot of other skills that are even more important in business settings.

The Shack Stack is like heart attack on a bun, but it's so delicious

Wish I were still in NYC so I can go to this

SF/Valley has something like that specifically for tech startups: http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

I think they charge ~$1500 per person, and I think its a total waste of money. I rather work out of my own apartment or house at the early stages.

As long as they fix the drop calls and bad receptions I will be extremely happy

Good thing I didn't learn secant until high school -- in which my typo would turn into a pleasant surprise

Hulu for Academia, this is awesome!

I don't know if any of you feel the same way, but I didn't appreciate how much random and interesting subjects I could learn from college until I graduated. Now I can attend lectures on my own schedule and in the comfort of my home, nice!

Why not work part-time on it, then once you get a bit of traction, then look for investment?

I mean... if you work 8-6, what do you do from 6-12? Just a thought...

I don't know about you, but it changed mine.

Google is basically my first destination when I have a question on anything -- whether it's looking for a restaurant, or solution to a bug I can't fix. I can't imagine my life without Google anymore.

Don't you remember the days without Google? I used to have 4-5 search engines open when I need to search for something -- Yahoo, Infoseek, Altavista, Meta Crawler, Excite... Thank goodness for Google I don't have to waste hours looking for something!

You never know. Who knew a search engine would change our lives so drastically and quickly?

I am surprised that David encourage you not to demo the product and just show a screenshot... if I were an investor, I'd like to see what I am investing in.

It also go against all the other recommendations I have read -- they usually recommend demo your product early if you have it.

Thank goodness they fixed the dropped call problem, I was seriously considering to return the phone because my calls got dropped so much.

And I would love it if they could somehow amplify the speakerphone functionality too... it's got to be the quietest speakerphone I have ever used

We just moved our startup to the Bay Area a couple of weeks ago :) My partner and I found a temporary place in Mountain View for the next few weeks while we look for a more permanent place -- but everyone has recommended us to either live in SF or Palo Alto.

We should meet up some time once you are settled!

That's NOT true. The surgeon is the most important part of the procedure just like all surgeries. Most complications occur while creating the flap (they cut the front of your cornea), and a skilled surgeon will do it without any issues. However, inexperienced surgeon sometimes cut the flap too thin, or cut a hole in the middle of the flap, etc. Then you are in a lot of trouble.

Skilled surgeon also knows how to react to complications during surgery. The experience of the surgeon is very important - just like all surgeries, definitely don't ignore this variable

Guys, if you have never had Lasik, or never looked into the surgery, you really shouldn't give the OP false information.

Like someone mentioned, your result will completely based on two things: your surgeon, and your fit. I have been nearsighted since the 3rd grade, with astigmatism, and getting Lasik done 1.5 years ago was the best decision I have ever made. Here are a few facts most people don't know:

1. Noone has ever gone blind from Lasik surgery - this is a old wives tale 2. You have a higher chance of getting infection by wearing contact lenses than getting Lasik surgery 3. Almost all complications are due to inexperienced surgeons, and they are all correctable 4. You will still need reading glasses when you get old, lasik doesn't correct that. Once your vision have stabilized, your eye sight will not get worse after Lasik (besides the need for reading glasses at old age).

This is a surgery, so find the best surgeon in your area. Find someone who has done over 10,000 pairs of eyes, fly to another city if you have to. Don't try to save money -- it's your eyes! I did mine in NYC, and it cost me around $5k for both eyes (2-3x the going rate), but I also had one of the best surgeon in the area.

I had dry eyes for quite a while after surgery, but it went away after 6 months or so. And I only experience dry eyes when I am on the computer the entire day (when you are using the computer or watching TV, you don't blink as much), if I am out playing sport, it's perfectly fine. But keep in mind, your eyes take a while to heal completely -- it took mine 6-12 months, and now my dry eyes are gone.

Halo and glares are also typically caused by dry eyes, you put a few eye drops in, and they will be gone. And with newer technologies, halo and glares could pretty much be eliminated now days.

Hope this helps with your decision. I definitely recommend it.