Does this differ from Goinstant (http://www.goinstant.com/ )? It was aquired by Salesforce in July 2012 for $70MM.
35 karma · joined October 10, 2009
In regards to startups, technical people are so much more valuable than non-technical people. Non-technical people keep on perpetuating this: http://whartoniteseekscodemonkey.tumblr.com/ -esque mentality by saying things like this:
>"I am the nontechnical founder of several great startup ideas (I didn’t say startups) sometimes very poorly executed."
The founder of an idea? That doesn't mean much in my mind (then again, I don't know much about the author at all, nor could I did up much). Execution is key to a startup - and technical people are largely the ones that get the important shit done.
Non-technical people can add value for sure - but I think only a small margin of them have valuable skills that rival technical talent in a startup setting.
Rypple, founded in 2008, started out with an anonymous feedback application built for the enterprise (albeit, I don't think the messaging was quite as forward as it is for this service, I think it required the manager opting in). Rypple eventually pivoted into a performance management cum next-gen performance review app, but the anonymous feedback feature is still a component. It was acquired by Salesforce.com last year.
I love the idea of anonymous feedback, it's one of the aspects of Rypple that initially attracted me to work at the company (I used to work at Rypple).
However, I'm not even sure Rypple was the first mover in the corporate anonymous feedback space, there's been quite a few similar services over the years. I think an app with just this feature, given how there's been consolidation in the HCM industry and providers now often offer a full suite of HR/performance management tools nowadays, is unlikely to achieve major success. That said, there's still a ton of small startups in the space that have similar ideas to Happiily.
While Excel functions are relatively robust, doing more complex operations that impact more than one cell typically require macros. I was attempting to process 50,000 cells and I tried making a function, but it was a pain in the ass given how complex it was. Since, I didn't know VBA, but did know Python, I used Ironspread to use write a script to do the job. I was impressed, it's pretty smooth to use.
I imagine UoM isn't as competitive as top universities in Ontario/BC & McGill.
His newsletter still is pretty damn good though, some pretty good content despite the sales pitches for his seminars/programs.
Disclosure: startup intern who commuted 3-4 hours per day.
I was just wondering whether anyone else experiences the problem I do when I read books: falling asleep after about 15 minutes. Any suggestions?
05:40: Wake Up
05:45 - 06:00: Shower, eat a granola bar, and brush teeth
06:00 - 06:05: Make Lunch
06:05 - 08:30: Take bus to commute to work, attempt to sleep on, take subway to office
08:30 - 12:30: Work (@ startup)
12:30 - 13:15: Lunch
13:15 - 17:50: Work (@ startup)
17:50 - 20:00: Commute home on bus, while reading
20:00 - 20:10: Supper
20:10 - 22:00: Read Hacker News, Techcrunch, check e-mail
22:00 - 00:30: Watch TV (Seinfeld & Daily Show), fall asleep on the floor
00:30 - 00:31: Wake up and collapse into bed