JonathanWCurd

Great domain.

My suggestion is instead of searching for an idea to build for the domain sell it to someone (you should be able to get a large sum of money for it) then take that money purchase a domain that correlates to an idea you are passionate about.

I think this route has two major reasons why it is a better idea than chasing an idea to fi into the domain.

#1) If your passionate about the idea you are more likely to pursue it and stick with it. You'll be more excited to go to work each day. You'l be wiling to take the ups and downs in stride.

#2) You already have in a sense an angel round from yourself. This eliminates the pressure of financing at first and allows you to focus on really knocking it out of the park.

How did you come about that name, did you buy it years ago, acquire it recently?

Are you going to show targeted ads that you sell or just a stream from Adsense or another provider? If you are selling your own targeted ads what market are you in?

I'm sure you could apply again but the hope would probably be that you are further along in your path towards executing the startup idea.

If you are serious about learning set up a trading account with a small sum of money. If you are worried about losers then a paper trading scenario works too. Then just learn the basics and keep learning from doing. You can read all the books and watch all the videos but as with most things in life actually getting involved and hands on will be more valuable than anything.

This looks like a promising concept. I'd love to give it a spin to try and clean up my mail headache.

What stage of life are you in? What portion of you savings is this?

I Ask because if you are young and have opportunity to earn / save more, I would say yourself. If you are older and this represents a significant portion of your nest egg I would have other suggestions.

If you use apple to process the transaction then I would say yes. If you do it some other way ie paypal then probably not.

They would of course take 30% of the cost of the app if it wasn't free.

With your app it kind of sounds like you have a chicken / egg problem so you may want to just open it up to the most users possible so tat it is the "best it can be".

In the past we have tried both and I've found being more restrictive allows you to iron out things (most of the time unforeseen) before a full scale launch but you lack the large user base that you would get by just opening it up (Signup to be notified lists in my opinion and experience leave a lot of users out cold who don't come back).

In addition, larger betas can get you more traction quicker and also provide insight into new markets and uses for your app you never thought of while smaller betas on the other hand create a good core group of early adopters (because you can give them more attention) that if taken care of will help to champion your cause and spread word about your product.

Yes but the regular deadline has passed. You can apply late I believe but chances of acceptance are much smaller.

You can alway apply late ad get going on your idea and if you are not accepted apply on time for the next cycle with development of your idea already under way.

Solving a personal pain point is also a good place to find something to start with. Then design / build something you would use to solve the problem.

Pick something simple to start with. Build it and get satisfaction from launching something and the confidence that goes with it. Then up the ante and repeat all over again. Before you know whats going on you'll be in the middle of it all.

I think unfortunately for YC the noise level will rise significantly. Before the start fund YC wasn't about money but rather building great products around strong individuals / teams. The funded believed in what they were doing and YC believed in them and together they walked a path toward success. While that won't change going forward, I think there will be a lot more people who apply and aren't as passionate or haven't thought about their ideas in as much depth but see money at the start of the rainbow as a way to figure it out.

Whats their reasoning for the shares that were not vested transferring to the other remaining players. Wouldn't they just be unvested and thus irrelevant.

If not I'd like to hear their reasoning on this.

I think the three of you would have a higher percentage of the available shares (since some would have been unvested when others left) but still the same number you were originally granted.

Simple example each of you got 10 shares of a possible 70. Since 4 of the people left without vesting you should now have 10 of 30 possible.

I like the video and the service looks cool but I don't think it is the kind of video that "goes viral".

I would agree with this wholeheartedly. They may have a big user base but the engagement per user is very small and most of those users rarely visit.

If you compare average time spent on site in both:

Visits per user per month. Average time spent on site.

vs say a facebook, these numbers are not even close.

No doubt there is some value here and maybe linkedin hasn't figured out how to engage the users to unlock it, so if you have a great idea on how to do this you could probably move into the space and capture users (and billions).

But, the lack of direct competition would suggest nobody really has a great idea on how to do this and coupling that with the lack of hype lnkedin gets the me too clones in the space have not arrived yet ( a la groupon and the army of social buying clones ).

Definitely a good idea. A bad decision or rushing in with the wrong cofounder is definitely worse than no cofounder.

Its not impossible and they don't necessarily reject you because you are a single founder but they view being a single founder as a disadvantage compared to multiple founders because it makes it tougher to survive startup life and getting through the difficulties and up and down cycles.

Don't let that stop you from applying though. Maybe you will break the mold.

I would just say make sure she knows she is loved and appreciated. Its hard because all the attention will be on the baby from you, from her, and from anyone else that comes around.

You know her best so make some special time for you and her. For my wife and myself we found special time during the odd hours of the night when baby was feeding to just sit and talk and be together even though we were exhausted.

It really is a magical time and sharing it together makes it even better.

Some of the best services are the simplest. Most times over thinking and over engineering leads to unneeded complexity and ultimately failure.

Startup detox = 9 to 5 at some large corporation.

Not sure it helps with what amounts to an inability to move from your idea on to greener / greater pastures.

Maybe set one last goal to try and achieve and if you can't reach it make it a priority to let go and move on.

I know its cliche but take time to enjoy it cause it goes by so fast.

And make sure mommy gets attention too (she deserves it) because baby will be the star.

Also maybe join up with a start-up group or other entrepreneurs in your area to keep you motivated and to share your successes, failures, and concerns. A support group can go a long way.

Quitting your job is not for everyone, especially if others depend on you. In your situation, I say work really hard to simply what you are building and get an MVP out the door. The sense of accomplishment will get you motivated and hopefully the energy to go further. The just keep at it until you are comfortable enough to go at it full time.

Push yourself to stay focused. Do somethings you like and some things you don't each day so that you are not faced with a giant list of things you don't want to do.

Also make sure your not just looking for an excuse to not launch. Tackle something small, get it done and get it out. Then rinse and repeat. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

What are you interested in?

Maybe someone on HN can steer you towards something if they know more about where your interests lie?

The b2b product would really require a commitment to run and operate it to make it work out for the best. Its not really a build it, release it, and move on kind of thing. That being said I guess I could get it up and running and hire in the required people to operate it and run it while I migrate onwards and upwards.

In terms of ethics, I've just heard horror stories of people selling "vaporware" and don't want to be lumped into that category.

As for point two that makes great sense.

Thanks for all your input I appreciate it.

It does require a small development cycle ~6 months and more than bootstrapping in terms of resources but I am willing to fund the development costs knowing the potential and having the inside knowledge of the industry and their hunger for a real solution.

My biggest concern is am I playing it safe, on one hand, I know we can make money with the niche product and we are already active in the industry so it might be foolish to pass up the opportunity, but I would say we are more passionate about the bigger possibilities for the consumer space.

Would it be unethical to pre-sell the software, sort of like what Oracle did in the beginning.

We would be upfront about the estimated delivery date and current status.

We have approached this as a possibility (and we have interest from multiple players) I just worry that we might alienate other potential customers if they knew their competition was financially involved. Does anyone have experience dealing with those concerns?