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MatthewMcDonald

223 karma · joined May 19, 2014

Co-Founder of EquipmentShare (W15)

YC Badge: 0xd665add7c05157a39016a0ad799a1daf289884c4

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MatthewMcDonald··on Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?
Many (most?) dealerships have a policy of not accepting more than a few thousand dollars on a credit card, they don't want to pay the fee
MatthewMcDonald··on DHS announces extension of Real ID full enforcement deadline
You can get a non-driver id card from the same department that issues driver licenses in your state
MatthewMcDonald··on Protect your privacy and your phone number with Firefox Relay
Check out MySudo. It doesn't _forward_ the calls and texts, but you can have multiple numbers that you can call/text with from the app.
MatthewMcDonald··on Europe's Software Problem
I don't know about the bankruptcy laws, but Germany's GMBH (similar to an LLC) requires 25k in capital to get started.
MatthewMcDonald··on University of Oregon will monitor students' social media statements
The real downside is if you say something that isn't negative, that then gets taken out of context and spun in a way that makes you a target.
MatthewMcDonald··on Google users locked out after 15 years' use
The only way to get around your dependence on OAuth connections is to migrate off of them, one at a time.

My suggestion would be to get your own domain, get an email service that supports wildcard email addresses, and get a password manager. Start migrating your accounts one by one, until you no longer depend on your gmail account for OAuth.

It will be tedious, but for most websites you can update your email address in under a minute. Put a movie on and knock them out in an afternoon.

MatthewMcDonald··on Reducing Abusive Notification Content
I use them for my GitLab pipelines
MatthewMcDonald··on Pitch: Collaborative presentation software for teams
All it does is make me think that they aren't full time, and may not be committed. I also have questions about IP concerns.

These may not be serious issues, and they can be easily answered, but this statement is a distraction. You want your pitch deck to answer questions, not raise new ones.

MatthewMcDonald··on AWS forked my project and launched it as its own service
It's worth mentioning that this isn't just a case of people not being able to use the patch outside of AWS; the patch is actually impeding pgbouncer from implementing a similar feature:

> We'd like to rewrite such features for pgbouncer from the ground up but it is impossible to prove to the lawyer that the re-writing is not kind of "derivative works". I believe it is not what you expected, as an opensource project that derived benefit from the whole pgbouncer community.

MatthewMcDonald··on Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests
Signal was given $50M by Brian Acton (WhatsApp co-founder), I think they will be fine for a while.
MatthewMcDonald··on What Intuit knows about its users
not to mention filing state returns
MatthewMcDonald··on Refused U.S. visa eight times, Zoom CEO is now a billionaire
It's general purpose hardware; our rooms use an Intel NUC with USB camera/mic, and an iPad to control it. There's no lock in as long as you're switching to something else that uses standard stuff.
MatthewMcDonald··on Refused U.S. visa eight times, Zoom CEO is now a billionaire
We used appear.in for a few months, and paid for a premium "room". It was nice to just give someone a URL (no client or extension required). It could be better now, but we had a lot of problems with call quality.
MatthewMcDonald··on Tesla to raise prices and keep more stores open
I wonder how much of that is related to Model 3 availability. To me, a high-end 3 seems like a better buy than a lower-end S.

If you expand your date selection farther back, it looks like the S price decline really started around July 2018.

MatthewMcDonald··on Project Fi Is Now Google Fi
I'm not sure if it would have been better on a supported phone, but in the past year I've had good coverage with an iPhone SE on Fi in New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
MatthewMcDonald··on Ask HN: Ex-FAANG developers, where are you now and why?
> I then spent ~1 year at a startup, as CTO - the experience sucked, and I consider it to simply be a big mistake.

What about the experience sucked? What was the mistake?

MatthewMcDonald··on Freezing your credit is now free in all states under a new law
FYI this was a credit _lock_, and not a credit freeze

> Unsurprisingly, the bureaus’ use of the term credit lock has confused many consumers; this was almost certainly by design. But here’s one basic fact consumers should keep in mind about these lock services: Unlike freezes, locks are not governed by any law, meaning that the credit bureaus can change the terms of these arrangements when and if it suits them to do so.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/09/credit-freezes-are-free-...

MatthewMcDonald··on The End of Employees
Perhaps I should have clarified; part of the reason that contractors can negotiate higher rates is because businesses are willing to pay more if they can avoid a long term commitment like keeping a person on as an employee.

If you are a contractor, then you are running a business and you will have to do things that an employee wouldn't. One of those things is negotiating enough to cover the time between contracts. If you aren't good at negotiating then your business will not do as well.

MatthewMcDonald··on The End of Employees
Part of the reason that contractors have a higher hourly rate is to account for the time between contracts.
MatthewMcDonald··on In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
Yes, depending on where you're from. I was raised to show up at the start time for events, this is pretty common in the Midwest. If the host is someone you know, you'll often ask if you can show up early and help prepare.

When I was in California a few years ago I showed up to a party a few minutes before the invite time. Not only was I the only guest there for the first ~30 minutes, but the host clearly wasn't expecting anyone to show up at the given time.

MatthewMcDonald··on Grover raises €37M Series A to offer latest tech products as a subscription
All good points. Perhaps I read too much into the bit about them exploring the B2B space, as I see this being most useful for small businesses.
MatthewMcDonald··on Grover raises €37M Series A to offer latest tech products as a subscription
Taking on a contract for development that requires testing on multiple physical devices that you don't already own

Using a 3D printer to prototype basic hardware at a company that doesn't expect to have more hardware products in the near future

Renting multiple VR/AR headsets for an extended customer demo

-----

It might be worth mentioning that I'm one of the founders of EquipmentShare, which is sort of similar but in the construction industry, so this type of business only seems natural to me. In our industry, the more variability in the equipment requirements of your jobs, the more difficult it is to be efficient with your capital. In construction nobody owns _all_ of the equipment they use; it would require far too much capital, and a large chunk of your fleet would sit idle most of the time. It's far more efficient to have a blend of owning and renting.

MatthewMcDonald··on Grover raises €37M Series A to offer latest tech products as a subscription
> If you don't have the disposable cash to pay for it outright then you can't afford it anyway.

You're conflating people who can't afford it with people who can afford it, but aren't certain that they want to buy it.

I think it might be valid to say that if you can't afford to buy it outright then you shouldn't lease it.

I can afford a VR headset, but what if I'm not sure which headset I would prefer for long term use?

> With that all said you can try out the three examples you cite at your local Best Buy, Microsoft Store, Maker Space, Home Depot, etc etc.

This is not the same thing as trialling something for hours/days in the comfort of your own space.

Also, what if I know I will only need an expensive item for 3 months?

MatthewMcDonald··on Notes on Shutting Down an S-Corp
It can lower your tax liability significantly. Mr Money Mustache has an article that covers some potential benefits: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2016/02/10/should-you-do-you...
MatthewMcDonald··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2018)
EquipmentShare (YC W15) | BI, UI/UX Developers | Kansas City or Columbia, MO | ONSITE

EquipmentShare's goal is to be the platform for the connected job site. We got started as an equipment rental marketplace where contractors can lend out their underused equipment. Last year we launched a mixed fleet telematics service to tap into machines' engine data and provide insights to companies about how their assets are used and maintained, and to predict when they are about to break down.

We value transparency, trust, short feedback cycles, minimizing WIP, and blameless problem solving. Our current tech stack is Python, React, React Native, Angular (legacy), Postgres, AWS, Docker, and Jasper.

If that sounds interesting, please check out our job postings for more details. No recruiters.

* BI Developer: https://www.equipmentshare.com/careers/openings?gh_jid=10480...

* Senior UI/UX Developer: https://www.equipmentshare.com/careers/openings?gh_jid=10266...

* Software Engineer Intern: https://www.equipmentshare.com/careers/openings?gh_jid=85434...

MatthewMcDonald··on Peter Thiel sells most of remaining Facebook stake
You think people have a choice? There are many areas where consumers have to choose between one crappy ISP and other even crappier options (like satellite).
MatthewMcDonald··on Y Combinator's Founding Principles
> One way you could make this clearer is replacing the phrase "can be much more productive" with a more specific goal that's more obviously good.

I think that specifying a metric would dilute the message; replace it with whatever your goal is. Working at a startup may help you be more productive in achieving it simply because there are fewer people/processes to hinder you. Not everyone has the same goal, but being able to point to something useful and say "I did that" is meaningful to me.

"I get more done in a week here than I did in a month at [BigCo]"

^ That's a direct quote from someone who recently came to us from a large established company. They really liked seeing the noticeable impact of their personal contributions. I didn't ask them to compare the two work environments; they were just blown away by how much they could accomplish when they weren't being held back.

MatthewMcDonald··on Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee
Yep, you're right; I wouldn't call it a hotspot either. I must have been reading too fast.
MatthewMcDonald··on Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee
For a while; money isn't everything, and once they have enough of it, people will leave to chase whatever they're really interested in.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/13/14599186/google-waymo-sel...

MatthewMcDonald··on Three Paths in the Tech Industry: Founder, Executive, or Employee
> Top-flight talent exists but they're all "Unobtanium" for anything that isn't a unicorn, IPO'd, or founded by one of their friends

I disagree; top talent is very obtainable, provided that you have:

* decent compensation

* great culture

* interesting problems to solve

* a great hiring process

We've grown our engineering team from 12 to 29 since opening up shop in Kansas City this February, and I could not be happier with the quality of people that we've found.

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