altay

On the internet, that sounds like an eternity.

BTW, for folks who aren't familiar with Christensen's work, his books and ideas rock. (He coined the phrase "disruptive technology," and has done a lot of solid research on patterns of disruption.) Highly recommended for entrepreneurs.

You say that like it's a bad thing. But it's really a good thing, for both the general population and also for those select few who do know how to program.

(Also, I'd bet that the percentage of students who can program is a lot higher now than it was when you were in junior high.)

from http://developers.f8.facebook.com/documentation.php?v=1.0&doc=fbml#mockajax

"PLEASE CHANGE THE URL IN THE EXAMPLE: ... clickrewriteurl="http://www.mancrushonmcslee.com/metaconsole.php"

This is where MySpace has failed -- they sacrificed data integrity for rapid growth. Facebook, on the other hand, was careful not to fall into this trap... connections on there still mean something. (They go so far as to discourage you from "friending" folks that you don't really know.)

It's a smart move on the part of Facebook to leverage this advantage, by cultivating a developer community around their data.

for example, here's an idea that's been kicking around in my head. (i'm not the right guy to start this company, so i'll just throw out this there.)

you know how people at the gym often track their workouts -- "3 sets, 10 reps, 150 lbs" -- with pencil and paper? that's so 20th century. why not build a sensor network for exercise equipment? you get on a scale or weight/cardio machine. it knows who you are -- RFID in your membership card? -- and it wirelessly uploads your workout data from that machine to a server.

as a gym member, you get a login to an accompanying web app, which is automagically populated with your data. you can set goals, track your workouts + results with pretty graphs, etc. no more paper+pencil tracking -- just work out and log in.

sell this sensor/software platform to gyms (or perhaps the equipment manufacturers), and you've got yourself a business.

where does the internet come in? well, aside from the tracking app for individuals, with all this aggregate data, you'd revolutionize exercise science. is interval training really better than marathon cardio sessions? more weight+fewer reps, or less weight+more reps? even basic collaborative filtering would be cool: "people with bodies like yours got these results with this workout plan."

it'd disrupt the (absurdly lucrative) personal training industry.

point is, out there in the "real world," there's tons of data that's just waiting to be aggregated and analyzed. that'll certainly be the basis of many interesting companies.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but Firebug seriously changed the way I design and code.

Other than that, do what you'd do to learn any other creative skill -- find examples that you love, and dissect them. Figure out exactly what it is that turns you on and incorporate those details in your own work. Good luck!

I mean, at the end of the day, "who's committed and who's merely involved?" -- as Dharmesh put it -- is a pretty damn important thing to know when making the decision to invest in a team. Is it that surprising that other investors are asking the same question?

Point is, techstars just proves that you guys are on to something. And, considering the growing buzz around YC -- not to mention the rockstars who post here at news.yc, speak at your events, and contributed to Jessica's book -- well, seems like Harry Potter's got a pretty serious first-mover advantage. =)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go prepare my bunker for the coming War with the Machines.

Premal Shah (Kiva) was incredibly, incredibly inspiring. His interview transforms microfinance from an abstract concept ("oh, that Nobel Prize thing...?") into something tangible. Did you know that you can be an angel investor for $25??

The Jason Calcanis interview gives you a much more nuanced sense of his character than you get from his blogosphere presence.

And though you'll probably avoid Sharelle Klaus -- what self-respecting tech entrepreneur would care about a SODA company, right? -- I'd urge you to listen, because it was totally fascinating. It's refreshing to get outside of the internet-startup echo chamber and realize that, well, entrepreneurship is entrepreneurship. In other words, there are business fundamentals that apply to any startup, whether it's on the web or in meatspace.

This is one of the most consistent sources of entrepreneurial inspiration I've found, up there with PG's essays and Jessica's book (Founders at Work).

The interviews are long, in sharp contrast to all the fast-food info you'll find through social news sites like this one. But if you're passionate about entrepreneurship, I can guarantee that taking a long walk with one of these interviews will be good for your career and for your soul.

(In case anyone's wary of my effusing, I've got no connection to VV, just a big fan.)

we've all got more ideas than time, and it's a shame to let them languish in our individual imaginations. so how about creating a public clearinghouse for ideas where they're a) subject to reddit-esque competition, and b) "open source" -- available for anyone to pursue.

it'd be a meme pool.