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davmar

439 karma · joined July 27, 2011

founder: https://shopcats.com founder: https://trakstar.com (acquired) founder: https://scout.kids
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davmar··on Alan Kay on AI, Apple and Future
He also said: > Value judgements require a value system.

When he talks about research, he's valuing a certain kind of research: laboratory, explorative research that may or may not reach a market.

Startups are, from a certain point of view, research in that they try to discover ways to fulfill customer needs, whether customers know they have them or not.

A few examples just from YC: Airbnb, Twitch, Dropbox. In particular, Airbnb discovered a need that people really had. Is this not research? I think it is, depending on your value system.

davmar··on Costly Mistakes Made by Startups
Every single point he made is crucial for a startup to succeed. I know - I spent 14 years bootstrapping my software company (exited last year). I think this article is excellent.

While ALL his points are valid, I want to differentiate between two specific points he made.

1. "If you’re not talking to your users, then you’re simply guessing at what they need and want from your business. This is slow suicide."

2. The section called "8 — Building Too Much Stuff"

When you talk to your users, you WILL get that feature list one-mile long. If build that list, you'll end up with a product that doesn't have an opinion. Your product won't be targeted at anyone specific. Why should a customer pick you over competitor X?

So, to know what to build, you must talk to your customers and know them. But you must know yourself as a company - why do you exist? What kind of customers do you want (size - small/med/enterprise, industry, location if applicable).

For example, define your company as "Performance review software for medium sized US cities, counties and law enforcement" versus simply saying "We make performance review software". This helps you determine a focus and know which customers to target and which features help them.

Further to the "building too much" section, you only need so much to close a sale. After a while, the new features are great for reducing support or customer retention (both of which you should be measuring), but build too many and you risk having a complex product with training costs that are too high and even more importantly, investing in features that don't help you sell the next customer. At some point, move on to the next product.

Also a tip, we stopped building lesser-used admin features that required a UI. UI is hard to maintain and train people (and hard to kill that feature). Sometimes it's possible to simply have a script you can run that will make changes to the data model that customers would like to have. When customer call asking for something, you can offer that solution and have your dev team run the script.

davmar··on Ask HN: How do I deal with the first sexual harassment complaint at my startup?
Very rarely do biz owners regret firing people too early - it's usually done months too late. Don't wait for this to happen a second time and for your valuable long term employees to leave because you didn't take action.

Don't let cancerous employees into your organization. Don't allow him to harass another one of your employees.

Fire him.

davmar··on Primate-Ape Common Ancestor Was No King Kong
This type of headline is annoying. Nowhere does the researcher say anything remotely close to "King Kong"? It's not even insinuated as far as I can tell. Pure editorial sensationalism.
davmar··on Show HN: Birdly – Slack bot that does your Expense Reports
The pricing seems expensive for small biz. Are you having success with people paying that rate?
davmar··on The Story Behind Medium’s New Logo
I feel they went from a striking, statement-making 'M' logo to something more playful and lightweight.

I prefer the striking simplicity and strong statement of the previous logo. But perhaps the new one will grow on me over time.

davmar··on Give Google Contributor a try: Pay to remove ads
Imagine if ClearChannel offered a way for you to avoid seeing billboards as you drive for a monthly subscription price...
davmar··on Why I wouldn’t use Rails for a new company
i'm using it and it's nice as you said. i'm not a node expert yet, this is my first large project. i'm sure i'll get more fluent as i go along but this programming style was an unanticipated twist in the road.
davmar··on Why I wouldn’t use Rails for a new company
So the new framework of choice now seems to be Node according to his graphs. I'm building in Node as we speak and I'm not loving the Promise pattern to solve callback hell. Will I get over it? Have others?
davmar··on DEFCON 23 Badge Challenge
that's just crazy. totally wild. well done solving all those challenges! great storytelling in your blog too.
davmar··on Show HN: Algebra.js – Build, display, and solve algebraic equations
this looks really neat and it must have been a lot of fun to build!

it's not a feature request because I don't have a use case for this quite yet, but how complex would it be to parse a string that contains a formula? for example, it seems useful to be able to load equations by just sending the string "2x - 3 = 4" to a function.

that sounds like a fun problem to solve as well. maybe useful to the library too. just a thought! great work on this library and thanks for publishing.

davmar··on Apple Reports Record Second Quarter Results
too early to tell. so far, we know he hasn't messed up the formula and financially he's off to a great start.

but jobs faced steeper hurdles right away bringing the company back from bankruptcy and reinvigorating morale within the company. jobs then successfully invented new product categories and much of the success apple is enjoying comes from an expanding smart phone market, which you rightly point out that cook is doing a fantastic job of addressing.

the apple watch will take a couple years to see if it's really a success. lots of fanfare so far, but it could fade in popularity like the iPad which, if you recall, was an incredibly fast growing category.

the iphone franchise, just like any other franchise, cannot last forever. and to find another product category with growth like that is going to be a very, very difficult thing to do.

i personally believe that SIRI will be the most important category at apple over the next 5-10 years. voice interfaces, without the use of a 5" screen will be the next most important UI/UX in computing. and i would not currently bet on apple to be the best at delivering that.

i'd say cook will have to be measured by his ability to dictate and keep up with technology trends, not just manage the supply chain. but you're right, he's done a great job of that for sure.

davmar··on Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams
also avoid the keiretsu forum. total waste of time and money.
davmar··on Tell Sam Altman: I will take your bet
boy this is an awkward post.
davmar··on 42Floors Lays Off Half of Staff as It Cuts Brokerage Team, Refocuses on Search
just in case i'm misunderstood - i'm simply suggesting that he must have struggled intensely with this. it hurts him and he could drag the pain on and not face the music that he made a mistake. instead, he faced his mistakes head on and set a clear direction for his company.

it really sucks short term for the employees. but it sets them free and it's in their long term best interest too if they'll end up learning more and being more successful elsewhere.

so i give kudos that he didn't take the easy route of letting the mistake continue, looking in the mirror and waking up to a very difficult day.

davmar··on 42Floors Lays Off Half of Staff as It Cuts Brokerage Team, Refocuses on Search
the CEO has to make the tough calls. it separates the men from the boys. kudos to jason for making those decisions.
davmar··on Get Started with the Microsoft Band SDK Preview
i see what you mean. agreed.
davmar··on Get Started with the Microsoft Band SDK Preview
ha. well they are competitors in that they compete for space on someone's wrist. personally, i'll only wear one device.
davmar··on Get Started with the Microsoft Band SDK Preview
great points. i have thought about how i wouldn't apple watch during my hockey games.

what kind of phone are you using with your band?

davmar··on Get Started with the Microsoft Band SDK Preview
Serious question - why would I buy a Microsoft Band? Why is it awesome?

Does anyone have a convincing reason to buy the MS Band over the Apple Watch?

davmar··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2015)
Trakstar - Seattle. www.trakstar.com/jobs

We're seeking two (2) additional rails engineers.

- Bootstrapped, profitable and proud HR software software company.

- Over 800 b2b customers around the world using our product, mostly in technology, government and professional services segments.

- Our fantastic office is located in the heard of Seattle on Broadway and Pike.

- Growing really fast.

Performance reviews are meaningful in Trakstar because of our innovative ongoing feedback, coaching and recognition tools that users love year-round. (check out this tweet from yesterday: https://twitter.com/evankanouse/status/561912617145344000)

Sound good? We'd love to have you join our awesome team! Please send us your resume & github link to: jobs@trakstar.com

davmar··on Another Unsolicited HN Redesign
no worries at all. we all get grumpy sometimes, myself definitely included. enjoy your weekend :)
davmar··on Another Unsolicited HN Redesign
you put an awful lot of words in my mouth. i didn't mention scrolling. re-read.

the top bar is too large vertically without enough value. readability improves a bit, but the sheer prominence takes away from the discoverability of the first article title.

i didn't mention type size or whitespace. i also like large type and generous amounts of whitespace.

i think you're just looking to argue for the sake of argument.

davmar··on Another Unsolicited HN Redesign
kudos to you and great job being brave and sharing your work. takes courage to be that vulnerable.

having said that, it's not working for me.

1. the article list is now 100px or so lower on the page because the top bar is so large. the top bar is more readable and usable, but i can't remember the last time i clicked it, so i'd prefer to get to the articles more. 2. the numbers for each article (1,2,3,4) are the most prominent element, followed by the upvote. the article title is demoted. 3. the create account button is a tab. that doesn't seem right to me. 4. the bottom orange footer now is a heavy-weight element that draws my eyes from the articles.

overall i feel like the articles ought to be the most important element and this takes away from the articles.

but, keep it up.

davmar··on Microsoft Band
for maximum effect, watch this first: http://funny.garrytan.com/this-is-a-generic-brand-video
davmar··on A Raw Deal in Michigan
I disagree. It's blatant corruption and it's not dramatic to call it out.
davmar··on Segment (YC S11) Raises $15 Million Series A
wow wow great price.
davmar··on Before the Startup
PG is a living man. the essay is a dead document.
davmar··on Addressing Founder Depression – YC Hackathon project
are you part of YC, or just a team working on the hacks?
davmar··on Show HN: Started.in Seattle – 60+ Video Profiles of startups in Seattle
cap hill startup here:

www.trakstar.com.

also, we're hiring! rails devs please apply: trakstar.com/jobs

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