dirkdeman

Interesting concept. I'd opt for a slighty less colorful background, this one is a bit too trippy for my taste.

There is one thing that I would like to know before I'd sign up. Do you have any special access to A&R people? Can you guarantee that, if my music gets to the top of the list, it will be heard by record lable people?

You learn by doing, reading tutorials on the internet, by asking questions on StackOverflow and by making mistakes. Start out small with some basic web hosting, or play around with a VPS. Get comfortable with using Linux. Or tinker around with Amazon Web Services (free for the first year!)But really, don't worry about scaling too much. You don't just start a big web app, even Facebook took a couple of years to get to a size where they had to worry about scaling.

There was a show on the radio about BASIC programming, with programming samples. You'd have to record the show on a cassette tape, because the code was transmitted as audio output. You could do the excersise, and then check your code by playing the tape on your Commodore 64. I still think that was a pretty ingenious thing, sending code over the radio!

Ah, and the BBS'es of the early'90's... So much time wasted there!

Why for heaven's sake is the new macbook pro €2279 when it's only $2199 in the US? It's a beautiful machine, and I'm used to some price differences between the US and Europe (USD = EUR, right, Apple?) but this is outrageous! That's almost 500 dolars more...

As a PR and communications major I can help you with that. I can recommend these two books: http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Busine... And http://about.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=94...

Do keep in mind that PR is something different than marketing or advertisement. Those people running around, dropping names and 'generating spin'? That's just a very tiny part of PR. PR is about shaping the public opinion, not just one person's mind.

On a side note, I wrote my thesis on wartime propaganda. I found out that the strongest motivator for people to take action is fear. The fear of losing something, missing out, or a common enemy (think Apple-Android!) is very powerful.

On a second side note, I read another comment about lying. Lying isn't right of course, but there are several degrees of lying. And imagine if know how to sell a lie, how easy it would be to sell righteous truth...

Drop me a line if you need some help or advice. I'm by no means an expert on PR in Silicon Valley, but I know a thing or two about PR.

Anything from Duke Ellington to CCR and from U2 to Top 40. When I'm "in the zone" progressive or trance work really well (Armin van Buuren, Deadmau5, or more dance oriented such as Mike Snow).

I have one more itch to scratch: please let me pay with me debit/credit card! The other day a shipment from GLS arrived. This actually was the second shipment, because they claim I wasn't home when they tried the first time. Even thou i WAS home, sitting in the kitchen all afternoon to intercept the GLS guy so that he wouldn't wake up our little one...

When GlS came the second time I was at home. I just don't have a couple hundred bucks worth of cash in my pocket. I mean, come on! Cash only? Really GLS?

I tried a couple of them and sticked with CodeIgniter. Sure it has some quirks, but it's powerful, easy to grasp, not bloated (hello, Zend!) and more than capable to satisfy your web dev needs. Plus it has a great community and lots of tutorials. But really, my advice is to spend a day or two trying several of them out. Create a simple project with each of them (the ubiquitous blog for exampe) and see what works for you. Good luck!

I know what you mean. A little while ago there was a thread about how many milions you'd had to have in order to be "rich". I tried to explain that richness does not equal money, but they didn't get me. It's the little things in life that make you happy, and I feel very fortunate for knowing this at my age (30's) instead of when I'm old. Thank you for your post, because it's one of those little things that make my day!

I've always used CI. I know a lot of people tend to look down on it, but it's easy to use and suited my needs. Can't you install both Yii and CI and decide which one you like best?

I feel you man, I really do. I share your concerns over the major social networks, and I can see that you're really passionate about what you're doing and where you're going. I can see two major roadblocks, though: getting users to quit their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Path is HARD. You're running against some mighty big dogs, here. How are you going to convince users to switch?

The other roadblock is monetization. If you arent't going to sell your users data to advertisers, how are you going to make enough money to keep things going?

If you figure these things out, you're onto something. Let us know how things are working out, I know we all like to read about a coding guy with a crazy idea who lives in a beach cruiser!

I used to, but shared hosting is less than 20 euros a year, a Decent VPS is use costs a little more: about 60 euros a year. For this kind of pocket change I can worry about other things than setting up and maintaining a web server. Doing it myself was a fun and good learning experience, though!

Armin van Buren ft Adam Young - Youtopia

Sorry, I have no idea!

It's funny how RICH is defined in a monetary value. I live a very rich life (including kids, those of you who don't have them yet: you'll get it when you have them), can afford everything I need and most of the stuff I want. I never got the lavish spending of the wealthy, why on earth would someone buy a Ferrari or 50,000 dollar pool table? What I'm trying to say is money is just the means to fulfilling a desire.

I knew an old lady who saved every penny in her life to amass 10.000 euros, it was her dream. She did accomplish it, but never had any fun in her life because she'd always save her money. When she died she had the desired amount on the bank. Her children inherited the money, but only after they paid 40% tax.

How to get rich? Live your life to the fullest and have fun. And yes, raise a family at some point. I promise you that all the money in the world can't buy you what you get from your that!

I assume that market values in Germany don't differ too wildly from where I'm based (The Netherlands). The 3500 - 4500 Euros for the first year is OK I guess for a startup, albeit somewhat on the lower side. US salaries (especially Silicon Valley) are higher, but so is the cost of living.

What does raise a red flag for me is what happens after a year. 'Market value', how much is that? It seems they assume that business is going to grow fast, but there's no sure way to tell. Remeber: they're in stealth mode so they probably have no revenue to speak of at this point. If business isn't going well in the future you're likely stuck with the same salary and 4% of nothing, at best.

As for the net salary, you can use www.nettolohn.de (in German). I took the liberty to calculate the net wage from EUR3500,-, it will be somewhere around EUR 2100,- monthly.

Having said that, Berlin is a great city, amazing atmosphere and a nice startup culture. If I had to choose any European city to build a startup from, Berlin would be my first choice. With 3500 euros monthly, you should be able to rent a decent place, buy food, go out and save for the occasional trip to Romania.

I did apply, but I think my chances are slim. I did not want to apply this cycle (have applied 2 times before) because I'm far from finishing my project, but did it anyway.

Feel free to contact me! I'd love to bounce of some ideas!

I think any sensible VC would have a carefully balanced mix of a few high potential, yet outlandish ventures and a good part of promising but more traditional startups.

Amazingly fun video to watch, it seems like you have a great team! Would you consider H1B?

Anything from Armin van Buren, Deadmau5 and David Guetta to Heart, CCR, Led Zep or Mike Snow. As long as I keep the volume down I'm OK.

Have you thought of Yahoo mail? It offers plus addresses and calendars, it's actually pretty good. I've used it since the late 90's, Gmail still can't convince me enough to swith.

B! I don't see ho they could add anything relevant to phones/tablets at this point.

This question is impossible to answer. There is a difference between learning and mastering. Learning is quick ('hello world' will takeless than a minute), while mastering depends on which language you're using, how fast you learn and how much time you devote.

Maybe you're just beginning with programming and you want a timeframe how long it will take you to be able to code something decent? My advice is not to stress too much about the 'how long'. Just begin building stuff, start easy in the beginning. Tackle problems as you encounter them, and constantly wonder 'how did they do this?' when you're using an app/website/whatever. Curiosity is a great teacher.

As for myself, I started coding (HTML, CSS, PHP) 7 years ago. Within a few months I was able to write a half-decent web app, but if I look back on the stuff I made back then it makes me want to cry, it's that bad... I got a lot better since, but I wouldn't say I've mastered it yet. Good luck!

Exactly the same here! I also have two kids, a day job and a mortgage to top it off. I'd drop everything to move to California to get in YC, and fortunately my wife and kids support me fully. The problem is that I'm having trouble finding a co-founder. I can code/design, but it's a LOT of work doing it alone, after your job, after the kids are in bed. Finding someone equally committed is hard: either they're not prepared to work as much on the project as I am, OR they can work on the project fulltime but feel they're putting more into the project than I am because they don't have kids and a day job. Dutch folks are usually very risk-adverse (apart from a few Dutch guys here on HN!) so it's difficult finding someone who wants to do a startup to begin with. So I definately feel where you're coming from!

If you're interested, shoot me an email. Maybe we can discuss some ideas, who knows how things will turn out!

I don't see it, maybe it's location related?

That's a nice problem to have! Can I ask what the name is (phonetic)?

It could have something to do with the indoor air quality (search for 'Sick building syndrome: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome). I've worked in an environment where the air quality was lacking, and I always felt horrible after a couple of hours. Do keep in mind that in a packed office, with multiple computers, printers et al the CO2 levels will skyrocket.

Ventilation is important, as is cleanliness and excersise. If the problems persist, look out for a bigger office!

The Netherlands represent!

You mean something like circleup.com? Do keep in mind that the ink on the JOBS act (which regulates small investments) is barely dry, I think it passes just yesterday!

Thanks for clearing that up, I was not aware that PayPal had such a big presence in the UK.

What I meant with the second quote though is that, although I know PayPal is a universal payment provider, it lacks the reputation that brick ´n mortar banks have. Maybe this is different in the UK, but here on the mainland there are some major trust issues with PayPal.