Hacker News Reader

emmiechangon Launch HN: Litnerd (YC S21) – Teaching kids to read with the help of live actors

Congrats Anisa! Kids need more ways to inspire them to read, and this is a great program!

I created programs for title 1 schools / kids in math and always wanted a cool way to inspire kids to be more curious and excited about reading.

Can’t wait to see Litnerd grow and reach more kids!

emmiechangon Show HN: A better unicorn IPO leaderboard

Great way to see the top IPO’s Where’s Zoom, my favorite ipo of 2019. Cool visual representation. Now if it was cross referenced with private valuation to market cap

emmiechangon Learning to code as a 30-year-old kid with Apple’s Swift Playgrounds

We play tested this with 10 year olds at the San Francisco Public Library recently and the kids LOVED it -- keep in mind, these were not middle or upper middle class privileged kids, but lower income at risk ones.

The challenge is that after about 45 min of "play" time, they want to 'build' something and create--and Playgrounds doesn't provide the environment to do that. Then, they get bored and feel encumbered.

After working with over 1000 kids in our beta phase, we've tested almost every product on the market.

I personally like Scratch + Learntomod.com which uses Minecraft to teach Javascript and CodeCombat.com (My YC batchmates).

We're soon launching an online course (for a nominal fee) that has progression, milestones, and support for parents who want their kids to 'complete' a project. Message me or check out our beta site if you're interested to in being a beta tester for our online product--would love to hear from you.

emmiechangon Yoshi (YC S16) launches “set it and forget it” vehicle re-fueling service in SF

I just emailed customer support at Enterprise Car Share and shared them your TC article. They have a lot of cars in SF and they could probably benefit from you guys--especially since their cars are sitting in lots all day. It could be a great lead source!

emmiechangon Yoshi (YC S16) launches “set it and forget it” vehicle re-fueling service in SF

Totally, I'm always stuck with the Enterprise Car Share car with less than 1/4 tank and get stuck with an extra $25 'refueling fee' when I don't take it back (I have to pay for the extra 15 min of rental time PLUS stop by a gas station--which is super annoying). This would be a killer use case for their fleet to manage.

emmiechangon Flexport (YC W14) raises $6.9M to reinvent global trade

Get it Ryan! You rock ;)

emmiechangon My Technical Co-Founder Quit 2 Days Before I Got My YC Interview a Year Ago

He never knew we raised $100k nor got into YC (until sometime in the Spring of '14). It wouldn't have mattered. If you are in, you're in. If you're out, you're out. It shouldn't be conditional.

emmiechangon My Technical Co-Founder Quit 2 Days Before I Got My YC Interview a Year Ago

Yeah--not very YC of them to discourage me. But then again, I didn't seem like I was YC material at the moment they talked to me. I'm glad PB and my interview team took a chance on me though, I'm still going strong!!

emmiechangon My Technical Co-Founder Quit 2 Days Before I Got My YC Interview a Year Ago

Ahh! Thanks for that! fixing it now!

emmiechangon My Technical Co-Founder Quit 2 Days Before I Got My YC Interview a Year Ago

I swear there was a comment here earlier--did they delete it? Hey! Any comments? This was my first stab at writing a personal blog post and the most difficult for me. I hope it helps everyone keep their head up!!

emmiechangon Our YC Interviews

Good Luck for the future! Great to chat with you at the interviews. Keep working hard.

emmiechangon Camperoo (YC W14) Helps Parents Find and Book Summer Camps, Activities for Kids

Thanks! H-Town represent!! (wait that sounded really silly...probably less silly than if I really said that out loud)

emmiechangon Camperoo (YC W14) Helps Parents Find and Book Summer Camps, Activities for Kids

Love how you're the only Person ever to say that! We were definitely inspired by it. Switching in a few days to the new look and feel, designed specifically for us!

emmiechangon Camperoo (YC W14) Helps Parents Find and Book Summer Camps, Activities for Kids

We actually do the registrations, not just an affiliate thing like kayak or hipmunk....opentable for kids camps?

emmiechangon Camperoo (YC W14) Helps Parents Find and Book Summer Camps, Activities for Kids

Hey! Actually, I just found out that there were camps in the UK. I met an ex pro-football player who used to run his own programs in the UK from 1999-2009. I'll definitely explore expansion to the UK! I love it there, and drive a Mini :). Good points on the discussion with your child--we'll have camper profiles soon to allow for kids to bookmark their own things

emmiechangon Camperoo (YC W14) Helps Parents Find and Book Summer Camps, Activities for Kids

Thanks! Are you in the Bay Area by chance? I'm Emmie, the founder. New site design to push out this weekend, please take a look again soon. (we wanted to push it out before the TC article, but it was too unstable)

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

oh yeah--would you give me $20/mo for full concierge access, fully credit-able towards any camp on our site? venmo me the money ;)

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

@samStave--Want to come work with us? :).

Secondly, the pay-wall is interesting. What would you pay for--? more comprehensive reviews, more camp offerings?

I like the deposit thing. In the Fall, we'll start the 'buy credits now' and amortize over 9 months. For now, summer's only 4 months away.

The social aspect is HUGE--we definitely want to roll that stuff out sometime. I want Camperoo to be the hub of EVERYTHING related to your kids outside of school, and around here social network is sort of a 'dirty' word for investors, but there is definitely a HUGE social aspect to attending camp and talking to parents of kids who attended the same camp and year-round activities...

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Wow, thanks. I compare myself to OpenTable all the time, but I like hearing it from your standpoint. re: location, I hear you--will def work on that soon. Reaching out directly! ;)

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

I'll take that as a compliment. I own a tech camp in 10 locations nationwide, and if you told an athletic kid he had to spend 8 hours/day 5 days a week in an air conditioned room staring at a screen, he'd think it's horrible. For all my tech-y kids that come to camp, the thought of playing soccer in the sun horrifies them! It's just funny, and bible camp doesnt sound too bad--i mean, it's not band camp or anything!

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Good idea--we're trying to get more people to invite their friends. Create an account, we give you $25 and when your friends create an account, you get an extra $25...that works now, but really amping that up is a good idea. The care.com model is interesting--some other sites are toying with the subscription model...i would rather you book stuff on Camperoo ;) Any suggestions as to what you would WANT to see about a camp to make you want to register for it?

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Note taken--maybe we'll just capture e-mail address!

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Aww... Thank you Joshmn. This makes me seriously feel good. I sit at my chair (granted it's a fancy chair) in my home/office toiling away at all hours and your comment just really made my day....(er night). New iterations to come later this week. Did you see we have Ukelele camp?

https://www.camperoo.com/products/k/ukulele

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Erik, great comments. Thanks, I'll definitely reach out to you when we expand to southern CA, you're the core demographic. I was talking to a friend the other day who did a 'cost analysis' of how much she was spending on camps. It turns out it was close to $4500 just for two kids and only 6 weeks! I'm sure your camp budget blows past that. On another note, we're definitely considering 'stocking empty shelves' but want to focus on getting really good at figuring out the right way to get parents to register before expanding. I'll reach out directly!

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%2020...

Check out the screenshot--dead simple. What do you think? Would love your feedback.

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Yeah--it's a weekly scheduler. However, if you need a management tool to run your camps--we can help you with that (it's free, go to https://www.camperoo.com/camps/join )

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Great idea-- we'll try that next. We wanted to throw something out there first, and the easiest way was to just tie into our existing login system. Shipping is better than perfect right? :)

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Please do--and reach out to me directly. I'd love to help out.

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Here's a screenshot of a demo schedule. Super simple, add your kids, add an activity and share with your friends or family

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aq1ixtdm6ioogdo/Screen%20Shot%2020...

emmiechangon Show HN: Anyone with kids? Plan their summer schedule

Awesome, any mommy blogs you (or your wife) particularly like to visit?