kirinkalia

One of the commenters on the NY Times site said it best:

"My experience is that a lot depends on your boss. I always got my work done quickly and thoroughly, but I've had bosses who made you sit in your chair even when there was nothing to do, I've had other bosses who were much more accommodating. It is about the culture of the department. My best job was in a very hard working engineering department, when we were on deadline we worked killer hours, but when things were slack, we went home. Everyone had kids, family outings were encouraged and our boss took us to lunch and treated us like humans. I worked my butt off for that boss. When I have had a boss who treats me like a child, I act like one. If you treat people with dignity and respect and give them time off when they need it, they will work harder."

Appreciate the feedback, Colin -- will share it with their team.

I'd recommend looking at Pipedrive -- you can do pretty much everything you listed and they integrate with many other services, too: https://www.pipedrive.com/en-US/features

The Techweek drama aside, what do you think of Sean's post? I admire and applaud his bravery in admitting he hasn't done enough in the past and will do better in the future.

Whether you realize it or not, the US competes with many countries for top talent, including Australia, New Zealand and the UK (which have all done more to encourage skilled migration than our country). If this passes, it's a solid step to making us more competitive.

Experienced Web Developer - San Francisco, remote ok

SUPRMASV (suprmasv.com) is looking for a talented developer to join us as we build a platform where the world’s best hackers — whether they be game modders, bitcoin miners or drone geeks — showcase their work and get paid for offering support and access to their expertise. Our ultimate objective is free agency and hands-on vocational education for everyone.

We’re a small, fun-loving team of old-school hackers and startup veterans who iterate quickly and constantly, and push ourselves and each other to build the best product possible. We’re already live and focused on generating real revenue. We’ll help you further develop your skills and give you a stake in the company.

Here’s what we believe in:

* Using a scientific approach to guide product development (e.g., metrics, A/B testing) * Encouraging and rewarding results, not number of hours * Building a product where we can be proud of both the purpose and the technology * Putting users and their needs first * Investing in good development tools

We’re not picky about particular technologies, but we’d like you to have the ability to quickly learn whatever languages and frameworks we throw at you (that said, python skills are a plus). Ideally you live in either San Francisco, where our dev team is based, or Los Angeles, where the rest of the crew works from a pretty sweet studio overlooking Venice Beach. And if you have a solid track record and great references, we’re cool with having you work remotely.

Apply by sending links to your latest projects and a short email or cover letter about why you want to join SUPRMASV to hiring@supermassive.io. No recruiters or dev shops, please. Bonus points for posting one of your projects on our platform!

How is this different from Mailchimp or ConstantContact -- in other words, what are you offering that the big guys do not?

Cool -- do you have more details? We are curious...

What would Facebook lose by reversing its no-export policy? Google+ might force them to eventually anyway, might as well do it now.

Hi T, What you're doing sounds similar to Skweal, which allows customers to reach management privately rather than complaining publicly, though not anonymously -- see http://skweal.com/ With complainator, I'd like to know how you inform the business of the complaint so they can fix it?

We've just posted a story about this on the LAUNCH blog -- Google PR person said this was not in response to any incident (and yes, the notification is temporary).

CellScope, based in Berkeley, came up with a way to attach a smartphone to a microscope a few years ago in order to test for TB in remote places and have doctors elsewhere analyze results [ BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8161775.stm ].

Their next device is an otoscope that attaches to the iPhone so you can take pictures of ear infections [ see the CellScope profile on LAUNCH: http://lnch.is/qTqQK0 ].

Whether the malaria app works or not, I have no doubt we'll see more health-related hardware and apps for mobile phones.

Good point about drain of intellectual capital -- legal issues could well be a turn-off for new talent, too. Do engineers still see Google as a cool place to work? Microsoft lost the cool factor ages ago.

I say steal the Priceline model-- you can get your deal but only if it's reasonable enough for the retailer. I could go back and change one element of my ask if it gets rejected.

Martin, you hit on a key point that doesn't get enough attention:

"When we talk to YC, no matter whether we have good news or bad news, chances are that they’ve seen the situation before, and their pattern-matching will enable them to make good predictions."

YC created the accelerator model that many others are adapting/imitating. YC's experience with all kinds of situations gives it yet another advantage over its young competitors (alumni network and support being the top one IMO).

I completely get why people love Netflix. But if Hulu can't be a serious competitor, who will be? I don't want Netflix to be my only appealing streaming option, and I don't want to pay cable operators a ton of money for stuff I don't watch.

In the research process we also found an interesting program called FastTrac from the Kauffman Foundation (http://fasttrac.org/), known for its dedication to entrepreneurship. The program has been around since the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Now, there is a cost ($700 to $1200), but FastTrac is available in 49 states and Puerto Rico, making it a much more realistic option for folks of all ages who want to get their own business launched.

The FastTrac TechVenture program, which started in 2006 and is meant for tech and science-oriented businesses, is in 25 states. FastTrac President Alana Muller shared the following in an email to me:

<<FastTrac TechVenture is not a competitor to incubators/accelerators. Instead, it is complementary to incubators/accelerators and provides the requisite ecosystem – information, resources, networking contacts, frameworks, etc. that an entrepreneur needs in order to know how to get a business started.>>

Great piece that brings home just how important internal communication is for a startup. Bless those founders who know how to do it well and set up a culture from the get-go that encourages openness.

So how many bootstrappers have spouses and families? Seems to me like the kind of risk that's easier to take for those who are younger and/or have fewer responsibilities.

Also, how many boostrappers make lifestyle changes months before they leave their day job for the uncertainty of boostrapping? I would imagine you'd want to have enough saved for 6 months of expenses (the general rule of thumb for anyone actually) and an idea of what your new life is really going to be like.

Great point about value.

A related point: if you know someone big/important is going to be at the event you're attending and you want to meet this person for whatever reason, it's well worth researching him/her beforehand so you can ask an intelligent question that shows you've done some homework and are not just out for yourself.

Be interesting, be memorable, do not be desperate (never attractive). And don't wear out your welcome, especially if you know other people are hovering (so they can make their own move on cool person) or if cool person clearly wants to duck out/away.

This chance to prepare, btw, is a key difference between meeting a big shot and hitting on a hot woman you happen to see at a bar.

I was writing about 300 words nearly every morning starting in May but fell off the wagon this fall. Thanks for kicking my butt into action this morning.

Why wait for the New Year to resolve to write every day? Things that clear your mind and make you feel better shouldn't get pushed aside because of other life things (work, errands, whatever). That's been my problem, I admit.

And the best part of daily writing is you don't need to be a "Writer" to do it.

A million users in under three months is impressive. Now, how long before the critical 10M mark?

This gets to a critical question about incubators -- what is the value you actually get from the process? (the followup is, how does it compare to what was promised?) As you point out, "You go through it because it's good for your company," and that mainly means meeting the right people and figuring out where your company is going.

Martin, was YC ultimately good for your company even though Rapportive was in a different stage than your batchmates? Would you do it again?

Interesting that the free calls are only for US-based users. They don't want to give too much away, and maybe Google figures the US-based folks will get their friends and family abroad hooked on the service and then they'll be willing to pony up real dough in the future.

Should have known Groupon had an army of writers that it trains in its trademark voice. Only recently have I come to appreciate the creativity that those blurbs demand. But it must get to be a grind after awhile...

If this is true about the British press, then why is BBC News so successful? The answer is that the news market, like so many markets, has different products for different audiences. If you like your news tabloid-style, then you can consume accordingly. Too much of anything, though, is not good. And the dumbing down of all journalism, including the serious kind even if in the name of more interesting reading, is not good for any democracy.

This piece succeeds because it spells the steps out clearly and tells you there are three very big counter-examples. So if you're trying to change the way people spend time and/or communicate, how do you get validation?

So true about journalists and agreed that not all droputs are the same. Andre Agassi was successful, yes, but he regrets never finishing his education --and he's all about kids from his charter school going to college.

Frankly, the world needs all kinds of people, and the work many people do (not just entrepreneurs) depends on the work of others. Many two-income families would be SOL if there weren't people willing to clean homes and take of children, for example.

I'm wondering how many of those who drop out of college to start companies succeed -- and by success I don't mean Zuckerberg or Gates type of success but have a profitable company and make enough money to live a comfortable (not extravagant) life?

I believe college is not for everybody or at the same stage of life (i.e., you could go back if the company you started doesn't work out). But I do agree with Thiel's point that a degree provides some level of insurance.

Having recently worked in the nonprofit world (and for one that received Gates Foundation money), it's important to note that Gates shook up the philanthropy world when he started his foundation and again when Buffett committed to giving his billions to the Gates Foundation. Lots of smaller foundations began asking themselves why they were working in certain areas and if they could be as effective as Gates with Gates in that same space (e.g., malaria prevention).

Gates is not asking billionaires to do what he did, but he should have -- really get involved with the issues you care about and spend that money smartly to make a lasting impact.