Hacker News Reader

mauricioon Release Late, Release Rarely (2006)

The whole article is flawed. The article, minus the title, implies that he is arguing you shouldn't Release Early, Often but rather Release Ready.

The title, however, implies you should miss deadlines regardless of your readiness and you should never update. Wtf?!

mauricioon Should you move to India for a job?

US-ians are typically referred to as Americans...

mauricioon Should you move to India for a job?

It's important to note the little tidbit about the author: "Aseem Prakash is the former CEO of I Media Corp Ltd. in India..." Biased reporting?

mauricioon The lifestyle business bullshit

I think a lifestyle business isn't necessarily defined by the amount of hours you work but rather how much you earn. If your business earns X and you are content earning X because it supports your 'lifestyle', then you have a lifestyle business.

I don't think a lifestyle business is negative nor am implying that 37Signals is a lifestyle business. Just think you have it mixed up is all...

mauricioon GM and Segway announce two-wheeled urban transport vehicle

It seems unlikely that a struggling automaker partnering with a struggling personal transportation company will create the raging success they are hoping for.

mauricioon For The YC & Techstars Rejects

lol, nice :)

mauricioon The YC Rejection thread

I wonder if we can set up a private forum for all of us this summer that develop our idea anyway. Maybe we can share ideas/thoughts and beta test each other's stuff.

At the end of the summer, if we get a lot of us, we could create a a big page for all of to show off our stuff.

What do you guys think?

mauricioon This is how Social Media really works

Though this seems really obvious, it feels like just building a really awesome product is occasionally lost in all the marketing hoopla. Apple's marketing is great, but I wonder how great it would be without a killer product at the center.

mauricioon Caterina Fake launches Hunch

I like this quote in the article: "...if you launch something you're not at all embarrassed by, then you've waited too long."

mauricioon DHH: Doing a Start Up in the Real World [video]

http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/bezos_expeditions_inv...

My point is this: Though they may have taken Jeff Bezos on for his expertise, Bezos made his investment to earn a return. You don't invest in private or public stocks in a capitalist world to do just fine. You don't start a business for that reason either. That's not greed, that's entrepreneurship.

mauricioon DHH: Doing a Start Up in the Real World [video]

I'm sure their investors would disagree.

mauricioon DHH: Doing a Start Up in the Real World [video]

I'm not particularly working in that type of space, but we are generalizing here.

If you look into startups in the medical, pharmaceutical, chemical and energy fields, you will see very high startup costs while sharing the high risk attached to software startups.

Even in software though, there are companies working on solving difficult problems that would require the work of scientists, engineers and administrators for 1-2 years. This would place you into that multi-million dollar category pretty quickly.

mauricioon DHH: Doing a Start Up in the Real World [video]

I think you make the assumption that the tech you are creating here is inexpensive. If you can make your idea with $5k and a few months time, go for it. Make up prices and make up numbers.

What if your new product, that has never been done before, will costs tens of millions? Surely those products have existed, and yet are still somehow able to do the prudent 'guesswork' to convince venture capitalists.

mauricioon DHH: Doing a Start Up in the Real World [video]

The "we did it and we do just fine" argument to me is really what's overrated here.

How do you know you are doing just fine? How much of the market have you captured? How big is that market? What if you had created your business plan 5 years ago and today you did triple your sales? Would that extra 2-3 weeks of work be worth it?

mauricioon DHH: Doing a Start Up in the Real World [video]

Not creating a business plan and making up prices out of thin air is definitely the most fun and least time consuming. I think DHH nails that aspect of it.

But, how feasible is it to start companies this way? Sure it may have worked well for them and it may even work incredibly well for your business. As hackers though, we know that just because something worked once, twice or 500 times doesn't mean it's the truth or will always work.

It's best to be prudent wherever possible and do some research into your market and pricing strategies. I'm not saying go off and create 5 year business plans, I'm just saying it definitely deserves some of your time cycles.

mauricioon Google is Evil, Worse than PayPal: Don't use Google Checkout for your business

Doesn't Google even use script.aculo.us themselves?

mauricioon Google is Evil, Worse than PayPal: Don't use Google Checkout for your business

Google seems to generally ignore customer support altogether.

My company used to pay $750/yr for their anti-spam enterprise scanning package they sell as a separate product from Google Apps. When I contacted them, via email, about a bug I had found, they said email support was only available to customers that spend $1000/yr or more. They sent me a link to their Google forums...

mauricioon Failure is overrated, a redux

Exactly. This is what Jason seems to miss. No one sets out for failure nor do they think failure is a good thing. The axioms and other well-known phrases were designed to keep you going after failure, not to inspire you to fail.

mauricioon Startup Founder On Google Entering Their Market

How long though before a company like Google throws their weight behind number porting?

mauricioon Startup Founder On Google Entering Their Market

I think their determination is very commendable, but let's wait and see what happens.

The important thing to note here is that Google is not just competing with them now, they've commoditized the service altogether. This means that people are going to be less likely to ever want to pay for voicemail transcription.

mauricioon How did the web lose faith in charging for stuff?

I think it should be argued here that what you are trying to sell also really matters. 37Signals sells business software. I don't think you can get away selling social network software or search engines to consumers.

Also, social network-type software requires a critical mass of users in order for them to be effective. If all of your friends weren't already on Twitter and Facebook, perhaps you wouldn't be either.

It's not as straightforward as selling your software from day one to make money.