startuprules

Search. Monopoly.

US is in for another lost decade ahead for innovation, as:

- US venture capital industry is expected to shrink considerably (http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/13/report-u-s-venture-capital-...)

- Immigration brain drain takes place. Only 18,000 applications had been filed for regular H-1Bs so far this year. (http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/14/news/economy/immigration_bra...)

- US manufacturing jobs keep slipping away, and the trend will likely continue - Nation's 100 biggest markets have lost ~40% jobs compared to a decade ago (http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/the_score/2010/0...)

We need to act now to reverse these long term trends, otherwise innovation will dissipate rather quickly, as the world braces austerity and the second US recession

Canada is really easy. Denmark is pretty good, so is Australia/New Zealand. Asian countries love high quality labor. Other than that, try investing or marrying into the country :)

Or, emigrate to another country where healthcare/living expenses are cheap (most of the countries in Asia) or where the government won't (likely) default on its healthcare/social security obligations (Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Northern European Countries), unlike the US.

Whenever I see Mark Zuckerberg in public in front of all his peers, he is always so frightened and insecure. Perhaps in the back of his mind, he's always thinking about the fact that he just has to last a bit longer so he can get away with not one, but two cases of theft (ConnectU and nowthis). Or perhaps today is the day where the world sees him for who he really is: a small time crook who got real lucky, and gets to sit in the private dining room in the back of the italian restaurant with the mafia bosses.

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%

- The 25% bracket rises to 28%

- The 28% bracket rises to 31%

- The 33% bracket rises to 36%

- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

I live in California - 10% state tax. Also 10% sales tax and 10% tip.

I am seriously thinking of dropping my US citizenship (I am dual-citizen)....have people explored this before?

"What we need is kids that can think outside of the box, not get 3000 points on science tests."

What you're doing is comparing risk-taking to fundamentals. I would argue...why can't we have both? Isn't a better-educated population always better for the society?

"There's no markets in other countries too."

Except there is. In Belgium, government funds education -- at many different kinds of schools -- but if a school can't attract students, it goes out of business.

fair enough, I'll take humanities out :)

I am gonna propose something outrageous: currently there's no demand for better education in US.

- The high schools in US will get their funding as long as the students are barely good enough to pass standardized tests, which are jokes compared to the standardized tests in Asia/Europe.

- Colleges in US still enjoy the following advantages: global brands that they've cultivated for 100+ years, as well as the popular culture that extol fun/socializing over hard courses/hard work. (How often do you see smart people getting made fun of in American movies/tv...quite sad really).

- The current demand is dampened by the fact that there's also no real good way to compare college education quality now (I am sure many people have experienced professors that are world renowned for their research/knowledge, but are horrible lecturers/teachers)

Until people in US care about better education, there is no market

- Try not to get married until after you're 30. By the your libido will have waned a bit, and you will have a clearer head and greater experience to see what kind of person you'd like to spend your life with

- Try not to have a kid until after you're 30. A kid cannot raise another kid

- Try everything. That way you get to know what you like/hate.

- Find something you're passionate about, and learn everything about it.

- Don't incur huge debts in your prime. Do not buy (car/house/woman/kid/plane/boat/land/friend) with credit.

- Use your money for experiences. Those you'll remember and cherish.

- Learn macroeconomics/history. You'll learn why the housing bubble occured, why we're in a great depression, and how China will become the next empire. Invest properly based on those learnings.

We're certainly in a great depression already - with real unemployment close to 20% (shadowstats.com), most of our states having greece-like deficits, people losing 50%+ wealth from the market/real estate crash. We don't see soup lines because we have food stamps and unemployment checks mailed to our home and deposited right into our bank account .

And it's only the beginning. Global austerity is here (except US and Japan is fighting valiantly to steal more honest work from its people via printing). World's biggest consumer, the boomers, are retiring. Automation/Software will keep reducing jobs permanently.

The ancillary point is, boostrap your startup wisely. Hire smartly. Don't spent money on things unless you have to. Don't take money. Keep control of your company.

Not all of it

How about an open-source hacker news? Thereby destroying the same community that helped you to create it.

What? He said "the problem must not have been solved before"

if he made the product for himself (solving his own pain), then sure he could.

Misleading title. The story had more to do with the fact that the founder is inexperienced and thought he can do it all, not the fact that he is one person. 5 inexperienced founders also can get nowhere. Flip side, one repeat founder can create a great MVP in a month by locking himself in a closet. Perhaps the blogger is also inexperienced at writing articles

there's already http://mindbloom.com

government intervention via JPM trading desks and trades cancellation from the exchanges

"The entire stock market rally which we have seen this year off the February lows resembles a low volume Ponzi scheme, and formed a huge air pocket under prices.

This US equity rally was driven by technically oriented buying from the Banks and the hedge funds. There was and still is a lack of legitimate institutional buying at these price levels. This was machine driven speculation enabled by the lack of reform in a system riddled with corruption, from the bottom to the top."

Translation: there's no real buyers in the market at the current price, so when panic came, there were no buys to prop up the free falling

link: http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/05/plunge-1000...

I sincerely hope nobody in this forum still have stocks in their 401K portfolio.

Better yet, withdraw your 401K altogether. Take control of your money in this 'interesting' times.

If the government didn't bail out AIG, GS would've gone down. And Hank Paulson is the former CEO of GS. So yes, GS needed the bailout desperately and got it.

http://www.capital-chronicle.com/2008/09/nyt-report-on-goldm...

"In fact, the banks that shorted the products in volume were the ones that survived and didn't need bailouts (GS being one of them)."

So you're saying

1.) GS never needed bailed out

2.) GS was a bank before and after the crisis.

Goldman Sachs takes $12B Bailout, Hands out $14B Bonuses http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1081624/Go...

1. Sell doomed products to stupid clients

2. Short those products

3. Profit X 2 !

3a. If fail, have taxpayer pay for it

Doesn't look like it did.

http://www.tracked.com/company/opsware/financials/income/?t=...

Ning is also a site that is 'visited', 'used', 'widely-known' and 'had stake in future'.

I'd like to think Andreessen as the guy who never made profits, only products

"A search engine is a perfect example of a product which would fail if they tried to sell access" Name a search engine that failed because they tried charging people.

"But you can continue to pad your ego and think you know everything there is to know about business." What's your qualification, oh internet anonymous? At least they're speaking from years of knowledge from hard work.

mstevens: I would hazard that most people are fat because of their economic condition. That is, they can only afford cheap foods, which are mostly fatty.

What makes you think all of them aren't working?

We’re in a great global depression, and it’s only the beginning. Many countries are about to default (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Japan, US, England, etc), and there are overcapacity/overprinting everywhere. The baby boomer generation, which constitutes the bulk of consumer segment, is retiring. Automation/computers are reducing jobs permanently.

My point? Build your business to be lean, and get ready for 15+ years of rough waters ahead.

1.) The Dow Jones industrial average, hovering near 11,000, is up 70 percent in the past year - Low volume trading (most people have already bailed out of stock market), mainly between JPM and GS computers (look at how much C and BA comprises of the trading volume).

2.) Auto sales in the first quarter were up 16 percent from 2009. - Off 50% lows in 2008. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pMscxxELHEg/S410LoDr97I/AAAAAAAAHp.... That's on top of massive deals from Toyota and the rest.

3.) The economy added 162,000 jobs in March, including 17,000 in manufacturing. - 200,000 of those jobs were from Census.

4.) The dollar has gained strength - Because it is the reserve currency, it will be the last to fall. All currency races to the bottom

Mainstream medias are for propagandas. Look elsewhere for real informations (calculatedriskblog.com, zerohedge.com, mish's, etc)