I help tech founders from all over the world create software startups as quickly, inexpensively, and as risk-free as possible. I've been building, studying, and coaching software startups since 1993, invented a number of universally used Internet technologies and growth hacks, have had my own million dollar startup that's provided passive income for over a decade, and am the startup advisor in a huge development firm.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnreel/
Submissions
How is Affinity now free? (Founder) [video]
youtube.com
1 points·by gotrythis··0 comments
Catalina voice control is disappointing
6 points·by gotrythis··4 comments
Ask HN: How do you comply with U.S. Sanctions?
1 points·by gotrythis··2 comments
Dear TechCrunch
14 points·by gotrythis··7 comments
List of dirty/big secrets of industries people work in
reddit.com
5 points·by gotrythis··0 comments
WordPress install is too slow, so I created this 90 second installer.
I put a day of careful thought into writing a cover letter for a job a few weeks ago. Knowing there is there was the potential of AI screening, I checked if it would get flagged.
Every detection program I tried said the letter that I personally wrote by hand was 100% AI generated!
So, I looked for humanizer programs and ran my cover letter through a couple. Without the results in front of me at the moment, I can only revert to my judgemental conclusion instead of solid observations...
You need to write like an idiot to pass AI detection algorithms. The rewritten cover letter was awful, unprofessional, and embarrassing.
Freemium definition: A type of business model that offers basic features of a product or service to users at no cost and charges a premium for supplemental or advanced features.
Yes, you can add on additional AI if you want it. But, the product is not at all limited in features. It is a complete product, 100% of what we were paying for before, now for free, plus new features, also free.
I would define it more like a lost-leader than freemium.
I am a daily user of Affinity Publisher and regular user of Affinity Photo. I bought version 1 when it came out, upgraded to version 2, and upgraded this morning to the new, free version.
This is NOT FREEMIUM as I understand the model, as it is not limited in any way. This is everything they were charging for and more, now free, with free upgrades.
I'm personally thrilled to get so much value for free.
Here's something that talks about it. I can't speak for the legitimacy, but I'm not pulling it out of my ass. They may be pulling it out of theirs. :-)
I've listened to so many interviews that I couldn't tell you who said what at this point, but that is what I understood from somewhere. So, sure, take it as speculation.
I imagine training people, and having everything I say be available in any language, matching my tonality, and being able to reach a global audience. I'm very much looking forward to this.
Someone, please ask OpenAI to stop artificially dumbing down ChatGPT by adding "um" to the audio output. I get that it is supposed to make it more human-like or something, but every time I hear it do that, I cringe and feel sad for humanity.
I took a summer job as a painter and did some other contracting stuff in my 30s after being in tech my whole life. I went from setting my hours to getting up at 5 am to be picked up to go to a job site, working hard all day, coming home, and going to yoga for body repair.
By the end of the summer, I was ripped. Best shape of my life, and I got paid to do it. I was very tempted to keep doing that for a living and probably would have had a more consistent income.
The key for me is that it's a widget on the watch face. Glance at watch and with one click and I'm recording. If I have to fumble around with my phone or whatever to find and open an app, click a button, etc, I'll likely have forgotten whatever brilliant idea popped into my head before I get the recording started.
Hi. I basically bought an Apple Watch for one app, Just Press Record. I'd love to see that kind of functionality added to your app, so I can always record my random thoughts, and it ends up summarized on my computer.
After building a few startups and working at a few, I spent a lot of years advising people who wanted to start a startup, and 99% of the time I told them not to waste their time and money. They massively underestimate how hard and expensive it will be, how many skills are needed... and how much LUCK has to do with it.
With my million dollar startup, it was years of research and stupidly hard work, and I had a tech and marketing background to build off of... and I had the luck of meeting the assistant to an Internet marketing "guru" in a bar and giving them a ride home. That assistant got the marketer to promote my product, which got others to promote. Without that bit of luck, it wouldn't have been nearly as successful. In truth, I probably would have gone bankrupt.
Another example... the year that YC startup school accidentally let everyone in, they had a speaker who was talking about what market fit looks like. They failed over and over again, building stuff nobody cared about. They had wasted nearly $500k of investment and were down to the last few dollars, and one of the founders had an idea. The guy speaking implemented it just to prove his cofounder wrong! That idea went viral and they grew into a unicorn.
In my opinion the talk wasn't about market fit. It was a cautionary tale about how lucky you need to get. Last I checked, I read that 82% of venture funded startups fail, even with all that money, talent, and connections. We rarely hear about them. We hear about the success stories, which expound upon the hard work and great idea and seem to overlook how much luck was a factor - and it always is a giant factor.
Having said that, I do think success can be engineered for some startups, if you have the time, money, patience, and constitution to go through lots of small quick failures to find that market fit, and then build your product with the support of a community. And, I think luck can be engineered for some people, like by going to conferences, being nice and providing value... and by befriending the assistants of influential people.
Because I can do VR anywhere with multiple screens and bigger screens. I also have a large 4k curved monitor on a high quality arm on my standing desk, but I prefer working in VR from my couch. :-)
I setup a login just for working in VR. I get MUCH more done as I'm totally distraction-free, and it's much better for my neck, as I'm looking at the screens in front of me, instead of down at my laptop. Looking down at my laptop for years has become a source of chronic pain, and working in VR removes it.
Setup is a Macbook Air M1, Quest 2, elite strap, and over-the ear headphones. I use Immersed, which is free, and put up a big screen in the middle to work on, with two narrow screens on either side for reference material.
My father is 84. Never ate junk food, never smoked, never drank. He plays pickle ball four hours every day and kicks my ass when we play. Also plays volleyball and goes for long walks daily. In his 80's, he's in better shape and has a better life than I do at 51.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnreel/