Hopefully I can speak better than I can spell [sorry for spelling your name wrong]. Looking back at my first submissions I am embarrassed at how insecure I sounded. I hope this does not get in the way of an interview if you like our idea.
"Remember also that every time you open your mouth in the presence of a person who has an abundance of knowledge, you display to that person your exact stock of knowledge or your lack of it! Genuine wisdom is usually conspicuous through modesty and silence."
Remember that success comes from improving OTHER people's lives. All your achievements, while probably very gratifying to your mother, have not improved my life at all.
"A man's power to connect his thought with its proper symbol, and so to utter it, depends on the simplicity of his character, that is, upon his love of truth, and his desire to communicate it without loss."
I think this sentence and those that follow are very insightful, when it comes to communicating our ideas.
After watching the screencast I got some good insight into what Versionate can do [the features], but I still don't know how it will improve my life [the benefits].
I think you should really stress the benefits and tell people why it is so important to have their files online.
Peace of Mind. You never have to worry about losing important files when your computer crashes.
Instant access to your files from anywhere. If you forget your computer or flash drive at home [no need to worry] your files are online and you can get them when you arrive at work.
I think some simple comments like this could really help.
In the essay "The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups" Paul Graham mentions how it is impossible for business guys to hire good programmers. I posted this essay because it shows why it is impossible and will give business guys a deeper understanding.
For clarification, I did not intend this last statement to be condescending. I have begun to immerse myself into the Hacker culture and have noticed that it is very different than popular culture. I think that with your skills and my knowledge of the customer we can make something wonderful.
The [how] of the concept is simple so I won't go into that until I have protected the IP or have developed trust in the individual. But I believe I have a way to inform people of [all] the upcoming events that they {the individual} is interested in but did not even know where happening.
Think of the application as your most popular friend in high school - the guy/girl that just knew everything that was going on. The guy/girl you would call to ask "what are you up to tonight?" "what else is going on?" And they could tell you all the fun things that were happening and what your other friends were planning on doing.
I believe I have a way to provide a more complete version of your most popular friend to the world.
I could not go into the other value proposition or sources of revenue without giving away the concept.
I greatly appreciate everyones advice. The YC community is an amazing place.
David seems to have put the cart in front of the horse and needs to very quickly find some top-notch programming talent.
It would be nice to find top notch programming talent quickly, but I am not going to rush this decision. I need to make sure this person[s] has integrity, good energy, is in a position both mentally and financially to do a startup, and above all if we enjoy each other.
I will email you to get in touch with the developers you know
My email is [email protected] if anyone else want to get together.
I could spend 18+ hours a day learning to program but that is just not what I am passionate about and it would take me longer than 1.5 years to get good. I would much rather spend my time designing and working with people, and I would much rather spend my money on servers than rent.