Yep. Maybe thats the thing we will be known for :P Do u think LearnQ sounds better? Thats available but a bit pricey, can do it if we get some funding I guess.
True. We are currently focussing on getting good teachers on board. Therefore the look. And yes we are not yet what you would call a platform. Any changes in design that you suggest?
Hey.Thanks for noticing our product. Sorry about our FBpage and Twitterpage. Our social media intern went berserk :)
LurnQ is a community of learners and teachers. Users can create lessons on topics they have understanding of for the benefit of other learners.
Its still early days at LurnQ and it still a work in progress. We will be competing with initiatives like learni.st but we r still experimenting in a way.
In my opinion, software is a risky business, like hollywood. You probably can act better than Depp but you are struggling because you have not yet been noticed or given an opportunity.
Your best bet is to love doing what you are doing - acting or programming. Also plan your life according to what you are making and be content. Leave the rest to fate.
Yes. We are based out of Mumbai. And the thing is we are offering everything mentioned on your list. I find the Indian developer to be more concerned about the salary.
The other issues you mentioned could be true in our case. We did give more responsibility to an inexperienced developer who has shown great initiative.
A good developer with commitment or a better developer who is all over the place?
Honestly development as a career is very hard, I have seen a lot of developers who cannot switch off, or focus on solving a specific problem. I think passion to solve a problem sometimes makes it easy for a developer to work on something for a decent amount of time and not try hacking the nxt shiny thing around.
I can emapathize with that. I do believe that could be the case with my team. Some of the guys came from another startup where they were not equity holders.
Does this happen a lot in the industry. If it does happen frequently then it makes more sense for a honest founder to always recruit/ collaborate with younger programmers.
Interesting.let me clarify my case. What I have seen so far is that most developers around want to ship 3 products a year for 3 different industries. They are all over the place. Cannot commit to solving a specific problem for a specific industry for an extended period of time.
So my thinking is maybe if the guys are passionate about the problem/ industry and not just interested in learning to do a lot of stuff, we would have a better shot at succeeding.
Correct me if there is a flaw in my understanding.
I know. But is it really true, I fail to understand how a developer can be passionate about some business and yet launch 2-5 products a year. Is that passion for the business/ industry or passion to develop skills?
Most of the good programmers do it, right? Work on 4 products a year in multiple industries.
Should you hire someone who is passionate about the cause or one who is passionate about code(read growth/career)
I am 26 and am in the process of my first startup. Looking at all the young start-uppers makes me feel out of place. I am also just starting to code :| In fact when I was in college I hated writing code, but something about starting up wants to make me do it now.
What are the chances I will make it ? Low, I reason. High, I feel.
Most articles which argue over ideas vs execution really are about equity. They are about business people who have no interest in technology attempting to do business in technology.
Does the 'idea guy' deserve no equity or less equity? Thats the question to be answered.
The problem I have with something like 'ideas don't matter' is I think it misleads some people to over value their contributions. And when someone puts the additional weight of Paul Graham behind it, its difficult to negotiate.
(One may argue that the odds of a startup succeeding are really low and people should not worry about equity etc. But really thats the first step unless you are starting up with buddies. Don't you think?)
I spent some time last year working on a similar product here in Mumbai. We had an amazing product, but the challenges here in India were -
1) Teachers don't like to record videos/ make digital teaching aids, unless initiative is from the top.
2) Its difficult to make videos of the quality of Khan Academy, not every one can teach like Khan
3) Its additional work load on already underpaid teachers
So these things got me thinking-
- Can you incentivize creation of high quality lectures? Maybe raise donations and pay teachers who create the best content.
Anyway good luck with it. Also let me know incase you want a demo of our effort in case we can collaborate on this. (I don't know if this is appropriate here, please correct me in case its not welcome)
Dude - Good Initiative. I am from the developing world. Smart choices- via sat.
Need to think about-
1. whose gonna pay for these devices? If the cost of device exceeds 50$ an year, it has no market - at least via free markets. Tie ups with govts are likely.
2. What's the interface? People in developing countries are illiterate- They can't read their mother tounge too. Forget about English. So the tweets have to be voice based.
I have personally been interested in a device for illiterate people (more than 1 bill of them in the world - my guesstimate). It has to be only images that are very intuitive. There are ATM machines that are made for the illiterate, maybe you can learn something from their design.
Learning methodologies change very slowly. You will notice we still learn via institutions which is something like an 500 year old concept.
It's not about techies not contributing, it's about the pace of the industry you are in. Learning which is vocational in nature is the market you seek.
True. Or u can kill ur tom-tom market with ur own iTunes app.
The thing about tom-tom is it's a gps device. So u get easy adoption for a gps service. Because you get the pre-established intent to use a gps service.
Basically get noticed with the Tom-Tom(more likely because of pre-established intent) and then come up with an app for other devices. Or like I suggest a browser based app( I don't know if this is currently possible, but am sure it will happen soon)