Whoa! Definitely give the commenting engine a try. It is insanely fast. I'm curious how it would work on my old SaaS app that had a ton of data and displayed attached PDFs (that were often scanned images of text, not the actual text) that are huge. Nice work.
Maybe. But user is like a consumer. So HN is multiuser, but seems weird to call HN multi-player. Live concurrent interactions feels like something more than multiuser. Just my 2-cents, but multiplayer as in multiple users acting and interacting is a good use of the term multiplayer.
Anytime I read about why someone likes some new low-cost locale better than SF, NY, or pick-your-US-city, I just can’t help but read it as “I like being rich.”
This was a big project including code refactoring, increasing test coverage, and bringing better release processes to our product.
As the founder, I wasn't involved, but it was great to watch. It was the smoothest transition of that size that I have ever seen inside a product company.
General Motors. Several airlines. You’re describing bankruptcy protection. It means the debt holders will agree to pennies on the dollar or possibly even to forgive the debt but take over the equity wiping out the common shareholders. Companies can file for bankruptcy protection or debt holders can effectively force companies into bankruptcy if they default on their debt payments.
If you have the opportunity to get help from lpolovets, you should jump at the chance at any minimum. What does $10k or $25k get you in the Valley... not a lot. But if you keep expenses low and have support from great people like lpolovets, suddenly you have a lot more than when you stated.
No price cap or a high cap means the discount is your max return during the period between when you wire your money and the priced round. Compare that to what an Seed VC or A Round VC would look for between their round and the next.
As an angel in that scenario, you’re investing with the risk profile of a very, very early company but the return profile of a later investor.
Founder here. Cool to see the story posted on HN. Happy to answer questions until I hop on my flight. (I'm a "WiFi off and focus on one thing" kind of flier).
First, we all have bills to pay. Don’t knock someone for their chosen profession.
Second, I was lucky enough to be invited to a small group event to hear him speak. Either all or the vast majority of his fee was sent directly to a charity. Never hit his bank account.
Good rule of thumb is to remember not to make assumptions about people you know nothing about.
Currently live in Mountain View. Red Rock is the epicenter. Lesser known (but pointing it out here so it gets more business and stays in business) is Olympus Caffe & Bakery. It’s not really suited towards long coding sessions. But it’s easier to talk without being overheard by 18 other startups.
Agree with other posters. The challenge is escaping tech. I have two kids and every parent at their school works for Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple, HP, some startup unicorn, or some new startup. Me? Oh, uh yeah. I’m a founder of a 50-person startup.
You’re right to think that 35 is pretty young. But it’s not too young to get into Product Management. Or any other career change for that matter.
There are many different types of PMs. Some companies want a more technical PM. Maybe a company selling a technical product to a technical audience would find your engineering experience extremely valuable.
My default career advice to everyone is to figure out where your experience is rare. If other PMs have 5-10 years of experience as a PM, you’re the rare gal or guy with years of actual coding and experience. That group will have a ton of depth to help on your PM gaps. But you’ll be the only one who can do what you do.
Getting older, getting married, having kids, living in different parts of the country in different types of cities. Basically anything new gives you a broader perspective.
When people talk about startups and equity, they often talk about the “risk” of joining a startup. For me, as a founder, the equity portion of a comp package isn’t about the risk. I’m curious to know what HNers (often with very passionate thoughts on the topic) think of my theory.
There is risk at companies of all sizes. Also, the idea of a single career in your lifetime isn’t a reality, so the “risk” of a losing a job is really the risk of losing it without notice. Compensation for that risk would be something like one month of pay, not illiquid certificates that might or might not become cash someday.
Employees can also change jobs voluntarily. But the idea that their employer should get a percent of their future earnings as compensation for that risk would be ridiculous.
I believe equity comp is because employees have two jobs: 1) execute on their day job, 2) build the systems, processes, culture, and institutional norms of the company. Basically, the equity component is added to the cash component because building a company takes long-term thinking and because it’s a ton of work.
I’m curious to know if others think about equity comp having a purpose other than to offset risk. Thanks!
Hi there. That quote was from me. Thanks for finding it interesting. Thanks for asking lpolovets to weigh in. He is incredibly smart and thoughtful. Turns out... he’s one of the investors that responded well to our “pragmatic” pitch. A few angels did. It’s not that it doesn’t appeal to anyone or that it’s the wrong choice. But, if you’re pitching to a VC where success is measured in # of homeruns—not win rate or even IRR—you should talk about being a homerun, not a sure thing.
First, huge respect for bootstrapping. My co-founder and I ran a bootstrapped company together for over a decade. Skipped our own paychecks three times to ensure we made payroll for our team. But I’m sure you have your own stories just like that. Again, HUGE respect to you and everyone that operates without a backstop.
We went just over two years in our venture-backed company before hiring anyone. Built the business to nearly $200k ARR. Everyone we told was amazed. But if 2 people can’t operate a business with only $200k top line, you don’t need a complex financial model to know that your economics aren’t where they need to be.
So, yes, you need to have revenues and cash before you can hire and pay salaries. 401k is only a little further out than that.