Why I Quit Intuit and Started Hall.com - An Update
blog.hall.com
blog.hall.com
I've danced from your blog to your twitter and over to your fb and back, Then over to your .com which sends me back to your twitter, which says that if I read your blog, I can tweet a hall pass, for what? Okay so then I googled Hall.com and still nothing.
And herein we talk about how much the domain costs, and what your start-up experience is like (newsflash -- more creative control -- thanks) And still there's no word on hall.com.
Yet we have page after page of startup advice about being able to pitch our concept in an ice storm on a sinking ship, while the band plays and the Hotsy Totsies wink. Three Words -- Netflix for Comics. Done.
But still these pages fill with little teases here and there about the brilliant work that is being done, without actually saying what it is exactly.
So, dear sir, back to you -- in three or four words --
Hall is ..... in real life only better. Hall is ..... the new new coke. Hall is ..... Qwikster with a c. Hall is ...... kids in the. Hall is ...... Heuristic ALgorithmic Laboratory
1. The topic makes a clear reference to his new project.
2. Promoting a new project in the headline and not willing to give any indicators on what it is all about smells very "buzz" marketing'ish.
3. Nobody asked for his email. From my understanding HN is not about penpals or mailing lists but about open discussion
Time and time again, there are people who suggest that the idea is not the key, not the seed, not the most important part of the proposal. The proposal for time, for attention, for money,etc.
The argument goes something like this, while the idea is nominally important, it's the team, or the execution, or the networking, or the support that really counts. So if you can garner capital support, and 28K people anticipating your release, then you are on to something.
Let me diverge, if I may, to my own personal experiences. I went to graduate school in architecture at UCLA, and since at UCLA, the architecture school is amazingly situated across the greens from the film school, I was excited to learn about all the ideas that people had about the future of architecture, and the nexus between film and architecture. But when I got there, noone talked about ideas, everyone talked about other people. In both film and architecture, people talked about who they knew, and who the people that they knew knew, and soon we were playing 6 degrees, not to Kevin Bacon, but instead to Charles E. Cullen (Who? -- I know..right.) What was obvious, was that without the idea, everyone was competing like the courtiers of past for a chance to know someone who knows someone who knows the King, and needless to say, that competition to know someone was fierce. So idea-less we drifted aimlessly.
On the other hand, a good idea, a true idea can break through all the curtsies, gloved hand kissing and back patting, and can bloom into something unimaginable to most. The idea is the seed, the idea is the magic equation that can unlock the universe. (Like Harrison's imagined Tate-Kearney transformations)
Sure, the idea itself is not enough, but it is the essential beginning. Without it, there is nothing but whispers and promises. With it there is something undeniable.
So Mr. Hellman, while I am confident that you have such an idea, and I'm sure that you have it carefully protected so that you can nurture it, know that, as with any new idea, we look forward to you planting it amongst us so that we can watch it grow and share your joy.
I agree.
I've spent 2yrs+ years looking for good co-founders (through people I meet, not a recruiting mission). I've been to tons of events and meetups, kept up with entrepreneurs/developers in my area.
Theres only a few few people that I'd want to start a company with and they are all usually busy doing their own companies.
After having a few cofounders who didn't work out, I've learned its much better to not have one that have a mediocre one dragging out down. But at the same time I've still learned it crucial to have a cofounder.
I'd like to point out that Brett is an extraordinarily productive coder AND designer. I run Sunfire Offices (I'm Yishan) and it's pretty rare to find someone who can output so much stuff on his own so Brett's experience is admittedly atypical. Of course, that's also why we invited him to work out of Sunfire - I saw his stuff and was like, shit, this guy can really crank it out.
Anyhow, I should probably address some of the comments further up the page: Brett's the real thing and his company actually makes a Real Product. I'm afraid he hasn't put out any other public marketing materials because they've been working on the actual code. I know I probably don't have any credibility here (i.e. less than Brett himself since I don't post much on HN) but I'll still say - trust me, it's not just some crap marketing.
Brett: you should frickin release already! Sunfire was one of his beta-testing organizations and we'd like to be let into the new version, please.
Why should I bother asking for a "hallpass"?
It sounds like a marketing campaign... yet I can't find any information on what you are doing...
I found that comment really interesting since I've heard this from multiple current and ex Intuit employees. Given how "hot" the lean start-up methodology is, you'd think Intuit would push this more in their recruiting.
Great! I've got that covered... we'll see though seems like a lot of VCs like safe a sure bets, proof that it is already working.
* I don't know [insert new technology here], I'd rather stick with [insert thing I know well here]
* That isn't my problem
* Is there a ticket for that?
* Can you file a ticket for that?
* I've hit my 40 hours
* But it's always been done this way.
* We need to schedule a meeting
* [20 people in one meeting]
* [20 people in one meeting every day for a month]
* [More time in meetings than programming]
* We can't use that open framework, who will support it?
* We need this to be on [X] hardware platform because that's what ops has available
* What does the vendor say / Has architecture reviewed and approved this technology? (this may have a useful point somewhere, but I have seen arch. approval mainly be a function of who took the arch team out to a nice restaurant or went golfing with them.)
* We can't use [insert appropriate thing to use] because it's too hard. We should use [simpler thing] because our devs can understand it better.
I know this list reads almost a stereotype of big dev at this point, but I personally saw all of these. I could probably come up with a few dozen more given a few hours of cringing.