Offer HN: How can I help?
Who am I?
I’m Brian!
Seriously though, I’ve been in technology for a while. I have been through shutdowns, liquidations, and an acquisition. I’ve worked with a lot of smart people. I’ve led teams in both wonderful and awful company cultures.
I'm more of a HN lurker than contributor. Here's to changing that.
I’m not a VC or Angel Investor. I’m not looking to make investments and couldn’t even if I wanted to. I’m not a recruiter or head-hunter. I’m just a guy with a range of experience, some free time and an urge to give back.
I really like (decaf) espresso and chocolate.
What can I offer?
I’m offering to meet over coffee, lunch, dinner, in your conference room, at some park somewhere, anywhere in San Francisco or the East Bay. I can probably be convinced to trek down into the valley. Maybe we could even get together in a Google Hangout or on Skype (or whatever flavor of conferencing software you prefer.) I’m more than willing to get together when I’m traveling, if you’re in a place I’m traveling to.
I will help however I am able. We can brainstorm startup ideas. Help you think about your technology stack. Help you think about if/who you should hire and help you craft position announcements. Help you interview technical people where I’m competent to do so. Obviously I’m not an expert in everything, but maybe I can help you rope in an expert if I can’t cover it.
Maybe you want to talk about how to get started climbing the technology learning curve or want some help with a strategy to get hired into a particular company or want to know how I’ve navigated awkward conversations about compensation packages. Maybe you want to talk about how I filled the gaps in my education because I dropped out before finishing my degree. Maybe you want to hear me belabor the point of how you can get a college level education free on the internet.
I can even help you practice your chess game.. much in the same way a punching bag helps a boxer prepare for a bout.
There’s probably more I can offer, let’s talk about it. I don’t want to waste your time or mine. If I can help I will, if I can’t I’ll say so.
What do I want?
If you’re a bit cynical, a little suspicious, or do not commonly encounter generosity in your life you may find yourself wondering why I’m doing this. This is a big experiment for me. I like experimenting and doing so on myself instead of others clears up a lot of legal issues. To make things perfectly transparent these are my goals:
1. Meet people and dramatically expand my network. 2. Get out of my own head and see what other people are thinking. 3. Find out about cool new things ( and get invited to awesome launch parties. ;] ) 4. That warm fuzzy feeling you get from doing good deeds. 5. Did I mention how much I like coffee and chocolate?
(Here's the original blog post: http://malfunctive.com/2012/03/07/the-offer/)