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Comment by stevoski | Hacker News Reader

His name is Emil Hajric. A few years back, when Joel Spolsky's "Business of Software" discussion forum was at its peak, he used whois records to find the phone numbers of some of the most frequent contributors and to call us personally.

I found this rather creepy.

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Hey Steve,

I do remember those days...and I'm very sorry about the cold call. I figured it was worth at least a shot

Really sorry if I creeped you out there. I'm just a 20 year old kid, that's trying the best he can.

Congrats on the success! I'm actually contemplating moving to another country (albeit a more expensive, but wealthier, country) to target an under-served market. I'd love to hear more about how you found small business clients and pitched them on a web service because I will have to do the same.

Zasto nisi ostao u Sarajevu?

Typically we comment on HN in English.

For the curious/lazy, the parent comment roughly translates from Bosnian into English: "Why didn't you stay in Sarajevo?" (Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia)

Thanks Daniel. This story has nothing to do with Bosnia anyway, because it is an US company and he is an US citizen. The fact that he is from Bosnia is just a coincidence and not a choice.

By the way: I think Internet Startups could be a great chance for this region, because of the independence from infrastructure. Ok, the mentality sucks when it comes to Entrepreneurship, but I see it more as an opportunity. I think that the US has enough companies. The Balkans deserve their own Internet- hub. dreamon :D

Nowadays this is called "hustling" and would likely net him $millions in venture capital.

"Creepy"? How can it be "creepy" to make a business-related call to people whose names were publicized in a business context?

Creepy is showing up unannounced and unintroduced at the front door of an actor or actress you have a crush on. I understand that you may not like to be cold called, but it is not creepy - it's the way much of business is done.

Maybe this varies by area, but professional etiquette everywhere I've been is that you ask before taking an online conversation to the phone. If you're having a forum or email discussion with someone, it's not typical practice to look up their phone number and call them up. For example, I think it would be at least somewhat weird to call someone who posted a StackOverflow question or response, rather than responding to them on SO.

Especially if you used WhoIs information to get their number.

> at least somewhat weird to call someone who posted a StackOverflow question or response

I think that's just straight-up weird

I don't disagree with you about professional etiquette, but to the extent that this is a forum about entrepreneurship, surely we might permit, or even encourage, not to mention applaud, a slight nudging of the boundaries?

Not in this respect, no.

I could be easily pm'ed via the forum. That would be a professional way to call me.

I neglected to mention that the phone call came late in the evening, and on a weekend I think.

It depends a lot on the nature of the call (especially as in this case the forum maybe provided an obvious alternative method of initiating contact - but even then calls can sometimes be more appropriate).

I think people can be forgiven for misjudging their cold-calling timing and technique in their mid-teens too.

And grabbing the numbers from WHOIS itself simply shows initiative

Creepy or driven? Either way it's probably better than that email correspondence between a Gizmodo writer and that Nick D'Aloisio kid.

Thanks for the comment, Mladen! I hope you found the article somewhat interesting...

What's the big deal? People send unsolicited emails/tweets to other HN posters all the time. I'd like to think we're past the point where intermingling the "real world" (phone) with the "internet world" is deemed "creepy."

I'm sad to read comment like this. I was always under impression that entrepreneurs will help each other and support each other. But I guess I'm wrong.

Heh, I've got him on linked in... always wondered who he was.

You find whois creepy?

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