Ask HN: Will you be my Advisor? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Will you be my Advisor?

A few weeks ago I started out on a new startup.

As you know, I am a sole developer and work out of my home. As such, I have nobody to bounce ideas off of.

Would you be willing to be on my volunteer advisory board? The job is very simple:

1) I will email you each day with my status update

2) From time to time I will ask your opinion, you are free to ignore these emails if you are too busy

3) You promise not to release any details about the application unless I ask you to

That's about it. More than anything, it gives me a feeling that I'm not just all by myself here and also allows me to have another set of critical eyes look at what I'm doing.

Your opinion is valued! I could really use the help.

Let me know.

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What is your startup? If you're doing something which I find technically interesting, I'd be happy to advise; if you're writing software for printing bingo cards, it would be a waste of both your time and mine.

(No offense intended to patio11 -- bingo cards was just the first example which came to mind of a successful startup which doesn't have the sort of technical challenges which I find interesting.)

If you think Patrick's startup is actually about bingo cards, you need to re-read pretty much everything he's written here. His technical challenges aren't about putting random words on a page.

You in particular would benefit a lot from what he's writing about.

If you think Patrick's startup is actually about bingo cards, you need to re-read pretty much everything he's written here.

I guess I must have been mislead by the URL "http://www.bingocardcreator.com.

His technical challenges aren't about putting random words on a page.

I'm clearly behind the times. I thought bingo cards had numbers. :-/

You in particular would benefit a lot from what he's writing about.

Patrick's blog seems to be far more about marketing and business strategy than it is about technical issues. I'm sure I could learn a lot from him -- those are definitely not my strong points. But they're also not particularly areas which I find interesting... and they're definitely not areas where it would make sense for me to be advising someone else!

I agree. If its something technically interesting, I'd be happy to help as well. I'm also a skeptic by nature, so while this is maddening for some people, I think it helps bring focus.

I emailed you this information.

Right now I'm trying to only explain the app privately, not in a public forum. But I'm sure that will change very soon!

I recommend you adjust your first job step: emailing each day. You should email when you have something to say and not be bound by the rotation of the earth.

Other than that, I'd be happy to provide feedback if I'm able.

That's a great idea. Will do.

To any of you that are looking for an adviser, I can offer some assistance the only caveat is that I have to find the technology you are working on compelling. If you shot me a high level via email (in my profile), I will shoot back an I'm interested or a good luck.

Full disclosure, I do work with a venture group from time to time and an incubator, but any advise I give will be no string attached until said time that I tell you that strings would be attached to continue the relationship.

Your email is not in your profile.

Sorry I thought it was it is ksmeltzer@ the Google email.

Totally in the same boat. I started work on my own idea this past week and it would be great to discuss ideas and the usual startup issues. I'd be happy to help out.

Sure. I'm in a very similar situation, so we might be able to give each other a heads-up.

You should convene your group of advisers at http://AskMyBrainTrust.com

I will be glad to help, but I'm not sure if my area of expertise is interesting or useful to you.

Also -- I'd be happy to help.

Looking for an advisor too.

I suggest you bring your search for an adviser to real life. The advisers you initially have at your start up don't need to be gurus. Yes, they should be more experienced, more knowledgeable, and more connected than you are. But they should be someone who's opinion you trust and rely on. If probably know someone who will be a great adviser, just pitch them.

will you be my advisor?

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