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BRadmin

858 karma · joined May 12, 2008

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BRadmin··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (May 2016)
About me: co-founded two companies (SaaS and mobile spaces), Yale MBA (sorry!), PM at Amazon, VC and international experience, human-centered design advocate - looking to work on product for ambitious consumer focused company

Location: NYC

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: SF or LA

Resume/CV: http://bit.ly/1pWS0k7

Email: (on resume)

BRadmin··on An FBI Hostage Negotiator Buys A Car [audio]
Expanding the pie is more about:

1. calculating the total combined value all involved parties receive from making a deal 2. trying to increase this value above and beyond their BATNAs 3. then carving up and sharing this excess

So it's about focusing on specialized synergies and value creation. For a more in-depth read I'd recommend Co-Opetition by Brandenburger and Nalebuff (whose class on Negotiations I just completed): http://www.amazon.com/Co-Opetition-Revolution-Combines-Compe...

BRadmin··on Can You Outsource Product UX / UI Design Successfully?
By outsourcing he merely means delegating work to someone who is not an employee of the company - or rather, "to a freelance designer or firm." The OP makes no distiction between or contention for or against local, domestic or international workforces.
BRadmin··on HelloFax (YC W11) kills the fax machine, but it's really about e-signatures
Because of that problem most organizations prefer 'digital signatures' which have a cryptographic component.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_signature#Legal_test...

BRadmin··on Is MySpace's death spiral due to bets on Los Angeles and Microsoft?
Brian Norgard, who started the thread, mentioned he "was in the belly of the beast due to the acquisition of my first company," which was Newroo.

http://techcrunch.com/2006/03/14/fox-to-acquire-startup-newr...

BRadmin··on An inspirational collection of UI details/hacks
I think it's because they're using FB for registration -

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1594596

FB no longer functions this way for me - but Quora populates my full name and pic right after entering my email address (i.e. no credential submission required).

BRadmin··on The IRS Targets Income Tricks
Hey can you provide some reference for the SSA benefit payments being "based on your latest 40 qrtrs."

I could only find this worksheet online: http://ssa.gov/pubs/10070.html

And under "Estimating your Social Security retirement benefit" your payments appears to be based on your highest index earnings over 35 years.

BRadmin··on Google Turns Your Android Phone Into An On-The-Fly Conversation Interpreter
Screenings for a documentary about him, Transcendent Man, were finally posted yesterday:

http://transcendentman.com/

BRadmin··on Negative Option (Collecting a credit card at free-trial signup time)
37signals offers a 30-day free trial for paid plans, but clearly states: "If you cancel a paying plan within 30 days of signing up you won't be charged a thing. We'll send you an email 5 days before your first charge to remind you."

In addition they also offer FREE plans for their services - which require no CC at sign-up and allow you to upgrade at any time.

Edit: Any comments on the downvotes would be helpful as I was just trying to supply more detailed information on the actual process being discussed.

BRadmin··on Caring for your introvert
Great article, but repost from over a year and a half ago (and article is from 2003):

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=561311

BRadmin··on Introducing Word Lens
A slide in the video specifically says: "You need only the phone and world lens. Without connection to internet or costs of network."
BRadmin··on Everest is littered with dead, exposed bodies
The mini-documentary season Everest: Beyond the Limit (streaming on Netflix) is a pretty interesting watch, and chronicles an expedition to the top - including a climber who actually encountered David Sharp on the mountain, while he was still alive, and the thought-process / decision of having to leave him behind.

Also, even though Everest is the highest mountain the world...

Annapurna has the highest fatality to summit ratio of all mountains @ ~40%.

And K2, with the second highest fatality rate (and 2nd highest elevation), is generally regarded as the most physically difficult and technically challenging.

BRadmin··on The Men Who Stole the World
* Frankel, not Franklin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Frankel
BRadmin··on How Israel handles airport security
This article is from 2009 and was submitted back to HN then - and had some insightful comments.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1024850

BRadmin··on Wearing a mask = being more confident.
Your comment reminded me of how a lot of sales training / pick-up artist gaming revolves around neuro-linguistic programming.

Mirroring & matching, imitating the body language, tone, speed, diction of those you interact with, is an important facet of NLP and subsequently the art of persuasion - and as an aside, having preset rules to follow makes one feel as though they are playing a 'role' and acting, thereby increasing confidence as well.

BRadmin··on Stop Looking for a Technical Co-Founder, Learn to Code Yourself
I'd say the main thing is control.

Me and a friend, both non-technical, started a service oriented company 6 years ago.

Now we're switching our focus to SaaS and even have some $$ to pay contractors / employees...

But how do we evaluate talent?

How do we delegate?

How do we understand (much less give input) on technical decisions?

What happens when (not if) they leave and move on?

Being vulnerable to and leaving that much decision-making responsibility to 'employees' who aren't invested like you are is a recipe for failure - entrepreneurs make things happen and get things done, but how much of that can you do if you don't understand the core of what your business does - software?

BRadmin··on Ask HN: Where to look to learn UX/Design
Can you recommend any books on "human factors"?
BRadmin··on [dead]
Ask the nice lady who posted it on her blog?
BRadmin··on [dead]
This shows that the "company who made it" settled for $52,000, despite what the OP says:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/08/everprivate.shtm

BRadmin··on The Lean Startup Bundle
Anyone (or Noah) know if we need to activate these deals within a certain time period - do they expire??
BRadmin··on Put armor where there aren't bullet holes
Survivorship bias:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

BRadmin··on SaaS Subscription Billing, or How to avoid getting your n*ts in a vice
From Braintree's site:

To try and help address this problem, we created a Credit Card Data Portability initiative (press release). It's an opt-in community of payment providers that agree to allow a merchant to port credit card and other associated information if the merchant ever decides to move to another provider.

http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/blog/data-portabili...

BRadmin··on The Adaptive Function of Masturbation in a Promiscuous African Ground Squirrel
"For organisms that rarely urinate, masturbation may serve a similar function to postcopulatory urination, as a more thorough mechanism to clean vital reproductive tracts after mating than just external genital grooming. Consuming the ejaculate may prevent moisture loss."
BRadmin··on Craig Newmark: How Being a Geek Made it Hard to Respond to CNN's Ambush
I would imagine a proper response would be to actually address the questions - i.e. discuss what CL is doing to inhibit sexual exploitation.

Calling someone else's backyard a mess might feel good - but doesn't say anything about your own.

BRadmin··on Facebook launching Facebook Places (check-ins)
No mention of Loopt?
BRadmin··on Tixe, “Exit” Spelled Backwards: Co-Founder Matt Brezina Has Also Left Xobni
Then what was the VCs plan after turning down Microsoft's offer? Making > $20MM selling $40 software seems pretty unlikely.
BRadmin··on Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids?
Thank you for not titling this "Hacks for Raising Kids."
BRadmin··on InDinero (YC S10) sees huge market for small-business expense tracking
I can attest that the InDinero team has been super responsive to our small business.

In addition to the prompt & steady flow of email dialogue, Jessica has actually called us a few times to get feedback and they've already started implementing the features we've requested.

Just wanted to share another customer service related experience with them.

-We have absolutely no affiliation with InDinero or any of its employees.

BRadmin··on California's Prop 8 (gay marriage ban) ruled unconstitutional
Based on that argument I'm not quite sure how you can oppose gay marriage. It would appear you would have to rally against marriage subsidies, or at least marriage as a whole, etc. - because singling out a facet of the group (or a facet wanting to be part of that group) you have reason to dislike strikes me as discriminatory.
BRadmin··on Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight
Tethering on Edge probably wouldn't be the best experience anyways. =)
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