9 karma · joined February 26, 2011
Inspiring story. I'm pulling for this guy.
Nice execution.
Jason is involved in so many important projects, but not sure that makes his time "more valuable".
I'd conclude Jason has much, much more influence, power, and ability to move the needle. That said, pure substance -- I'm going with Dharmesh probably all the way.
This whole thing reminds me of the recruiting craze in the NBA. Remember when guys like KG really drove the trend of skipping college and going straight to the NBA? Recruiters started looking earlier and earlier to find the best talent. When I was like 14 I remember starting to see SLAM magazine articles about the best middle school players in the country. Recruiters tried to befriend the most talented earlier and earlier.
This is what the recent news of Roughdraft.VC and Dorm Room Fund remind me of... VC's trying to find founders who aren't looking for funding and maybe haven't founded something yet. And the best way to find them? The students on campus who are the most helpful and have built the most trust with these "about-to-be-founders".
That LITERALLY is the definition of Peter Boyce.
For those who don't know the story of Boyce, he is the essence of everything startups at Harvard. If you are working on a startup there, you have probably received advice/feedback from him -- or been told to reach out to him. I believe in Roughdraft.VC, and I believe in Peter Boyce.
1) Dan is beyond his years in terms of articulating his thoughts on startups and software development, and reminds some people of a young Jason Fried (co-founder of 37Signals, author of "Rework", etc.)
2) Dan is (much like Jason Fried) a bit of a contrarian. He has shipped almost two dozen apps/sites in the past couple years and is working night and day on growing his current startup, but he isn't dropping out of university. He also isn't out raising venture capital and trying to scale scale scale -- instead focusing on building a business that makes revenue and is profitable from (almost) day one. And lastly, because he is not chasing the "sexy", popular consumer app space -- instead focusing his efforts on the 'less glamorous' SaaS and B2B space.
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The combination of these factors make a lot of us in HN interested in where Dan's career is headed, and thus interested in reading his posts and watching him progress as a founder while still in school.
That's why so many Dan Shipper articles get submitted here, and why they always end up near the top. He is the real deal.
Hahahah, but seriously bro good luck and keep hustling!!
P.S. that's an amazing domain name. Do you think they might wanna buy it from you?
P.P.S. Maybe you could teach a few classes on video a la Khan to show your expertise and belief in their mission/etc? Maybe you could even tutor... I could see you teaching a 1-on-1 class for a boy named boyce about 'How To Go To Class'. It would be a moneymaker!