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denismars

1,425 karma · joined September 25, 2009

Founder, Physics, Mech Eng, Code & Design

YC S2016 - Proxy.com - web3 identity wallet. YC W2011 - Meetings.io - acquired by Jive 2012 YC W2010 - Embedster.com - downed by YouTube 2011

YC Badge: 0xc61e1fbb914136344a94e89f76d8c327834cfc9c

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denismars··on Proxy (YC S16) Is Digitizing Your Presence
Very excited to get this off the ground - we've got some big ideas where this can go - ultimately we want to support many use cases, but before we get there we need to battle test it in the market - would love any feedback, and if you want to get involved reach out to me denis at proxy dot co
denismars··on Ask HN: Am I the only one lost interest applying YC?
If you are truly determined, and will stop at nothing to build a successful startup, then I strongly encourage you to apply for YC and don't worry about your chances or treating it as a lottery.

Yes, it sucks not getting into YC. I know, I didn't get in the first time I applied, it felt shitty for a day, but then I just went on with building my startup regardless. I applied again the following year and this time we did get in. I didn't give up or think about our chances once.

Determination is not something you say, it's something you do, especially when the odds are stacked up against you. So if you are determined, apply for YC, don't over think it, then keep moving forward with your world domination plans.

More here: http://imars.posthaven.com/so-you-didnt-get-into-yc-now-what

denismars··on Ask HN: Am I the only one lost interest applying YC?
Like all things in startup life - nothing is easy, everything is hard. To me it sounds like you've given up already.

If you don't have the fire in your belly to overcome challenges, then chances are you probably won't be very good at building a successful company.

"soul crushing", "lottery" are words that people who easily give up use. Where's the fire, where's the ambition?

That's one of the most important things I'm looking for in the founding team when I read applications. I want to see determination, fire in the soul, and an ambition to go out there and make amazing things happen.

A great founding team can take a shitty idea and still make a success out of it, a shitty team can take a great idea and make nothing out of it.

denismars··on YC Stats
Agree with Kevin, this might encourage the wrong way of thinking when applying for YC.

Average people, that do average things, generally think in terms of the odds "what's my chance of this, or that.." when deciding about things.

Extraordinary people don't care about their chances, they do things because they are determined or obsessed about whatever it is they are doing, and stop at nothing to make it happen. These are the types of people that go on to build great companies and are the types of people YC generally looks for in the applications.

So if you're the type of person that doesn't care about the stats: you should definitely apply!

denismars··on Ask HN: How can a mechanical engineer contribute to tech or any startup?
I studied Mech Eng. and Physics but now spend most of my time building software related technologies. I think the big take away from my Mech Eng. degree is that I've learnt how to solve technical and non-technical problems. Solving problems is one of the most important parts of any startup and you should look at your Mech Eng. background not as a destination but as a continuous journey of learning to solve more and more problems (technical or not) as you encounter them in whatever challenges you confront. Apart from using your Mech Eng. skills directly in a mech related startup, those skills should not limit you to that specialization alone if you continue on the learning process of picking up more tools/knowledge to add to your chest of problem solving experience in a startup.
denismars··on Lecture 13: How to Be a Great Founder
Cool - my favorite part of Reid's lecture in this video is his clarification of what a contrarian founder really means. Don't miss that one!
denismars··on So you didn't get into Y Combinator, now what?
Yup - see http://imars.posthaven.com/so-you-got-into-yc-now-what
denismars··on So you didn't get into Y Combinator, now what?
Companies will be successful with or without YC if they are determined to succeed. YC alone won't make any company successful, only the founders and their employees can do that.

I share this same view with founders of current YC startups http://imars.posthaven.com/so-you-got-into-yc-now-what

denismars··on So you didn't get into Y Combinator, now what?
Agreed, although, the aim here is not to focus on the 'why' part? It's to focus on the 'where to go from here' part. The 'why' will always be anecdotal as it's one perspective vs another. The key to this post is really honing in on the fact that the best entrepreneurs can take setbacks yet still move on to succeed in their endeavors to build amazing companies with our without YC. Which 'anecdotally or otherwise' makes for the best YC applicants.
denismars··on Sam Altman for President
Congrats Sam! Exciting times for YC.
denismars··on Google Santa Tracker
Nice work Googlers - Now for the Nexus 7 I so deserve for being a good boy this year, can I please have it in black and in its original box so it doesn't get damaged when Santa comes down my chimney. Thx.
denismars··on Jive Software acquires Meetings.io (YC W11)
Don't worry guys, Meetings.io is not going away and will keep running as per usual.
denismars··on Jive Software acquires Meetings.io (YC W11)
Thanks guys!
denismars··on Meetings.io (YCW11) is hosting the first WebRTC Meetup (SF)
yes, preferably via webrtc ;)
denismars··on Meetings.io (YCW11) is hosting the first WebRTC Meetup (SF)
if you're into WebRTC and looking to connect with other WebRTC junkies or just wanting to learn more about WebRTC and its potentials then join the meetup group here: http://www.meetup.com/WebRTC/
denismars··on The Value of Nonverbal Communication
problem solved - user had no webcam or mic on their system which when flash was trying to detect hardware would cause the crash - we found a workaround that would fail safely if there are no webcams available. thx @heretohelp for helping us find a fix to this.
denismars··on The Value of Nonverbal Communication
i hear ya - are you in SF, happy to drop by and work out a fix for ya? email me at dmrising - @ - gmail - com
denismars··on The Value of Nonverbal Communication
Have you tried setting your peer assist to allow and camera to allow here: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplay...

this problem was solved for most of the other Linux + Chrome users by making the above selection

Also if that doesn't work try disabling the built-in Flash in Chrome and enabling the installed version using chrome://plugins

other than that, yes, give me your thinkpad and ill fix it :)

denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
thx, much appreciated! we're moving fast and have lost of great things coming up - stay tuned for more.
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
this will be possible once we have our APIs available - you'll be able to create rooms on the fly and manage your users and their interactions directly by throwing new rooms up for any two people wanting to meet and then by keeping track of which room these people are in you can then prompt others to join these people in that same room. more to come very soon.
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
thx, very appreciated! we've only been live for just over two months now so we're still the new kid on the block, but every jab, nudge and slam dunk you have to give really helps us towards taking on the heavy weights :)
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
for now they'll need to be created manually, but we're in the process of building our APIs which we'll make available very soon
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
you can also set it here - http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplay...
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
Try enabling peer assist in your Flash Global Settings - this will fix some Linux crashes but not all, Adobe has confirmed it as a bug and will hopefully have a fix or workaround soon.
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
Very cool - this is one of the use cases we've been envisioning, good to see it in action :)
denismars··on Meetings.io now enables embedding rooms on any site
no ads, we just want to make it really simple to have face to face communications on any site.
denismars··on Meetings.io (YC W11) now has screen sharing and file sharing built in.
we have plans to open it to unlimited participants - stay tuned for this and more shortly
denismars··on Meetings.io (YC W11) now has screen sharing and file sharing built in.
just pushed up an update to detect change events on the password field - this should now enable password extensions to work - although the other fields (name, email) still have a keyup event detection to detect real users
denismars··on Meetings.io (YC W11) now has screen sharing and file sharing built in.
we have an exciting new monetization strategy that will enable free use of our services and does not rely on advertising - stay tuned for more very soon :)
denismars··on Meetings.io (YC W11) now has screen sharing and file sharing built in.
not really. ScreenLeap is catering for a dead-simple screen sharing service used in conjunction with any communications medium (phone, email, skype etc) - whereas meetings.io is enabling screen sharing wholly within the meeting.io experience.
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