havoc2005

This is a good approach. I think my urge comes from several areas.

1. Not feeling like I've done enough re: education. There's always a feeling that I need to have a graduate degree to gain some level of knowledge I can't self-study, to gain a network that might be closed to me without the credential, to feel like I tried harder.

And if I'm being honest, it's partially my ego that is driving this, ie: I want a degree from a top school just to know I was able to do it to not continue to have this regret lingering in the back of my mind.

2. I want to create. Your approach is great. I want to be more of a builder that way I can combine my marketing skills with building products.

3. I feel like I'm not accomplishing enough. So what are the levers I can pull to accelerate this? It seems like a graduate degree and a complementary skill set like coding would satisfy this itch.

Great app! I like the simplicity

I've always believed in going through a lawyer for this. Guys like Cooley and WSGR have startup friendly terms and plans that work out well.

How are you different from PandaDoc?

Thanks

I'll be there

Capitalization tables are commonly used for VC deals, ie: Series A, B, etc. What I am looking for is something similar that would be suited for an initial seed funding round.

Good advice. But where can I find out what company distributes the bar codes?

emailed

1. How will you overcome the chicken and egg problem and attract users who have read the books?

A. I was going to start out in a niche that I have familiarity with, IT certifications. I would like to reach out to three primary IT certification forums where users ask for advice about which books they should read to obtain a specific certification. I could use them as a test and pivot as needed depending on the outcome.

2. How will you screen users to determine that they have the necessary domain expertise to determine "knowledge maximization?"

A. Screening is going to be done through voting on the list. So there would be one list per subject, then users can vote up or down on any book in the list to change it's ranking.

3. How can a generic list of materials be assumed to apply to individuals with diverse backgrounds?

A. They can't. The hope is that the list will give the user a better idea of what to buy/read.

The reason I want to do this is because it is a problem I face all the time. When I want to learn a new subject such as Malware analysis. I search Amazon and get a fairly large list of books to choose from. Now I try to choose them by basing my decision on the amount of customer reviews, ratings and comments. What if we could simplify that and allow those same users to rank the books so you wont have to make a determination based on looking at three meterics for every book you want to take into consideration?

4. Finally, as soon as you see reading two books on the same topic as a problem, you have somewhat divorced yourself from the kind of people who typically read books - particularly readers in pursuit of technical expertise.

A. I don't see reading of two books on the same topic as a problem but the problem lies in the materials within the book. For example chapter 1-3 in one book and chapters 4-6 in another book might be the same material, so I want to avoid that. So I want to minimize the material you read within the books.

Our suggestions will come from users who have already read the books and have determined the bare minimum you will need to read to maximize knowledge.

Amazon suggestions simply basis off of ratings and copies sold so you might buy two highly suggested books off of amazon only to find out that it's the same materials covered, written by two different authors.

Any ideas on monetization?

This is a good question, I could do a shorter time scale by pulling specific chapters of every book and then combining them into a slimmed down reading list. Say, from book one read chapter 1-3, book 2 chapter 5 and 6, book 3, chapter 9-10 and that will give you x knowledge.

My initial thought was to monetize through affiliate sales but you're right. I have to find another way to monetize.

Competitors seem to be sites that simply suggest similar books

whatshouldireadnet.com reader2.com shelfari.com and of course Amazon

What they do not do is give you an orderly list of books and an order to read them in to maximize knowledge and avoid excessive repetition.

I was thinking of having it controlled through votes, up and down. So a user who just obtained say an IT certification such as the CISSP can list the books he read and the order for the search term "cissp". Then if one of the books is heavily downvoted it would be removed from the list. This way dated material will be removed and replaced with up to date books.

registered!

thanks, I've taken two semesters of Java, php/mysql, etc in the past so I should be able to get it down fast.

Thanks guys, I'm jumping right into it.

Would you guys say that Head First Python (http://amzn.to/nLU7sE) is a good book for an absolute beginner to start with? I know programming concepts as well as markup language, HTML and CSS.

I will definitely come to Startup Weekend. Thank you for the reminder.

Great, I was considering going straight into Python or even Rails.

This is all being bookmarked and added on twitter

Test cases would be very good. I've attended many events myself, Techcrunch50 being the last one and the questions that I ask here have helped me more because I get to ask the same people that have gone through the issue.

If I understood the question correctly, how about using 4 recent start-ups that have gained significant traction and have the audience question them on how they did it?

I actually appreciate the up vote comment. Being a redditor and ex digg user, one of the first things I looked for was an upvote/downvote button on here but due to all of the information I've been taking in on this site lately, I've completely disregarded everything else and didn't stop to think that the tiny triangle was the upvote link.

So far HN has been an absolute goldmine

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you

Well, to clarify, I'm a huge geography, history, and literature geek. I believe that, for the sake of reforming our educational system, less focus needs to be placed on classic literature and maybe have a better redefined and effective geography and history curriculum which covers more in less time. Less repetition throughout the years on those subjects and more focus on more practical subjects such as finance, business, career analysis, and IT. If you feel the need to progress your education in those other subjects beyond the amount that will give you general knowledge, then you can always self study as I have. I'm not downplaying the importance, just saying that the education system puts too much focus on it.

TL;DR: Finish HS and college ASAP, take huge risks, don't think about the consequences. If you fail, fall back on your college degree for a stable job

High School is completely irrelevant in life if your goals will not correlate with the years of geography, history, and literature you have to put up with. However, in your situation you will want to do good but get out as soon as humanly possible. If you can somehow take extra classes over the summer or self study and skip grades that would be idea. Go to college, network your ass off, but don't depend on college to make you any more satisfied then highschool has. With that being said, finish college as soon as possible as well, again, the key here is to network and meet as many people in your desired career field/goal as possible and then take huge risks. Use your high school and college degrees as fall backs in case you ever fail in life and are too burned out to continue.

If you don't put it to good use. I just graduated college myself and put off any thoughts of going back for a year or two to see what I can make of my free time. 4 months later and I'm almost a CISSP in the security field. Now I feel as though I need to get back in touch with the HN community and maybe start networking better.