jamesshamenski

1 slap the business in two. 1 as a non-profit research entity (with a watershed of tax and funding possibilities) the other as the for profit side which licenses the tech developed by the non profit.

2 offer premium experiences on top of your technology. consulting, curation, etc.

3 if someone wants a feature, great. inform them of what it will cost and bill them.

4 charge per usage. this rolls with a freemium model where the basic is free but they have to pay in order to get deeper information revealed. make sure you constantly bait the hook on this one and are clear up front about how it works. nobody like clicking 5 times and then getting a sudden request for cash.

and on to the ads...

5 sponsorship is technically advertising but by aligning your site brand with the advertiser, you dont have to worry as much about query volume. think: montblanc.professionalsearch.com

6 what really works once you have query volume is advertising. look at yahoo autos. query any toyota car. who is advertising? yeah toyota. its brand protection and inside verticals it brings in the most money anywhere i can think of.

7 advertorials. look at techmeme. love those sponsored listings.

web screencasts FTW

Money is a poor motivator and has been countlessly documented as such.

If a (sinking) company (like palm) relies on this to keep their talent, then they are clearly drowning.

IMHO, Most employees are in this to see if they get a significant job title increase (status).

Asana is doing some lofty things in the way of streamlining connectivity through a super snappy interface that really jolts the offline advancements of HTML5.

Does anyone know what's going on with 280Atlas? I haven't heard much after they launched in beta about 4 months ago.

Yahoo is focused on local and so this makes some sense. Twice Jerry Yang vetoed an offer to buy Yelp. Yeah twice. Internally there was some bitterness about missing that deal.

Yahoo needs some M+A action to boost stock momentum and that's a multi-billion dollar move that needs to be carefully planned.

Yahoo also needs to counter the google 'what's nearby' feature.

Welcome to the poker table!

Take this social proof and run around to other VC's. Having other people interested is the only way you can improve terms and push anyone to close.

The best option is to say you dont need their money and would rather boot strap operations (even if that is a bluff).

As a rule of thumb, always turn down your first offer. Always.

Is this a de-evolution experiment?

What makes HN valuable is the community. Smart, relevant and immediate conversations. I dare to say this idea exploits, over-extends and misappropriates what value is present here.

The intention to contact all commenter's of 80+ vote stories is ... let's say typing is easier than doing (see: google buzz debacle).

"we are offering a $20,000 reward to whoever refers this critical team member"

The X Prize proved that contests bring in operational efficiencies in the magnitude of 10x. This may be of similar benefit when you weigh the costs of recruiting and advantages in hiring the right person.

This is an A++ team and they will find who they are looking for.

The operational efficiency and profitability of SpaceX is extraordinary. Listen to Elon and you'll see where the trends are heading.

Dear Japan, I love you.

A lower tide sinks all boats.

I hear you when you say it's bad to slight individuals you don't know anything about. I am very familiar with Boris Wertz (through multiple friends of friends) and the good he has done for the small Vancouver tech scene. However, this is a massive blow in the effort to encourage tech companies to establish a presence in Vancouver (effecting the Vancouver VC recruiting pool). Some other city will be drinking Vancouver's Milkshake.

Evidently, the VC's investing in BootupLabs are 'W media ventures' and 'growthworks'. http://blog.bootuplabs.com/2010/04/14/wertz-joins-board-firs...

I love this idea. Free swap meet for HN! A few companies have toy'd around with the idea of earning community tokens to be turned in for other forms of karma.

I have a few network devices and office equipment that i should post on here if i deem that it's not spammy.

BTW, im interested in the drive. Thanks!

Boo the VC's in this one!

The investors of BootupLabs did not have confidence in 57% of their latest pool of startups. i wonder why they invested at all if they dont fully back their judgement?

Here's what probably happened, I bet the investors squeezed Boris and Danny with the alternative option being closing their doors early on all 7 companies. Sometimes VC's do evil things to extract more ownership in last minute negotiations (knowing very well that BuL was out of cash). I bet Boris and Danny would have wanted to follow through.

Tudor had ice in his veins!

This guy reminds me of Donald Trump. After sinking deep into debt you query your investors with the assumption, "the only way you're gonna get your cash back is if you invest in me again."

Throwback to old VC mantra: Invest in the entrepreneur, not the idea!

This assumes the man decides. If you truly confine the joint agreement to one decision maker, you could drastically alter what goes into a man making his decision.

A factor of equality exponentially complicates this hypothesis.

1. notify all of your clients and contacts on your last day. this network is your best shot at landing a new gig. "its all who you know" - mantra.

2. be humble and thank the company for the opportunity. be shockingly nice and helpful. they wont forget that. This is how kevin ollie rode the bench in the NBA for 14 years with 14 teams --> everyone loved the guy because he had an awesome attitude.

3. Do that 'crazy idea' you had that the mgmt told you would never work. It's a great time to try a new sales strategy that you couldnt get approved before and see if it really would have worked.

4. Sleep with the bosses daughter.

Very cool blog post from 2008!

Right there at the very end in point #3 he ponders the option that just turned into a $80-100m valuation. He was thinking of the idea but didn't have the social proof from the cool kids.

Not being able to pivot to the right model and timeliness seem to be what went wrong.

The primary problem is that everyone is stuck on this Username+Password mentality. This is an ancient model that needs a rethink.

I'm working on a solution to replace web site logins. Please ping me if you're interested or have some expertise in this area. Shamenski of Gmail.

hmmm. the link inside this article to the rules is not up yet. Is this a $75k investment or free money? If it's an investment, then this is totally bogus.

FaceBook and Google are large employers in Ireland. It's a wealthy country but they certainly suffered over the past year with the financial fiasco. I'd move there for just cuz the irish are hilarious people.

You should sell this to microsoft for millions.

Even if the price was small, getting a good shower of FB stock could be really awesome down the line.

Agreed. I wish Eric didnt repeat so much of what he's already said. Repetition in an age of infinite content availability is unnecessary.

But if scoble had heard his other interviews, i doubt he would have been as surprised or asked those questions. Scoble is great but sometimes like all journalists he can forget to 'know his audience'. And for each of his interviews, he shares the audience with the interviewee.

The author is so gonna get laid after writing this! He should publish it in Vanity Fair.

what about the ability to post jobs?

I work in Altadena @ AdventureLink. i'm happy to arrange for a light meetup at my building most anytime. It sounds like we could actually create a descent local chapter. shamenski of Gmail

This post is way off.

Each of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet have created 3+ billion dollar businesses each. Steve and Warren have sold multiple companies when the prices rose above 1 billion. Larry treats sailing and real estate like a startup designed to flip as well.

I just bought a pair of vibram's last week. That's crazy enough for me.

I did notice that running down hill requires new technique. You cant use your heel as much or at all when barefoot.

Nope. the new docs are for angel rounds. Horowitz makes the point that VC's should act like angels when in an angel round (when in rome).

I anticipate that both docs (YC + Andreessen/Horowitz are very similar. They keep it simple so that shit doesnt get complicated if you make it to an A round.

What's great is that lots of top notch folks have pledged to use them = a standard is upon us.