Definitely agree the product is what matters, but it (likely) helps to either be physically attractive or confident, or both, conveying to investors, customers and whomever else to offer their time and attention to listen to you.
18 karma · joined September 17, 2012
Although not entirely appearance related, Slow Ventures put out books and seminars to help founders not only look and dress better, but also be more intentionally professional, that seems to suggest there's a drift away from startup swag to sport coats.
That got me wondering if aesthetics like hair transplants, breast implants, and similar were as common in tech as they seem to be in Vegas, Miami, or LA, but that it's just not discussed as much.
Like the other commenter suggested, medical tourism is a viable answer. Most Americans have probably heard of Turkey for hair transplants, but the truth is that certain countries specialize in specific procedures, and are the BEST in the world at performing them, and with the best outcomes.
I've done several procedures abroad and saved 70-80% vs the US cost, and that's including the travel and vacation portion. Yes, medicine costs a lot, but most people are ignorant to where most of that money is going to pay for, and how expensive the "system" makes things in the US.
As mentioned in the article, many who work full time in SF can't afford to live in the city. "Affordable places" generally means far east or south of their workplace, meaning that they have to spend an enormous amount of money and time commuting to their jobs. With time and money being a finite resource [for most], the commute time comes at the cost of family time and the cost of transportation comes out of their meager earnings (a fact that, if you live in SF or work at a company that provides a private bus, take for granted). Living outside of the city is still unaffordable for many people because of these costs.
The real problem is the scarcity of overall housing resources. With the boom in tech drawing more and more people into SF, it's only going to become more of an issue unless building picks up significantly. This is also true of salaries, which will have to increase in order for companies to hire people who can afford to live here, further driving a wedge between those who can and those who cannot live here.
While I can't confirm whether the cancelled fare was Uber initiated, it did occur to me that both Lyft and the driver were getting screwed by the cancellation. If it happens enough times, I can definitely understand why my driver would jump ship and drive for Uber instead.
Mixpanel and others have offered special deals for rejects in the past. Silver lining!
Airbnb is different because the relationship is long distance and trust, payments, insurance, etc are a much larger issue. It's also typically a one-time transaction and there's little need to take the deal offline. I'm sure they deal with this with people wanting to stay beyond their trip date or trying to book directly, but Airbnb can easily track this stuff with the scheduling feature and seeing discrepancies when users try to go offline.