p01nd3xt3r

I contacted the like a little guys and they sent me back 2 puzzles before they would even speak to me. The first one was dead simple and took about 14 seconds to write the code and another 7 for it to run and give me the answer.

"A 7 digit number consists of 7 distinct digits (from 0..9 ofcourse); The product of the first 3 digits = product of central 3 digits = product of last 3 digits; Find the middle digit."

"Middle Number: 2" "Set: 1892463" "Common Products: 72"

The next question I did not understand; I just figured I was not smart enough because I have no college and I am just a hacker that makes shit not a "software eng.". I sent it to a friend of mine that teaches Econ. at a top college and he said he had no idea what they were even asking. (see question below)

Given a list of N line segments on the X axis: (x1[i], x2[i]) where i = 1 to N; And then a list of M queries. Each query inputs one x-coordinate and you need to output the number of line segments that overlap this point. Assume M & N are very large. (So O(M*N) is really bad.)

I asked for clarification and got none so I guess they figured i was just too stupid to respond to which is cool but it made me wonder if when people talk about programmers that cant program do they mean people that cant answer these types of questions? I spent 5 or 10 min or it and gave up. But even though I didn't answer this I can code like a MF and if this question had been a programming challenge I think I could have done it.

My point is that companes should really think before sending out stuff like that to potential developers because they might pass up on some really good talent. I am not saying that I am very talented but I do know how to code and build cool products. I made digest.io and it uses clojure, ML, MapReduce to learn about your diet and help manage digestive conditions and it has paying customers that are happy. I made that and it works well so im not a rookie but I still have no idea what that 2nd question is asking.

BTW: Even though i hate these puzzles the FB puzzles are simple and I have always been able to complete them quickly.

You need 2 people. You are red dots they are green. My to do list.

1. limit the zoom level so you can see users block but not exact location

2. Integrate twilio for anon phone / txt capability

3. Fix search and check-ins... hacking on this now. I am entering this in the twilio Holiday Hack contest.

1) http://digest.io - diet manager

2) http://spotted.at - social search

I tink that Cuil became a disaster because Gogle existed. When google came out it was easily 10x better than what was currently on the market. The same cant be same for cuil.

1. Get 10,000 subscribers for digest.io

2. Get 10,000 queries / post per day on spotted.at

3. Smile more, appreciate life and get a date or two. :-)

Yes. I am currently working on one just for shits and giggles. Its called spotted.at http://spotted.at

The things that I am focusing on are

a) realtime b) not having to provide phone number c) valid listings (e.g.: listing disappears once item is gone)

I am really sick of these articles; why cant we just focus on talent. Put the best people in the best positions. It should not matter if they are male, female black or white.

I am launching Local Strange [localstrange.com]. It's a real-time replacement for the craigslist erotic section.

I got video chat working.

Ill have phone / txting done this week.

Next week im implementing a credits system.

FB treats friendship like its bimodal when in fact its not. People have many levels of friendship and FB does not take that into account. IMHO that is the main weakness w/ their site right now.

Dude, thank you so much. That is one I definitely could not have tested on my own.

Chrome / OSX / Latest Version - Works

All of the startup founders that I know are internally driven and do not depend on the environment and/or circumstances to motivate them.

Just because I have more time than you does not mean that you use your time more efficiently than i do. I have 12 hours a day to code and thats just what I do. I dont sit around for 9 and code for 3 just because I have time to. I code for 12 because I want to. I can also fly across the country on a moments notice and stay up all night for a client if needed.

Can startup dad?

My point is that IMHO nothing that limits your flexibility and distracts you can possibly give you an advantage as a startup founder.

All were fulltime

NetWinner - started as 1 grew to 15 (2 yrs)

Social Ad Manager (appox 1yr) currently Ramen Profitable.

Local Strange (Launching in Nov.)

About 10 years ago I worked at a company called Nu-kote that did printer / ink supply chain stuff. They had clients like office depot office max etc... There was a system alled extenterprise that was like the daily dashboard / forecasting system for the sales team. On my 3rd day I fixed some problems that extenterprise was having. After about 3 months I was given a bonus because my forecasting algorithm was substantially more accurate than what was previously being used and it saved / made the company tons of money.

No, because they were awesome learning experiences. The term "failure" is very vague. Do you consider anything less than a profitable exit a failure? I have had many startups that did not go as planned but because I learned a lot and they (the startup) led me to other ideas I would not consider them failures. The only time I would be embarrassed about a failure is if I had quit and the company went on to succeeded with out me.

2 months is not that long dude. I am a single founder and have been going hard for over 3 years. The key to it IMHO is to really love what you are doing so much that it does not seem like work. I dont launch either. Just iterate. See article: http://www.marketing.fm/2009/11/17/never-launch-just-iterate...

I code 12 hours a day (3 4h sessions). But I dont have a traditional schedule because dont sleep. I only nap. If I did sleep there is no way I could do it.

I am so glad to see someone that is not totally full of shit answer the "how much did x take to develop" question. I have made a few iPhone apps and I am always amazed by the low time estimates that non-iPhone developers give. Also, keep in mind that these are really good top notch developers. Double his time estimate for idiots. I probably fall somewhere right in the middle.

The interesting thing about this video is that he says "We dont invest in people we invest in markets". This statement is the antithesis of the PG / YC strategy of investing in people and not products / markets.

socialadmanager.com is a social ad server that i developed. It allows advertisers, ad agencies etc... to incorporate user generated content and other social elements in their display ads.

My main (and only) client right now is a ad agency that I used to work for but that covers all my bills + some.

see: /ads /campaigns /dashboard for demo of agency white label.

right now im working on making the entire social ad server turnkey so that people can productize their influence in the form of a social ad (endorse x to audience y) setup affiliate payout etc... much quicker.

see: /

c / python

I had a goal of launching 2 startups this year. I have launched my first (www.socialadmanager.com) and it is ramen profitable. I will be launching the next one around the end of november so this is really good timing.

I think we need a way to organize this such that we can offer assistance etc... to each other and at the end of Nov. everyone can reveal what the built kind of like a mini demo day. The new HN facebook group would probably be a good way for everyone that is participating to communicate.

I created www.socialadmanager.com as a side project. It has not gone "big" yet but it is profitable which i think is pretty cool.

I use HTML Burger they are fast, cheap and it leaves me more time to code.

The only thing that bothers me about this is that you must pay to apply. Even though the price is minimal I typically dont trust pay to pitch models.

I applied and got rejected and was wondering if I was rejected on the quality of my application or on the quality of my product. I guess in the grand scheme of things rejection is rejection and it dosent matter but I was still wondering.

Thats exactly what I was thinking.

I wake up at 5 am every morning and code until 10 am on my startup then do work from 10 until 6. I also spend the last 2 hours before bed planning and doing any other startup task to make the 5 hours I spend in the morning working more productive.

Yes. And so did google.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1706814

I dont know (or care) if they are making a phone but I think it makes sense for them to. In the new yorker article Zuckerberg said he "imagines Facebook as, eventually, a layer underneath almost every electronic device." and phones are and will probably remain the most dominant communication / social device.