pathik

Maybe. But if you don't do it now, it'll just become harder and you'll regret not doing it all your life.

I did something similar, but I did it much before 30. Haven't regretted it so far.

Go for it.

Spot on. Thanks.

We do have a pending patent application for the same.

We would ideally love to have all users connect through data, but more than 80% of the 900 million mobile users in India simply don't have a mobile data connection.

Hence, if we are to achieve our goal of enabling universal communication among all our users, we have to offer SMS as a fallback channel.

And it also gives us a massive differentiating edge over other apps, so why not.

The whole "users opting out of the DND registry" is something that's controlled by TRAI, the Telecom regulatory body of India. We have no control over it.

It's not the ideal flow we'd like to offer users, but we've to work with what we have.

We're funded by the group which also backs a large telco in India, but we're separate companies.

Oh, there were some genuine technical limitations in implementing it over carrier networks. I'll check the exact details with the team and get back to you. (Most of them are sleeping, it's 3AM here in India.)

No ulterior motives. :)

We do have a lot of ideas in mind, but in a space like this, you can start looking at monetization only after you've hit a certain critical mass in terms of user base.

Ultimately, it's going to be a "content and connections" play, but the initial focus has to be on growth, otherwise you're just putting the cart before the horse. :)

Well, to enter and grow so fast in such a competitive space, you've to differentiate yourself from your competition.

Our differentiators are: 1. A beautiful UX/design 2. The ability to message everyone through hike/SMS

#1 works everywhere and has driven growth for us globally. #2 combined with #1 gives us a compelling proposition for Indian users, the first market we intend to dominate. It's very powerful for a market like India where more than 80% mobile users have yet to experience data.

The unit economics in the long term are quite favorable and we expect to have a positive average LTV across the user base.

It's going to be tough, but we're betting we can do it. Just wait and watch. ;)

Not really. We don't believe ads are the best way to monetize. And anyways, why create a beautiful UX and then plaster ads on it?

We'll start looking at that once we hit a certain critical mass, but in much smarter ways. Right now, all focus is on growth and engagement.

PS: I'm the growth hacker at hike.

+1. For now.

It's funny how everyone who reads this article tends to view himself as intelligent. Maybe that's just the type of crowd at HN, or maybe it's Dunning-Kruger at play.

Even if I share this link on Facebook, most people would agree with this article, relate to a few points and think they're intelligent.

There hardly seems to be much upside left. Most of the potential for appreciation has already been milked by late stage VCs (DST), Goldman's preferred clients, and investors on SharesPost and Second Market. This probably won't be a Google or Amazon. But then, 5 years down the line, who knows.

No offense, but Reddit going dark will affect only us. No one else will even notice. If something like Wikipedia goes dark, that would be something. Everyone will be forced to take notice.

I spend around 10% on rent, 10% on food, 5% on booze, 10% on gadgets, 5% on other expenses and another 10% on very high risk investments. I have no debt and I'm single, so I save almost 50% each month. PS: I live in India.

The way YC is growing, PG could very well become a billionaire in the coming years.

Congrats, Gabriel.

I was hoping they would do this. Who do you think will direct it? David Fincher?

Most employees at a startup often get screwed. I recently joined a startup and I'm considering the value of my options to be zero. If they do pay off, it'll be a bonus for me. Go for either the learning experience, or if you really love working there. Chances are, if you aren't among the founders, you won't see much even on a successful exit.

Tip: Do an early exercise (83b election) and convert your options into RSUs to avoid higher taxation.

http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2008/02/15/what-is-an-83...

They are brilliant. The list of speakers is mind-blowing. Thanks.

Well, as someone tweeted, "Odio is just another variable in the experiment".

It wasn't really a fair experiment if you wanted the outcome to be positive. This is how it works. There might have been many who were gaming it; Odio is facing the backlash only because he admitted to it.

It's called the Tobin tax. One of the best ways to stop significantly reduce HFT.

I currently work about 20 hours a week on my day job, 10 hours a week freelancing, another 20 hours day-dreaming about my own startup and reading Hacker News/Techmeme/Reddit.

Excellent post.

Isn't Airbnb's reaction a normal one? Wouldn't anyone do the same if it could have adverse effects on their current round of funding?

I got one 2 months back, and I'm loving it. Flashed it with CM7 the day I got it, and it's perfect for reading books (EZPDF), browsing (Opera Mobile, Dolphin) and news consumption (Greader, Pulse). I also occasionally watch movies on it (Rockplayer) and videos on Youtube. And, of course, Angry Birds on the big display is fun.

One of the few profitable, promising Indian startups. Keep rocking.

So true. I was bored. And I did quit.

Well, I'm 22 and I'm worse off than you. BTW, great advice in the comments.

What's the big deal? Google is required by law to do that. Enter a fake birth date.

El Jobso.

I guess we have a winner. Now please bring the comment scores back.

Effective price discrimination is a very tough goal to achieve. The airlines try their best to price discriminate as best as they can, to maximize their profits, but it's not always possible to sell all tickets in a flight at whatever price consumers are willing to pay. Everyone would wait till the very end then to book tickets.