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peterjancelis

983 karma · joined May 17, 2012

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peterjancelis··on Killer whales wreck boat in latest attack off Spain
The official recommendations to sailors is: Shut off the engine, take down the sails, make no sound, wait.

What sailors will admit they do but not tell anyone: Dump a bit of diesel or petrol in the water around the boat to scare away the orcas.

There are also some new gadgets available to make high pitched sounds that humans can't hear but scare away orcas (and dolphins, unfortunately) but no idea if they work well.

peterjancelis··on Do other founders also feel the need to work alone sometimes?
Assuming your company is established enough, consider working towards a COO ("integrator") to partner with you in running the business.

More here: https://www.eosworldwide.com/blog/visionaries-and-integrator...

Am going through EOS for my business and look forward getting a bit more out of day to day.

CEO: Work on the business, in the market. COO: Work on the organisation, in the business.

Being a founder/CEO is not that special btw. I think you'd go further in life and business if you don't buy into the idea that your job and skill set is unique and special. (A lot of professions have this subculture, not just founders.)

peterjancelis··on Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies
My experience: Psychological orphans with a basic income.

"Psychological orphans" i.e. kids who had shitty parents and learned to adapt to survive. Then this behavior became a habit and a game.

"Basic income" i.e. kids from middle and upper middle class backgrounds so there was no food poverty in the family and long term thinking was possible by the kid, even in the context of the dysfunctional setting.

The above is true for me and all of the high growth tech founders I know on a very personal level (could be selection bias in who I connect deeply with though).

peterjancelis··on Massive Dyn DNS outage
Heroku is down as well.
peterjancelis··on Is a prenup a good idea?
It's a required condition for me. She knows and has known for a long time.
peterjancelis··on Is a prenup a good idea?
Hope so! My fiancee is definitely super mature, only 24 years old but had to support her family (while studying) after her father died at 17 years old. She's completely onboard with us deciding what is fair in what scenario rather than outsourcing it to some parliament and court system somewhere.
peterjancelis··on Is a prenup a good idea?
Timely post as just today I got engaged to my girlfriend. We will definitely go for a prenup, I want to avoid a 15 year long divorce battle like my parents had at all possible costs.

I have created a subreddit for people interested in discussing prenups: https://www.reddit.com/r/prenup

peterjancelis··on Terrifyingly Convenient
Having mass market B2C customers do this is a customer support nightmare.
peterjancelis··on Stripe Atlas
Amazing service. Hope to see Atlas expand to Nevada LLCs or (one can dream) Hong Kong Ltd's soon.
peterjancelis··on Fundraising Advice for YC Companies
An investor buying $200K preferred equity at 5 million pre is not implying that investor would buy the entire company for 5 million cash. The preferred equity makes high valuations possible as the first $200K goes back to the investor.
peterjancelis··on The 'bogus boss' email scam costing firms millions
Ha I was thinking of your app when I read this.
peterjancelis··on $250K a Year Is Not Middle Class
I like the categorization but I think the more common names for those classes are self-employed, employee and business owner.
peterjancelis··on Hard Truths about Equity
Do your own thing on the side. Much better than a few stock options. But make sure to have your project excluded in your IP and non-compete contracts with your employer.
peterjancelis··on What's Behind the Exodus from Rent the Runway?
The value proposition is that girls can show off a new dress for each (facebook picture of) event they attend.

So they're not renting dresses, they're renting the dream/perception of a huge designer dress collection.

peterjancelis··on What's Behind the Exodus from Rent the Runway?
We all have to breath way more than we need TV, yet oxygen isn't a 60 billion market.

It's just a nonsensical statement.

peterjancelis··on Is Wall Street Beneath Business Students' Standards?
As a former business student, I don't remember us having standards.
peterjancelis··on Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]
I also hate the overuse of the word 'like' but didn't notice it here until you mentioned it. It was fine.
peterjancelis··on Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video]
I love how everybody in Silicon Valley claims ideas don't matter, only execution does, then hate on the company that is taking that maxim to its ultimate conclusion.
peterjancelis··on Startup Chile's Successful Companies
DataCamp also did TechStars NYC.

There are also successful companies that were bootstrapped, e.g. TheInternGroup.

peterjancelis··on AWS US East is experiencing high error rates on several services
I don't see airbnb or IMDB being down. If there's some advice on what small time apps (like mine) can do to get thing up again sooner, please let me know.
peterjancelis··on A 22-year-old anti-Nazi song tops German charts again – to welcome refugees
What I don't get is why being a war refugee entitles you to claim asylum in any country, even if you passed several peaceful countries in the process. It would make much more sense to have refugees claim asylum in neighboring countries, to maximize cultural coherence, ease a move back home once the country can rebuild, and to stop incentivizing people to risk their life going from a safe country to another safe country with more benefits.

If any war in the world will result in mass migration to just the richest countries with the most elaborate welfare states, then you'll just end up with fewer rich welfare states in the long run. Be careful what you wish for.

peterjancelis··on Ghost: $411k Annual Revenue with a team of 6
Likely before their own income tax but excluding the company payroll taxes, which are often much higher in EU than in US.
peterjancelis··on Retention Is the Key
Typically you are investing into getting new customers, so unless you can get CAC < first month payment[1], you will have a limited marketing budget hence a static number of new users.

[1] One way of achieving infinite marketing budget is to offer discounts for annual prepay, if e.g. you get 25% of customers to pay 10 months upfront (annual plan with 2 months free), you receive 25% * 10 + 75% * 1 = 3,25 monthly payments in month 1. If you get CAC below 3,25 ARPU then you have infinite marketing budget and that can indeed go geometric. But that's a big if, and even then at some point your marketing channels will dry up at some scale, while churn remains the same at scale as businesses keep dying or changing their mind.

peterjancelis··on Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture
There are some smart contracts / blockchain tpye startups in Zug. Monetas for example. You could reach out to them.
peterjancelis··on YC Startup School Radio, Episode 1: Alexis Ohanian and Kaz Nejatian
Rob and Mike have http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/

Twist in from Jason Calacanis.

peterjancelis··on Gigster (YC S15) Does The Dev Work To Turn Your Idea Into An App
I keep reading Gangster.
peterjancelis··on Capitalist Soul Rises as Ho Chi Minh City Sheds Its Past
There was a French accountant in his late 20s who came here with 50K EUR of life savings and opened a French restaurant with a local partner. Worked 7 days a week for 6 months, restaurant was losing money, one day he gets kicked out by his partner with the help from some of his gym friends.

That guy is now back in France in a job. He somehow managed to find a girlfriend while starting his restaurant though. He's now engaged to the girl but she's still here.

peterjancelis··on Capitalist Soul Rises as Ho Chi Minh City Sheds Its Past
Totally agree. Never felt so free to go about my life and business as in Saigon. Watch out with physical businesses however, foreigners can get scammed out of their stake.
peterjancelis··on Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears
Sue for what? Cecile sounds very broke to me...
peterjancelis··on Tell HN: Hello
I hope your MVP will be catering to prison guard or prison management. You probably got some unique insights there that few developers have.
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