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ryanglasgow

207 karma · joined October 9, 2010

Founder & CEO of Sprig (sprig.com). Email me at ryan@sprig.com to get setup!
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ryanglasgow··on Hacker News apps
The list was difficult to sort though, but I was able to find http://www.premii.com/hn which is a great web client, and an even better mobile client.
ryanglasgow··on Children of parents classified as “tiger” have worse grades, are more depressed
> "I'm not what you want – I'm not Chinese! I don't want to be Chinese. Why can't you get that through your head? I hate the violin. I hate my life. I hate you, and I hate this family!" Her relationship with Lulu in crisis, Chua, finally, thankfully, raises the white flag."

You may be right, but in this incident she's is referring to specific Chinese cultural norms, not the high expectations in her upbringing.

ryanglasgow··on Can’t raise a Series A? Just sell yourself to Yahoo
Another PandoDaily article criticizing the startup ecosystem. The author needs to realize not every startup will become the next Facebook, and social products that only achieve moderate success cannot turn a profit through third-party advertising networks. The only possible exit for such startups is a small exit and join a larger tech firm that can take both the ideas learned and the talent and incorporate them into their larger goal. These startups likely had high ambitions, but when growth peaked, they exited while they still had a chance.
ryanglasgow··on Children of parents classified as “tiger” have worse grades, are more depressed
It was when she was 13, not 4. At 13 she is certainly capable of understanding her environment, how she's being raised, and realize she's being raised differently than her friends.
ryanglasgow··on Want to Spam Your LinkedIn Contacts and Be Humiliated? Try FounderDating
Wow, blaming the user? That's low. Just like in customer service where the customer is always right, in web development the user is always right. It's not the users fault they didn't see some text, it's YOUR fault.
ryanglasgow··on Instacart: We're Sorry
They're a startup that's experimenting with different pricing models. If a plan they introduce isn't financially viable, it's unrealistic to expect them to continue to honor it otherwise they would drive themselves out of business b/c of failed experiments.
ryanglasgow··on Show HN: Pantastic
Great start here, I like what you've done.

Some feedback for improvement:

1) I would break the page up into multiple pages. Keep the homepage simple and let the user click ancillary links if they need to.

2) It says the printing is done in the founders basement, but shows a picture of a printing warehouse. Is your basement a printing warehouse? Honestly not sure here.

3) The textures are distracting, I'd tone them down.

4) A blurred picture of the Golden Gate Bridge is cliche, I'd try something else.

5) The 'What is Pantastic' doesn't really say anything. Statements like "Delivered to your doorstep" (assumed), and #1 quality around (a relative statement with no comparison) don't progress the sale.

ryanglasgow··on How we built the prototype for Split by GroupMe in a weekend using Balanced
That would be the summation of their blog posts. It's easier to search for and access blog posts that are around specific topics as opposed to longwinded novels covering several processes.
ryanglasgow··on TSA to allow some small knives in carry-on luggage
People said the same thing about box cutters prior to 9/11. The Flight Attendants Union Coalition is against this too, so there is plenty of objection.
ryanglasgow··on [dead]
If the world is a better place when someone passes, it should be considered it good news. Death shouldn't be viewed as an absolute negative.
ryanglasgow··on 8 Predictions for Private Companies in 2013
"5. Foursquare will fail by the end of the year."

They never really did much with the product. It could have been a great competitor to Yelp, but they stuck with the check-in concept for far too long.

ryanglasgow··on From Basecamp to Blimp in three clicks
No need to be snarky. The team is based on Puerto Rico where Spanish is the primary language -- let's give them a break.
ryanglasgow··on Etsy acquires Mixel
Hipstamatic has been around for a long time, even before Instagram, so I don't think this is a fair comparison.
ryanglasgow··on The Flat Design Aesthetic
Their designers stripped away everything that was unnecessary, and allowed the content to become the design. It's a very difficult aesthetic to pull off because it relies entirely on the most challenging aspects of UI design: spacing, grids, and typography.

At first, I didn't like it either, but over time have come to love it (and have become inspired by it in my own designs).

ryanglasgow··on The Gmail app for iPhone and iPad: version 2.0
It appears to be unrelated. The lead Gmail iOS designer, Chanpory Rith, has been at Google working on this for most of the year. Not sure about the tech.

http://dribbble.com/shots/843203-Gmail-2-0-Multi-login

ryanglasgow··on Microsoft releases tool for creating Windows 8 apps in the browser
If this was a social network, I'd understand your frustration. It's a developer tool tho — not sure what you expect.
ryanglasgow··on The email I received from Google in 2007 when they wanted to buy Zlio
Did you read the article? Google took longer than 30 days to close the deal, and their term sheet with Mangrove was about to expire.

He had no choice but to accept the VC funding.

ryanglasgow··on Apple announces iPad Mini with a 7.9-inch, 1,024 x 768 display - $329
Apple doesn't seem to be pricing this against competitors, but rather themselves. A price point less than $300 would cannibalize their full-size iPad sales.
ryanglasgow··on Usability Testing: the secret sauce of startups
Interesting article and very relevant since I've been conducting bi-weekly usability testing sessions. I've had a lot of success using IamExec.com to find participants for one-hour loosely scripted sessions.

Some feedback: It's hard to tell what's a link as the purple really blends in with the black. The dichotomy between "newbie's" and non-newbie's is a bit of a turn-off and could have been more fluidly discussed.

ryanglasgow··on Pathjoy (YC S10) Offers Affordable Housecleaning With Easy Web Booking
You're vastly overestimating the costs involved. It's common for such P2P services to take 20-30% to cover everything you've mentioned and make a profit. Lyft takes 20% cut from drivers and faces much stiffer regulation, guarantee's drivers $18/hr, and has a $1M insurance policy. PathJoy faces smaller overhead and taking 20% should be plenty profitable.
ryanglasgow··on Pathjoy (YC S10) Offers Affordable Housecleaning With Easy Web Booking
I currently pay $20/hour (in SF proper) for an independent cleaner who does an excellent job. Language barrier is a major issue tho, and I'd much rather schedule cleanings online. If minimum wage is <$10, why would it be impossible to profit off charging $20/hr?
ryanglasgow··on Quora Co-Founder Charlie Cheever Steps Back From Day-To-Day Role At The Company
It's certainly signals that. The Android app is more or less a port of the iOS app and isn't a project you'd expect a founder to be heavily involved with.
ryanglasgow··on Quora Co-Founder Charlie Cheever Steps Back From Day-To-Day Role At The Company
Since it said he was leading the Android app development (which was released a few weeks ago), I doubt he was involved in the privacy policy changes.
ryanglasgow··on Uber Boston Has Been Served
I never said the law shouldn't be changed, it should. But just because a company is "first to market, cutting edge", does that make it exempt from regulation?

Given the New Years Eve pricing debacle, I'm glad regulation is being put in place. Taxi's are underserved and a horrible experience, but their pricing is both consistent and 100% transparent during and after the ride. Uber's pricing is a confusing mess. Time, demand, distance, and vehicle are all factors and you're only aware of the price after the ride.

ryanglasgow··on Uber Boston Has Been Served
These are two good reasons for the law to be reformed, but not for why Uber is above the law.

I see no reason for Uber to be exempt from the same regulations other services must abide by.

ryanglasgow··on Stripe Raises $20M From General Catalyst, Sequoia, Thiel
Square, the company. http://www.crunchbase.com/company/square
ryanglasgow··on IOS 6 slider widgets change reflection with angle
I don't think he's referring to the app icon, but rather the hologram within the app.
ryanglasgow··on [dead]
You should move the notice in the footer to the very top. Otherwise, this is really confusing if you've never used LastPass before.
ryanglasgow··on Ask HN: What to do about non-performing "founder"
You do have to respect the terms of the deal. That being said, here's what I would do: 1) Fire him. Co-founders can be fired, and you and the other partner have majority vote. You wouldn't owe him any money because he hasn't worked since you stopped paying him.

2) Decide a fair company value and buy his equity stake. This guy is clearly a distraction and the best thing to do would be to completely cut dies and free up equity.

ryanglasgow··on YC Facelift: Pebble
No offense but this looks like a generic template with content filled in. A clean and simple design like this needs to demonstrate excellent typography and spacing, neither of which I see here.

If you wanted to let the product speak for itself, I would have drawn inspiration from Flipboard or Path. Both of these sites heavily rely a clean design coupled with custom typography and a well integrated video.

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