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sparknlaunch12on Please don't learn to code

Agree with both sides. The meme of everyone needs to learn code needs context.

Should everyone have an understanding- probably. Should everyone build a public bit of code - probably not.

Coding as a hobby is great but making strategic decisions still requires experts.

sparknlaunch12on Quora raises $50M at a $400M valuation with Peter Thiel leading

We really like Quora. It has an active community, made up of a wide range of experts giving really great answers. The Quora valuation sounds high but the wealth of knowledge, number of users and available intelligence must be of value to some investors.

We have written an article (still to be published) on these expert Q&A sites. Stack Exchange, Quora, Askolo, Sprouter, Reddit plus more are delving into matching questions with answers.

There is growing trend towards matching experts to inquisitive minds. These platforms are essentially allowing subject matter experts to sell their knowledge to others. Why not?

Maybe the high valuation - Quora and others are commoditizing expert knowledge with the intention of selling this on?

sparknlaunch12on Plagiarism

Journalism ethics and standards taken from Wikipedia [1]:

The basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements drafted by both professional journalism associations and individual print, broadcast, and online news organizations.

The primary themes common to most codes of journalistic standards and ethics are the following:

-Accuracy and standards for factual reporting

-Slander and libel considerations

-Harm limitation principle

-Presentation

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards

sparknlaunch12on Plagiarism

Great example of how the majority of news sites behave. It seems that others play by different rules. I thought the foundation of any journalism is quoting your sources and writing your own material. Maybe the web has changed (for the worst).

sparknlaunch12on Plagiarism

Strange that this has been greyed out? Not condoning the act of plagiarism but seems fairer to allow all parties to say their bits?

sparknlaunch12on Ask HN: How did you evaluate your early idea or problem?

Thanks for the link. Really interesting approach to identifying customer values and customer pain points.

Did you use this approach for rank panel?

sparknlaunch12on How To Raise A $1M Seed Round

>> "The Slide that Made the Difference Between Getting Funding/Not Getting Funding"

Was their CAC model really the slide that made the difference? The basis of the model depends on finger in the air assumptions. It shows they considered how they will convert leads but how to they validate these assumptions?

>> "If you can convey to VCs that you have a repeatable business model, and understand the microeconomics of your business, then you are golden."

I suspect this implies the business should be able to make money?

sparknlaunch12on London traffic lights rigged to win International Olympic Committee's favor

Missile launchers, dedicated traffic lanes for Olympic delegates, controlled traffic lights... it doesn't sound like a Bourne film... it is a Bourne film! You have to pay £10 to enter the park and £15 to climb the Orbit tower.

The Games will be sadly for corporates and VIPs. Any non athletes or local Londoners will suffer during this Olympic period. Londoners hope the world will enjoy the games.

sparknlaunch12on Experimental Page Layout Inspired By Flipboard

Really cool.

+1 Full landscape, magazine feel is nice.

-1 However I think that the "flip" gesture on non-touch devices is wasted and impractical. Dragging or flipping with a mouse doesn't feel right. Could a flip button be kept for pc users?

sparknlaunch12on The 144 Million Dollar Button

Why the increase? Thoughts:

1) Easier and quicker to push options (20/30/40%) than key in lower amount.

2) Pre set options may lead to mistakes.

3) Customer doesn't want to embarrass themselves by entering an anoint so just pushes a button.

4) The average fare and average cash in hand leads to per tips versus card payment. Eg Avg fare $9 and most payments with a $10 note.

5) Customers willing to tip higher due to preference towards card payments.

6) Peak in typing due to early adopters using technology.

sparknlaunch12on Cold calling versus Google Adwords

How does your typical cold call script look like?

sparknlaunch12on Ask HN: How did you evaluate your early idea or problem?

Have you applied this to your own startup? How and when did you use the canvas?

sparknlaunch12on Cold calling versus Google Adwords

"Verify that there is a business to scale first. Scaling is one of those good problems to have. It’s also a very different problem than you have at the beginning."

I think that your final line sums up the approach nicely. Speaking to your customers will tell you more about their needs and likely help you build a better Adword campaign.

sparknlaunch12on Ask HN: How did you evaluate your early idea or problem?

No need to re-invest the wheel. I am looking for any real world examples.

The three links are really useful.

[1] - Good example of using the canvas approach to driving out ideas.

[2] - Real world example.

[3] - Really like Buffer. Some useful information here. There Building Buffer series looks promising: http://blog.bufferapp.com/category/building-buffer

sparknlaunch12on Cold calling versus Google Adwords

Some good points. I think the author was suggesting that speaking to customers may be more powerful than any adwords campaign. I know the author acknowledges (in other articles) that adwords was a lot easier and cost effective to use than it is now.

sparknlaunch12on Responding to Beggars

Not yet. I only asked the question in context of this article being posted to Hacker News. I thought maybe the author was describing an approach to more than just qualifying requests for money from beggars.

sparknlaunch12on Ask HN: losing faith in the startup where I'm employee #1

After one year you have zero active users and only $100 revenue. You have a "well connected cto" but disconnected from reality? Surely this tells you everything you need to know?

You guys need a serious evaluation of the business and make a decision to fix things or shut it down. A year suggests you have missed the obvious questions about your customers.

If you are the only one with these thoughts may be time to move on.

sparknlaunch12on [dead]

The general message I have been told is that non programmers look more attractive to programmers etc when they can show some ability of coding knowledge. This is in contrast to those that argue you should focus on your non technical strengths and outsource.

Both are important so what is the optimal balance? Is it enough to be able to communicate to technical people and focus on the sales/empire building?

sparknlaunch12on The bad case of Hacker News authentication usability design

I don't like the user management functionality on HN. It is a little basic for what it could be.

One issue... For some strange reason I cannot login through my Android browser but can through Opera. I am sure username and password are correct.

sparknlaunch12on Dear StackExchange: Thank You

There appears to be a trend of sites creating micro communities. Reddit have done something similar. Quora does it.

The SE guys do a podcast which gives an insight into their business.

sparknlaunch12on Ask HN: I was fired from a startup I helped found, I'm fucked

How do you go from number one to out the door? What protection did you have in place? Isn't your name on any paperwork?

I thought when a founder leaves you get some sort of payout for time and cash put in?

sparknlaunch12on This Is What Developing For Android Looks Like

Surely this is a quality assurance exercise of diminishing returns.

Why not test on the must common devices or top device in each main category?

Is fragmentation a real issue? First time I have heard about it. Is this like browser compatibility for web developers?

sparknlaunch12on Responding to Beggars

Is a beggar an analogy for a startup looking for funding?

sparknlaunch12on 2012 vs. 1984: Young adults really do have it harder today

Generations will always have their differences. Generation X v Generation Y etc etc

It is easy to compare income/costs however what about non-financial value?

Health and life expectancy

Globalization and travel

Academic and learning

Technology

etc

At least these can apply in the first world [1] and even second world. Maybe these are all correlated to money?

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/firstworldproblems/

sparknlaunch12on On Diaspora's Social Network, You Own Your Data

"They wanted to raise $10,000 to create a new kind of social network, one that lets people, not companies, own their personal data."

Are Google, Facebook, Twitter users really concerned about this? I know people make a noise about privacy and data protection - but would this make you change platform?

sparknlaunch12on The salesman and the developer

Harsh considering one mention and this was in relation to an old Apple product, within context of the article. People write about Jobs too much (agreed) but this is more about mainstream familiarity than laziness.

sparknlaunch12on The salesman and the developer

Enjoyed reading the story and appreciate the challenge to balance out sales and development. They are both important but need controls to ensure 1) money comes in and 2) you develop and focus on the right product.

The point that stood out was the final lines on the importance of sales. This almost promotes the mantra of building sales first, product second; and ensuring you are having money arriving in to pay the bills (and/or investors).

Having recently heard profitable entrepreneurs speak, the common story is how when they spoke with potential customers about their idea (even pre MVP) and customers paid them. Yes, paying customers suggest you are on to a smart product. Maybe some merit in this approach.

sparknlaunch12on Pay To “Highlight” Your Facebook Status Updates To More Friends

I thought facebook already sorts your news stream by 'top stories'. So things like engagements, weddings, birthdays etc go to the top anyway.

Are they appealing to attention seekers or those whose status posts are so utterly boring that they never make the top of the list anyway?

sparknlaunch12on How To Build A Startup From A Beach

Absolutely great story and shows off the lifestyle you can achieve outside the city.

However some drawbacks (to compliment the positives of the article):

+ Short Term: While a retreat allows your team to focus and integrate, like all holidays - they end.

+ Talent: You currently recruit in a tech hub city, however eventually your talent leaves and you need to find replacements in the local village. You cannot find anyone as good or as friendly (as they joined the team/party late).

+ Too friendly: You are all new to the place, so you are a little eco system hanging out all the time. The fun will eventually wear off as internal relationships grow/breakdown.

+ Networking: The valley offers fantastic opportunities to meet other like minded people. Opportunities are much higher to meet that next co-founder, angel or VC. What are the chances of this on an island?

So, it can work but not forever and offers startups a constructive way of building strong team dynamics and creating tight focus on building their alpha/beta product.

sparknlaunch12on Podcast Interview With Jason Cohen (Smart Bear / WP Engine)

Pretty awesome podcast interview with Jason Cohen.

Jason writes a really popular startup blog (30k subscribers), successful entrepreneur and founder of WP Engine. He has some great views on startups and blogging.

The initial interview starts with talking about Jason's blogging and experience on getting featured on Hacker News!