sreyaNotfilc

Startup School is very fun and inspiring. I went to the 2014 in NYC. Alexis Ohanian was the host. Man, he's a great guy and a great MC.

I didn't get a chance to meet him, but I'm sure he would've stayed around for anyone who wanted to talk.

My take-away was that its a very inspiring event. So inspiring that I wanted to leave ASAP so I can work on my ideas. Basically, you're in an auditorium learning about how a few of these companies (e.g. https://www.codecademy.com/) got started. Afterward, you may stick around to socialize.

I will say that I didn't necessary learn anything new. But, I don't think that was the point. It was more about getting people excited to dream big and create things that may become businesses.

Here are some videos to watch that will help you get the most out of it - 1. Alexis Ohanian : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYkmYuk5l8 2. Sam Altman's Course : http://startupclass.samaltman.com/ 3. Apoorva Mehta (Instacart) at Startup School NY 2014 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkmR7TYUt_c

Good luck!

The big issue with the author is having the time to build something. I wouldn't necessarily have chosen one framework/language over the other.

The reason why is the author's current level of proficiency for building something that he wants. For example, if he was an ace at Assembly (instead of familiar with Angular) he could've easily wrote an article titled "Why I'm throwing out Angular 1.x and going back to Assembly".

Its all relative. Some people can afford having the "most beautiful code", but that also goes with a budget and a group of people who can make it work (e.g. Steve Jobs ordering beautiful code/engineering for the Macintosh).

I would say the most logical route would be to "Build the Damn Thing". Facebook used that notion, got the product out, got ahead, and now can afford sound code. Heck, Zuckerberg doesn't even code on Facebook's source anymore. No one (besides us engineers) knows or cares what Facebook is running on. Same with many other productions (not only software) out there (when was the last time we cared exactly how an Oreo cookie was made?).

So to answer Steve's question "What am I supposed to do?", I would say "Just Do It! Make the product.".

Do the work and live the dream (Same with all of us dreamers).

Why We Choose Profit?

Becau$e ... money i$ a terrible thing to waste!

But seriously, before I've even read the article you can tell that the author may feel (or told to feel) bad from making a profit.

I would say that being profitable is not a bad thing at all. Someone (or somebody) created a tool, or a service that helps people out. There's a demand for such service. People are willing to spend money on it. There's no problem there.

It take effort to innovate (and to run things that help people out). The best way to keep the quality of things high is to... make money to pay for people and things to make your service the best it can be.

Nothing wrong with that.

I hate his ambition...

In reality, I hate that I am not as ambitious as I should be. Say what you want, Zuck is really killing it and its admirable.

We're the same age, yet I let myself think feel that its someone else's job to build the "cool" stuff.

I will have this article handy and read it from time to time. Hopefully it will continue to motivate me.

I love this!

We all come from different backgrounds and may never have had the chance to brush up on the best-practices of the updated code. I just bought a book that's about 1,600 pages long on the latest ASP.Net framework. Interesting stuff there, but it can be daunting to learn.

I love how Visual Studio is moving towards suggesting best practices for their languages with these new features. Not only are you going to write more solid code, but you'll also can improve and update your skill-set in C#.

I think C# is a fantastic language, and the more I learn about it the more I want to code in it. Its beginning to be less of a "means to an end" and more of a very solid tool for productivity code. I can't wait to use this new version of VS.

To be honest, there was a little kid who drew a snake eating an elephant too. The teacher thought it was a hat as well.

Love Le Petite Prince! Read it both in French and English.

Sadly, in the view of most "It didn't happen until Apple made it happen" rings true to most people.

I was looking at wireless headphones before the iPhone 7 announcement and found some good ones (Samsung Gear IconX and Bragi Dash).

Unfortunately they are not the cool kids.

Yeah, its almost like Pokemon is a truer social network than Facebook.

You're finding common interest (but in real life). You're connecting (but in real life).

That's for the Special Edition. The console will be wind powered.

Someone would. I don't think that having that offer will set Twitter fans off either.

$.10 for 30 more characters would be a huge benefit for Twitter.

Pinterest does this as well. Its lame but effective. Supply and Demand is an amazing concept. If FB or Pinterest wasn't as popular/needed then this type of activity would be frowned upon.

Someone in the comment section mentioned that there may be a correlation to rise of gays and the rise of urban life. Their reasoning was something about not having to reproduce.

It has gotten me to think about this. In general male and females are the same except we have organs that allows reproduction. Essentially that's it. As we passed the 7 billion people mark (let alone 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 billion) do we really feel the need to populate? Sure a lot of us are embedded with sexual desires, but as the population grows sex for recreation takes place over sex for survival.

This bring me to another thought about conservatives. They disagree with sex between the same gender. In a way they have a point. Googling "conservative" grants the following definition -

"holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion."

Back in the day there was much more of a need for sexual reproduction as the human race had been plagued with deaths, diseases, and unfortunately events. There was no need for "nonsense" like having fun. We had to survive! You'd follow an order (be it wealth, race, gender roles) and that's that. As we began to master or land and really create our own destiny having fun (e.g. sex) became something to do for fun. Its a circle...

Idunno, just a thought. Its an interesting topic non-the-less.

The problem lies when your application grows. Remember that one of the "rules" in computer science is modularity.

Here's a couple of examples ---------------------------------

For example, lets say you have a data set that returned user information. Combining it directly with the html may be easier. The issue happens when you want to use that same data (or portions of a that data) elsewhere. From there you would have to rewrite the query. Having the data-set separated (either in a class or a function that returns raw data, then having that data parsed and placed within html works much better. There you don't have to rewrite anything (and have the satisfaction that the data "works").

On the other side, separating the html will be helpful as well. Say that the interface has now changed. You are not going to remove a column in a table and reorganize other components. Instead of having to look through the code where you may have placed the html with the data, all you need to do is to make your changes accordingly in your presentation layer.

All in all, it may seem like a lot more work to get things started (I don't use MVC in the traditional sense, and instead have my own programming rig). The reward lies when you can separate duties among team members. Someone can work on the presentation (and the browser compatibility issues that it includes) while another one can work on the business logic. So on and so forth.

I couldn't say. Honestly, I wouldn't think that it would be much. A lot of the courses haven't changed much year-over-year.

The question I have is with modern technology, why isn't there a startup that had figured out how to remedy this issue.

Surely there's a way to provide top notch education without having to break the bank doing so.

I've actually convinced my 13 year old niece and 11 year old nephew to learn to code. I know there are a lot of financial benefits to doing so, but I'm trying my best to have them focus on just making things that solves some of their problems.

I have much younger nieces, perhaps this can be a little Xmas gift for them.

What's your project mwpmaybe? I'd love to see it.

As far as my project, its getting a little traction with my IG feed (instagram.com/artjutsu_lightbox). That said, there's more improvement that needs to be done on the main site to really see if this can be successful (artjutsu.com).

I believe it will, but man is life ever-so-hard now with all these certs I need for my day job. Studying for those has taken all of my free time unfortunately.

From what I remember from an Uber driver, they get paid every Thursday. So I guess the money could float around for a bit before finally reaching the driver.

I've been thinking about doing this for a month or two. Mainly because, like you said, its so much better to wake up in the morning and spend your day pursuing the new business instead of 8+ hours being displaced from the venture and dreaming about it at work.

Right now, I don't have enough money to sustain longer than a month without a daily job. So, I guess the answer is to start there and build a little next egg over the coming months so I can have a solid 2-3 months that I feel I need to get going.

A lot of questions like this (how to get dates, rise up the ladder, find friends, etc.) have the same answer (well essentially). All you got to do is -

1. Get out there 2. Be yourself

I wrote a whole essay a minute ago, but really it could be a whole course. Like the theme of YCombinator with startups, do things that don't scale.

Find a purpose that you can bring to the table. Can you code well, play a sport, sing, draw? If you have a skill or a hobby then pursue that. I find friends for every activity I do. Its not that I'm trying, but people are everywhere doing everything.

Those people you find in bars aren't always friends since forever either. Life experience tends to make people more emphatic towards each other, right? We all have gone through schools, jobs, and relationships. Had ups and downs. Sometimes its just nice to sit down with anyone who's listening to talk/rant/laugh about those moments.

I'm 31 and work 1hr and a half from home. My house is in a town 2 hours from where I grew up. I knew no one when I arrived but now know plenty of people. And not just in my town, but all over. Some of my favorite people I have met the past couple of years. I tend to see them only once or twice a year. When we do meet up, we can spend all night talking as if we grew up with each other.

If you're open to be a little transparent and also are interested in hearing other people's stories you'll do fine. You'll find it get much easier the more you allow yourself to chill out.

Try this - If you're really having problems meeting folks try the following. 1. Find any gathering where people would be active in your favorite hobby 2. Give yourself only 10 minutes (you can stay the entire night, but 10 minutes from when you arrive to when you leave is enough) 3. Listen in on a conversation (or join the activity for a session) and add a couple of knowledge here and there 4. Leave

What have you learned? You learned how to find people! You may also have found a couple of people who you ended up hanging out with for the duration of the 10 minutes. You might have even stayed the entire night having fun. You may even have had a few FB invites coming your way.

Remember, most people are usually game for new experiences. You are that new experience. Get out there and have some fun!

padobson the problem is that a lot of gamers do not want this.

Last year during the E3 press conference, Microsoft tried to "modernize" the whole living room gaming paradigm. They mentioned things like - 1. Having a whole slew of servers to cloud compute 2. Buying and sharing games via online distribution 3. Always on connectivity to the cloud

Gamers hated this idea (as you can see with the sales of the One vs the PS4).

The issue is,and I can't blame them, that we still do not have the infrastructure to do this yet. Yes, me and you may have a good enough internet line to pull this off, but even now our internet access, latency, connectivity, and security is a joke. Remember, a lot of these guys do play online but have issues with latency by playing just a multiplayer game. We need this fixed first before a company goes all in. It may take for the next cycle (or two or three) for dedicated game machines to fully embrace this.

I'm excited for the game Crackdown 3. Their online play will feature fully rendered buildings which stands on their own dedicated server. I think this is awesome and is a step in the right direction. Can you imagine if every NPC can have its own server controlling it? Crazy-power. It will take time though.

And I'm all for it. Take the time to do things right and we'll get a much better product than just a gimmick.

Its not even just passion that should drive a startup/business. Success it not just a matter of gaining X amount of emails and signups on your site. Its also not all about trying to think of the next thing to keep people on.

I think to really succeed at a startup is to make a product that is needed and that can be sustained throughout the years. To do so, you have to think long term.

Its ok to add the "new hotness" to your business as well, but it shouldn't be what the core business is about.

Facebook's success was not because they added photos, IM, pokes, likes, it was because there was a solid platform to find people. Sure those other features helped promote and enhance the product, but without the focus on the #1 goal (making it easier to connect the world) that platform could have easily gone by the wayside.

I'd rather have a trackpad than not have a trackpad. Sometimes using touch doesn't work that well.

In my experience, having to reach and touch the screen to get my cursor on a textbox is annoying. I'd rather us a swipe of my thumb to position the cursor.

Different strokes for different folks. I'm glad the trackpad is still here.

Holy Cow!

Life Stinks Trailer! I thought I was the only who remembered that movie!

Wow! Spot on!

Its funny, at the presentation they mentioned the cover and how the magnets transfer input from the keyboard to the computer as if it was a revolutionary idea. Then again, it is Apple. They can come out with a bottle water product and swoon the masses.

The big issue is this - The goal of many start ups and software companies (especially modern ones circa 2000) is to get really big and then figure out how to make money. The problem with Twitter is that its doing just that. Exactly that even after its IPO. Its humongous yet doesn't have a decent business model (thus the falling stock prices).

You can't get much bigger (well known) as a brand/company than Twitter. From networks such as CNN, FOX NEWS, ESPN, ABC, etc... Twitter is everywhere! Everyone knows them.

So, there's a check. The issue happens with the second part : what do do with our fame?

Can Twitter use their power to make services that are profitable? Yes! Do they? No, not really :(

I often wonder why it takes so long for companies like these to blatantly monetize their services. They are backed by billions yet you rarely see an ad here or a "shop" there. Its as if they feel that its a bad thing to do. Its as if they feel that they are betraying the people using their services.

I feel that these services can survive with a little more push towards that. Then again I'm not the CEO or founder of that BIG company so I'm sure most would feel that my idea is not valid. It just frustrates me that you see so much potential (money-wise and service-wise) in a product/service yet it takes a long time to see those changes.

@6stringmerc

Facebook is trying its hardest to not be Facebook. Its purpose as a platform has morphed drastically from its original intent, And that's fine. Heck, I would do the same.

I do see the practice of Freebooting as an issue, but nothing that will break them. They have way too many people who does it and (worse) way too many people who are either uninformed or just don't care. So, really I feel its going to happen for all eternity.

That said, I'm surprised that Facebook hasn't branched out and became its own entertainment hub. FacebookNews, FacebookFilm, FacebookShop, Facebook...Books lol. They certainly have the cash to do so an make it happen. Maybe that's what they are working on as we speak.

"YOU CAN GUEST IN ANOTHER LIVESTREAM ZOMG XD"

Yeah, I don't understand the mentality of "but we have xyz feature"! Its rather tacky and I'm not sure if it ever worked. There's a reason why Meerkat has fallen out of favor and its not because of a single feature. Periscope has what "304 million monthly active users" potential users because of Twitter alone. That's hughmongous! Also, the name Meerkat is not fun. Reminds me of a Ferret for some reason.

Facebook has already released live streaming for celebs. Once that catches on, Periscope will be reserved to just another feature that Twitter uses.

No one's going to win. Its just an enhancement of a service that's long due. I do think, however, that the Meerkat boys will be fine. They can just have FB write them a check and be acquired (which I believe was the intent anyway).

Twitter on the other hand, if used wisely, may help their business model since more and more people will be active on their platform because someone's on there acting interesting. (Expect to see 1,000,000 #WSHH tags on Periscope soon.)

Yes, Periscope is getting huge.

I feel this platform is very cool and can fulfill many niches along with Meerkat. For example, I could learn/communicate from/with an expert on a subject or just hangout with someone famous (Kevin Hart). I even watched an entire wedding (from planning to the event to the after party) thanks to Amanda Oleander (I think she's the top Periscoper right now).

Personally, it can also broaden your horizon, especially for shy people like me. I'm using the platform to learn broadcasting techniques and to showcase my artwork (@artJutsu). I'm horrible at it, but I feel I'm getting more comfortable with my public speaking because of it.

When you broadcast you are LIVE and have to think on your feet to keep things interesting. This is much different than non-streaming social media because you can create the most perfect instance of yourself/business.

I would love to see how this product develops further. I don't think it will be a replacement for Youtube or Twitter, but more of an enhancement of your current social paradigm.

I think it will be more like "Google's parent company, Alphabet". And I think when they mention Alphabet it will be along the lines of new ventures.

The reason why is simply - 1) Changing Google to Alphabet is way too confusing.

2) Google is still here and operating as Google for the most part. Only real difference is that most of the R&D tasks not pertaining to its main business structure are placed outside that space. So, what I can recall, things like Google glasses and cars and whatnot will be a project that's under Alphabet.

But seriously, Google will still be referred to as Google. Youtube, Maps, Music is still under the Google business.

Alphabet are for existing/new project (from A to Z (get it!)) that the Google guys (Page, and Brin) wants to pursue. If they are profitable, they may become their own businesses or even put inside the Google brand.

NBD!

From the article... "I can add that the emphasis on design patterns reflects limited imagination and creativity."

Quite strange that this is mentioned. From my understanding, many jobs out there require a developer to know XYZ in order to hire them. Many jobs place emphasis on a college education. Many jobs incorporate best practices and standards for developing and testing software (or at least strive to). So, why the bad blood for design patterns?

As a developer I see two different worlds -

1) Rudamentary Development - to the book design, implementation, testing

2) Hacker Life - experimentation and unconventional design, implementation, testing

Both has its place in any project. You may need a quick hacker fix for one project while the other may need a well documented/tested approach.

On my end, I haven't really learned much about Design Patterns. That's not to say that its wrong, just never sat down and learn them. I wish I had. I think it will actually improve my skillset and imagination quite a bit. The reason why is that there are things that these patterns may take care off automatically so that the developer can free up their thoughts and energy towards creating new solutions.

Like the old adage from those Kung Fu movies: "Learn everything I teach, then forget them". Meaning, discarding the standards once learned (thoroughly) may lead to mastery and evolution of the subject.