Just a quick semi-meta comment: if you have a comment which you put a lot of time into and which resonated with people, strongly consider blowing it up into a blog post. It may be irrational, but the perceived authority of 500 words wrapped in an attractive Wordpress template murders the perceived authority of 500 words appearing at the third level of indentation on this page.
I like to think that I've written some fairly useful stuff here over the last year or so. To the best of my knowledge, none of my comments has ever gone to Slashdot and the New York Times, but the comment that I turned into a blog post about programmers and names just did.
Your own blog is also a little easier to cite in resume-type situations. (Hypothetically assuming I were to seek funding, I have at least one HN comment that I'd point to to say "Read this, it is strongly indicative of the future success of the business you are about to invest in", and that is a little quirky.)
Another meta comment: Let me start by saying I do not think you have deliberately abused the HN point system. You already have a high score and presumably don't care about the number growing.
That being said... this is an interesting way to game one's HN score.
Comment on stories. Once it became obvious that a particular comment is popular/well-received (200+ points) clarify it a bit and post it to your blog. Then submit it as a story back to HN and get another (200+ points).
I found your original comment really interesting and the formatting on your blog way easier on the eyes than HN comments so I'm not complaining or anything.... just thought it an interesting (and inadvertent) example of how to abuse the HN point system.
Yeah, I wasn't sure exactly how to ask this without sounding snarky, but I do think it's a valid point. If you're not, or if you are but didn't make it in three years, I still think the info you offer is valuable, but it doesn't come from the same well of experience as someone who has done it.
On the other hand, I know plenty of millionaires who never could have made a post like Jason's.
Why? Because of how they became millionaires. Either they inherited, joined a family business, climbed the corporate ladder, held onto or flipped real estate, grew a conventional business in the perfect climate, or just got plain lucky.
Better: Have you earned a million dollars through your own start-up > once?
One could argue that the advice is better if he isn't. Otherwise it would be just hindsight bias. Of course it would be interesting to see his status 3 years from now.
Added some things, cleaned up a tiny bit, and made permanent this comment which people found useful last night: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1447428 Update: seems mediatemple is going schizo, so if things are loading slow, I apologize. They usually run smooth at this level of traffic.
Thanks for editing your comment and posting it. It's much nicer to read. And...
> Raise Revenue, Not Funding
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
> Look For Something That Is Required Or Subsidized By Law
I'd like to add that you should be careful about something that requires you to need constant permission from a third party. The iPhone market is a good example. While I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't develop for that market, you just need to be aware that whatever you do, your success depends on someone besides you or your potential customer saying "Yes."
VERY good point. I call this the "fallacy of control" ...
Basically, don't forget who controls the product/service/platform you're trying to build for or sell. The prime example of this is Pandora's epic journey through the annals of the music industry. Brilliant idea, brilliant execution, but almost didn't make it because they didn't actually have any control over the product they were selling (other peoples' music).
I've seen lots of companies start and fail trying to do similar things -- music, movies, TV shows, etc. So many ideas can be so simple ... "we'll create this awesome service that lets you pick your song and XYZ"
Or, more simply put: Be in control of your own supply chain.
Holy crap, how did I forget your last point? I'm going to update with that when mediatemple is more stable (making edits seems to screw with the db) with credit to you. That's really important. Regulated industries with constant permission from a third party are things to try to stay away from. That can often intersect with "look for something that is required or subsidized by law".
Having worked on an FDA approved device, may I be the first to say STAY AWAY. I understand the rationale -- I look around at the sort of software every job except one I've worked at produces and am literally terrified of the idea of that software being the basis of medical decisions. The one place I felt built OK software had a nearly one to one ratio of qa to software developers. Nonetheless, having the FDA approve every software update is beyond frustrating, slow, and extremely expensive. Few things suck more than hearing people complain about bugs you fixed a year ago when you can't distribute updates to them until they get approved.
On the other hand -- I've seen software from an employer I won't name that informed a Dr that his patient was not pregnant. Which was good since the patient is male. And not postop male, but bio male. You see a few visible fuckups like this and get awfully skittish.
I think this is a really useful article, and honestly the advice sounds like good and rational advice. So I hope it's clearly that I'm genuinely not snarking when I say this:
Why would one want to be a millionaire?
This isn't to say that there's no reason to try. It's only to say that most people don't think about how much it costs to become a millionaire. Maybe some things are just worth more...
Great post, but just thought I'd mention I went searching for the RSS button on your site and couldn't find it anywhere (in fact, I subscribed to the comments on that post in my reader before I realized it was the wrong feed).
I could be blind, but in the end I noticed it was Wordpress so went to /rss/ to subscribe. Just thought I'd let you know!
Once I saw an article on "How to Get a Rich Girl" one of these Maxim type magazines. I wonder if there were actually people reading it and thinking "yeah, I'm gonna read this and get me a rich chick!"
No no, I won't. I tried optimizing the blog for the iPad a few weeks back. It works great there, but it's not the best for the actual computer. I'm going to scrap the current design and go with something fresher now that I'm writing more often. The iPad formatting? More on that later...
Get on the phone with Michael Milken and raise a few $100 million by selling junk bonds to eager investors if your idea is high-growth (note: he's banned from the industry but it's how a few billionaires got started).
[+] [-] patio11|15 years ago|reply
I like to think that I've written some fairly useful stuff here over the last year or so. To the best of my knowledge, none of my comments has ever gone to Slashdot and the New York Times, but the comment that I turned into a blog post about programmers and names just did.
Your own blog is also a little easier to cite in resume-type situations. (Hypothetically assuming I were to seek funding, I have at least one HN comment that I'd point to to say "Read this, it is strongly indicative of the future success of the business you are about to invest in", and that is a little quirky.)
[+] [-] Sukotto|15 years ago|reply
That being said... this is an interesting way to game one's HN score.
Comment on stories. Once it became obvious that a particular comment is popular/well-received (200+ points) clarify it a bit and post it to your blog. Then submit it as a story back to HN and get another (200+ points).
I found your original comment really interesting and the formatting on your blog way easier on the eyes than HN comments so I'm not complaining or anything.... just thought it an interesting (and inadvertent) example of how to abuse the HN point system.
[+] [-] pragmatic|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanwaggoner|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] schlichtm|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] edw519|15 years ago|reply
On the other hand, I know plenty of millionaires who never could have made a post like Jason's.
Why? Because of how they became millionaires. Either they inherited, joined a family business, climbed the corporate ladder, held onto or flipped real estate, grew a conventional business in the perfect climate, or just got plain lucky.
Better: Have you earned a million dollars through your own start-up > once?
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] vaksel|15 years ago|reply
I know he has a social network for families with Mark Bao and an app store for business apps.
But at most those are 10-50K a year businesses...at least in the foreseeable future.
[+] [-] lkozma|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonlbaptiste|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonlotito|15 years ago|reply
> Raise Revenue, Not Funding
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
> Look For Something That Is Required Or Subsidized By Law
I'd like to add that you should be careful about something that requires you to need constant permission from a third party. The iPhone market is a good example. While I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't develop for that market, you just need to be aware that whatever you do, your success depends on someone besides you or your potential customer saying "Yes."
[+] [-] nlh|15 years ago|reply
Basically, don't forget who controls the product/service/platform you're trying to build for or sell. The prime example of this is Pandora's epic journey through the annals of the music industry. Brilliant idea, brilliant execution, but almost didn't make it because they didn't actually have any control over the product they were selling (other peoples' music).
I've seen lots of companies start and fail trying to do similar things -- music, movies, TV shows, etc. So many ideas can be so simple ... "we'll create this awesome service that lets you pick your song and XYZ"
Or, more simply put: Be in control of your own supply chain.
[+] [-] jasonlbaptiste|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paul|15 years ago|reply
> Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Why "thank you"? Are you looking for the truth, or just something that repeats what you wish were true?
[+] [-] ErrantX|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] earl|15 years ago|reply
On the other hand -- I've seen software from an employer I won't name that informed a Dr that his patient was not pregnant. Which was good since the patient is male. And not postop male, but bio male. You see a few visible fuckups like this and get awfully skittish.
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] koeselitz|15 years ago|reply
Why would one want to be a millionaire?
This isn't to say that there's no reason to try. It's only to say that most people don't think about how much it costs to become a millionaire. Maybe some things are just worth more...
[+] [-] rodh257|15 years ago|reply
Great post, but just thought I'd mention I went searching for the RSS button on your site and couldn't find it anywhere (in fact, I subscribed to the comments on that post in my reader before I realized it was the wrong feed).
I could be blind, but in the end I noticed it was Wordpress so went to /rss/ to subscribe. Just thought I'd let you know!
[+] [-] kingkawn|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JacobAldridge|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yewweitan|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pmichaud|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nir|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] 0nly1ife|15 years ago|reply
If someone thinks it is a good idea, you are too late. - Yvon Chouinard
[+] [-] theprodigy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GavinB|15 years ago|reply
It seems appropriate.
Though I suppose every millionaire became a millionaire in three years, if you only start counting from three years before they became a millionaire.
[+] [-] ww520|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sourc3|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|15 years ago|reply
The text is way too big, the margins way too wide, and the letters way too run-together.
(Readability ftw!)
[+] [-] jasonlbaptiste|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] getonit|15 years ago|reply
Keming!
[+] [-] babyboy808|15 years ago|reply
All the best!
[+] [-] yanilkr|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zandorg|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paolomaffei|15 years ago|reply