WingNews logo WingNews GitHub [2]

blurrywh's comments

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: How did you acquire your first 100 users?

> I see this attitude all the time. Why are people so worried?

If you find the map straight to a goldmine, why should you share it?

Example: Last month you found a new way to target on FB ads (=> mix of ad creatives, country and interest), with tons of traffic at ultra low CPC. The space is quite popular and you are surprised yourself why no one else found this way. Conversions are sky-high and it seems not to end.

Why should you share this? If you share you will destroy the low CPC within days. If you had ever found a goldmine in the past you might understand. And if yes, please share this goldmine.

You can make this example for every Marketing channel. People never share current tactics, only old stuff which isn't working anymore.

Edit: Why the downvote? I try to explain opportunistic behaviour and I understand and even agree that this behaviour isn't nice or something we would expect. But downvoting seems to be easier than replying properly...

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes on the Flying Car

Compared to a car accident a flying car accident can create 100x damage for participating and/or non-participating passengers/travellers. The factor '100x' is just my guess, correct me if you think I am wrong. Could this be an obstacle for the future success or do you see any solution to this problem?

(This is just what I am always wondering when reading about flying cars)

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: How did you acquire your first 100 users?

Nice question. I am just wondering if anyone will disclose their current killer acquisition hacks. Moreover, the question heavily depends on your business, so is it B2B, B2C, online, app, bot, etc.?

However, a good read on this which tackles all ways of user acquisition/Marketing is 'Traction' from the DuckDuckGo founder. It's not an exciting book but gives an ok overview.

You could also just start with the channel which seems most obvious, set up analytics from day one and iterate over and over. With this approach you should get a good feeling if your acquisition strategy works and if yes you should optimize. Otherwise move on to the next channel.

Edit: When you search for Traction on Amazon.com there's also another one on #1 (good Amazon search hack from another other author btw) which is not the mentioned book (the one I mean is blue-ish)

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: A response to “An experienced JavaScript dev’s account of learning React”

OT: When I tried Inferno as a drop-in replacement for React few months ago everything kept working fine. Inferno's author was hired by Facebook and some of his work might have been reused. Inferno was insanely fast and for me super compatible though missing some of the API.

I like Dan's answer and it shows that many are not really familiar with React and its trivial concept (like me before I tried). React is good and manageable even after a rewrite because it has a tiny API (compared to other frameworks/libs in this space).

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: Need Advice on building a product for US market

Interesting product. The only use case I see (from an European perspective) is:

You move into a new office building with your small startup team and depending on the country and Internet provider it can take up to six weeks or even longer until you get an Internet connection (even if you just take over an existing account, it's a mess sometimes). Then your device paired with good data plans would be an awesome substitute.

However, nowadays small teams go rather into turn-key team spaces from coworking spaces where all is set. So the real need might be quite small (because there are just so many good offers). Big teams/companies usually move once the target location is fully setup, so they shouldn't need such a device.

Edit: Another thing: Since LTE you can get constant 150Mbit down and up with one SIM and device. There are already plans which offer this 150Mbit up and down and unmetered for 200 EUR/month which is a very good deal considering the specs. And you just need a normal smartphone as the hot spot. So, I wouldn't build such a device.

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: Chicago's About to Get a Lot Less Orange

OT: When I was kid I remember that all cars in Paris had yellow front lights which gave the city a special and unfamiliar look. Is this still the case?

Edit: Just googled myself, it's called Selective Yellow[1] and the reasons are interesting and depending on the source different [1][2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow

[2] http://www.french-cars-in-america.com/why-did-france-have-ye... https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k711979-Ye...

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: AmigaOne X5000 – first impression

When we were kids the Amiga was for quite some time the center of our life.

When it was launched there were PC clones with EGA graphics (16 colours), the Atari ST just launched which was a good computer and we were also outgrowing our 8-bit computers (C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum). Then, the Amiga was gem-like compared to the alternatives and I remember I was so in love reading colorful Amiga ads over and over: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ce/8a/49/ce8a...

But to be honest, I don't get why people still stick to it nowadays.

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: AmigaOne X5000 – first impression

To the point!

What I don't get: Why don't they use at least a customized case which doesn't look like a typical PC case (such as Apple does with the Mac Pro)?

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: In Berlin, a Grass-Roots Fight Against Gentrification as Rents Soar

Berlin goes through--I would say--a normal gentrification process. Before 2010 Berlin hadn't have any significant industry and just few jobs. Since then companies, jobs, everything is sky-rocketing and rents get obviously much more expensive. But Berlin is still far below London or Paris. I think we haven't even reached the level of Eastern European capitals price-wise, such as Warsaw.

But the actual problem is that the city is super slow in building skyscrapers and rather tries to avoid them 'because they aren't Berlin's DNA'. Skyscrapers offer a much higher density and now is the time to really plan for a couple of them. They are just two new small skyscrapers planned for the next 5-10 years. But it's a very tedious process: everybody is fighting with each other, the city wants guarantees that the real estate funds build and operate schools and other public facilities in those districts, the funds don't want of course. Then there is the subway operator BVG which is kind of blackmailing the funds: They say that the skyscrapers are so heavy and they need money to stabilize the subway tunnels underneath. BTW, they do this with every bigger real estate project (recently with a huge mall).

In general, the city's council has a very good feeling about how to plan and build the city, they are really good compared to other cities. Infrastructure is great and you have many small city centers while Berlin-Mitte where the government resides is the busiest and most expensive one (no surprise). They are just lacking one important skill and this is managing large scale projects. Just an example: our new airport which was planned to open 2010 hasn't been opened yet. The new airport seems to be ready but doesn't get the approvals and it seems that it will never get the approvals and has to be shut down again (news from last week). Germany's general overregulation might also play in here. The city currently operates just two small airports.

However, they really need to plan proper skyscraper districts which seamlessly integrate with the rest of the city, complement Berlin's DNA and which should have also a good mix of business, leisure and living. So you don't face dead districts at night. The Potsdamer Platz which was created 20 years ago is an ok place which pairs all of those + two tiny skyscrapers.

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: SoundCloud needs more money, or it may sell at a fire-sale price

A Question to Fred Wilson from Union Square and AVC.com:

Since Fred is one of the early investors + somebody who frequently promoted Soundclound on his blog and on HN (despite all the industry warnings that he shouldn't deal with the music industry's oligopol), we are wondering...

How does it feel when one of your flagship investment is in such a situation?

(Serious question, and what are you telling your LPs now?)

blurrywh | 9 years ago | on: The most mentioned books on Stack Overflow

Did I say with one word that I find OP's work wrong? Where did you read this? Why are you so negative?

It's great what the OP did and I am really interested in his sales (and he already gave some insights, he's a great guy)

page 1
more