I often find that reading the comments on a HN post lead to more insights than simply reading the linked website alone or just the OP, so in the spirit of HN as a link aggregator: What HN threads have most contributed to the way you think about startups now?
Not one in particular, but I look closely at comments from disgruntled employees or what people hate in a workplace and then I make a mental note not to do that.<p>Coupled with common sense and basic human decency, it still has been an education.<p>HN also allowed me to be informed early on about COVID-19 and take the necessary measures. I cancelled my flight to Paris in February 2020 after being there in January and computing the risk borders would shut down. They shut down for more than a year and a half, and I have spent that time with my dying mother until the last moment. I would have missed the last year with her if I had taken that trip, and an important factor I did not take it was all the good people here covering the subject and attracting my attention to its evolution internationally. I am yet to pay that debt.<p>The comments here also drew my attention to how other sectors were suffering, and I made inquiries and talked with many people here in different sectors. It resulted in giving away about 90% of my income to different people as I was fortunate enough to work remotely and they were not. To go back full circle: it solidified the point of how important it was to have the means to do good, which is why I'd like to become confortable enough to help more people (thus, startups).
I recall many threads of where a product/service/startup got shut down / closed its doors. It's ironic because sometimes it's my first time hearing about that product/service/startup, and I often ask: 'Why didn't I know about that earlier?'. Turns out it's just as well I didn't hear of it before because they're no longer sustainable or operational in the long run. This is why I only concern myself with 'stayups' or products and services that you know instinctively (and through research) they are in it for the long haul.
Mostly general consensus/sentiment, that start-ups are not worth working for anymore due to investor/founder greed in terms of stock options allocation.
Gail Goodman's How to negotiate the Long, Slow, SaaS Ramp of Death<p><a href="https://businessofsoftware.org/2013/02/gail-goodman-constant-contact-how-to-negotiate-the-long-slow-saas-ramp-of-death/" rel="nofollow">https://businessofsoftware.org/2013/02/gail-goodman-constant...</a>
Not an HN thread, but HN videos. Particularly Michael Seibel's videos while jogging were very insightful. A lot of what he said in those videos were so obvious after the fact that it's crazy how there are teams that do the polar opposite and fail. I highly encourage you to watch them all.
What I Wish I'd Known About Equity Before Joining a Unicorn<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13426494" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13426494</a>
All the discussions around the relationship between burn rate (personal and company), running room (personal and company), and being "default alive".
I've seen enough startups from the inside and outside to now know that:
- there are all different paths to take to success
- you can do a lot of things wrong, bad things and still be successful
- the power of, and value, of cult-like fanatical users / supporters
- marketing looks very different these days, but brand (what the outside world thinks about your company) is hugely important
There's been dozens of HN threads about this article, and it taught me much about the mechanics of making something that grows out of essentially nothing <a href="http://paulgraham.com/ds.html" rel="nofollow">http://paulgraham.com/ds.html</a>
This question I asked when YC company Amplitude went public a little while back: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28700409" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28700409</a><p>It confirmed that these days if a startup is successful the founder gets almost all of the reward, the first handful of engineers get a few million bucks, and the thousand+ people that follow simply get a regular salary. There are only two real paths to wealth in tech nowadays: start your own thing or work for FAANG.