alphagenerator

I think I'd throw more money at those initiatives where they grow meat in labs. Factory farming is a horror, and cattle do tremendous amounts of damage to land all over the world.

Veganism is part of a solution to end animal abuse, but it's currently too hard of a cultural adjustment for people. We need a better, commercially viable solution.

Thanks for the wisdom. I appreciate it.

The e-mail thing is the killer. Can you make recommendations for how to network with investors when someone is coming from outside Silicon Valley?

I too am in the finance space and my networks are concentrated in NY and Chicago. However, because I want to take a more product-centric approach initially, I feel like I should be talking to people in California instead. Just one problem: I don't know too many finance people in California.

Is the short answer to just fly out there and do my best to network within the span of a few months?

Bill, I enjoyed this article a great deal.

Can you explain the basics behind your process for speaking to investors after demo day? Did you just compile a list of people to speak with, or was there networking involved at YC which led to the right people?

Sorry if this sounds basic. I've read a lot of articles, but the process of talking to investors still seems hazy to me.

Just wanted to throw more weight behind this comment. This book is excellent and is super easy to follow. It's one of those rare technical books that actually does an amazing job explaining things.

The code doesn't matter. You have to want the end product. The reasons for wanting it are personal, but you have to want it.

I think what you're doing is very important. Thank you for tackling this problem.

Your reply makes sense.

I just wanted to add that I think I see what the OP meant by "soft launch." I think the OP asked a good question, because most startup business guides say launch something minimal and iterate. Whereas, app-store gurus seem to place a heavy emphasis on the initial bump. (That is, they hint that you either succeed on the initial push or die.)

OP: Thanks for asking the question.

No, actually. I am learning the ropes like you are.

Curious: Where are you buying templates?

What sort of business do you operate? There are a lot of qualified developers in this town. The price is the sticking point.

I called Comcast trying to sign up for their top-tier service when I was working from home. The guy on the other side kept asking me what on earth I'd need the top tier service for and kept asking me questions. Then he scheduled the visit for the tech on the wrong date. Every time I deal with Comcast, it's a hassle.

I can't believe I got interrogated when I signed up for service. Worst customer service ever.

Well, I've been reading the competitor's press releases mainly and reviews of their product on the internet. Since I've never done this before, I just don't know how much of their frustrations I can count as a form of validation. :-)

No resistance, just trying to get some input on how to do this stage of the process properly. In particular, I've been reading a lot of feedback on competitors' products.

I talk to people, but I need to talk to more.

What if a competitor has already validated the market for me? For example, they exist and have existed for a few years, but still don't service my need. Is it valid to assume I can attack their market share?

What if you had used a freemium model and delivered your product as a free app with IAP or ads and such? Or was the market too small in such a case?

Serious question regarding #1: What if I am the market because I am addressing a need I have that others have not addressed? Is the question then whether others have the same general needs?

Do I get to walk around thinking I have instant validation, or am I rolling the dice on the likelihood that others have the same problem?

Some more information:

When I put the system at 2x and played the game, I made it as far as level 8 without a glitch. Then, all of a sudden, it kept going into a mode where it kept asking me to resume again. I play the game on landscape mode on an iPad Air, if it helps you any.

The game is fun.

My constructive criticism is more business related than game related. For $1.99, there are other apps that give you a lot of strong competition. An ad model or some other addictive mechanic that employs IAP once people have it in their hands might work better for you. Also, more people looking at it will get you more feedback, and that'll guide your future development as a developer.

Regardless, I've added your blog to my list of blogs to read. I'd like to see you succeed in your efforts, whatever it is you try (if you continue on this path.)

Thanks for sharing the link.

Nope. Fingers are always on the fingerprint icons. Just keeps flipping into the resume screen.

Well, I bought the game and I gave it a shot. I like indie-productions like this.

The game is fun but I encountered a little snag where, somehow, it'd keep asking me if I wanted to resume the game constantly. I must be doing something non-standard with my thumbs and this takes away from the experience.

Granted, I play this on an iPad at 1x-mode, so the form factor difference might be the reason for the constant pausing.

Mind posting the URL to your iOS game? I would like to try it out.

I enjoyed tinkering with this and thought it was cool. I've never used a mind mapper before. What sort of customers pay for something like this? Just curious.

There is no substitute for the real thing. Get an account, build the algo, do the best you can to minimize maximum damage, and run with it.

I think projecting overconfidence is a social/political survival strategy. The 50% accurate thing is just the hidden reality everyone acknowledges. It's sort of like how people are polite when confronted with ugly babies.

I've only recently started investigating Chicago as a place to startup anything, but I'm not looking in the sectors where you are looking. I don't have any frustrations to vent; I like the midwest.

I like to believe the midwest is actually a better place to do a startup than NYC or SF primarily because the cost to bootstrap is much lower here. What about just building your prototype in the midwest and taking it to the coast for funding? I don't feel like capital is really confined to specific regions anymore, and Chicago is only a 3-hour flight from NYC.

I think you can browse Craigslist and find at least one ad like this every week in every major American city.

I chalk up developer pricing to inexperience and not malice, but sometimes I am not so sure.

Is your data available to the public?

I'd settle for some basic summary statistics.

Yeah, but, the usefulness is a function of the expressiveness.

The reason I picked C++ templates in particular was because they allow you to make very effective use of information at compile time. Other languages, at least in my experience, don't give me ways to really tell the compiler (or interpreter) my intentions as effectively as C++ allows me to when I'm using template metaprogramming. So, to that effect, C++ is superior on top of just C compatibility.

... Not that any of this takes away from your original argument.

How are your funemployed friends financing their lifestyles? Are they single or married?

I actually think the strongest point of C++ is the nature of how template metaprogramming is done. Is there any other language that competes with C++ as effectively with templates? I feel like all these "C++ is bad" comments and articles are from people who've really only scratched the surface in C++. The expressiveness that's available to a programmer using templates in C++ is, to me, quite awesome.