deltapoint

See if you can defer your Harvard MBA for 1 year and try to do TechStars. That way you can try your hand at entrepreneurship and still have the Harvard MBA in your back pocket if things don't work out in a year.

From the Harvard MBA website: How long can I defer my acceptance? Candidates should submit applications only for the year they plan to enter the MBA program. Postponements and deferrals are granted rarely and are considered on a case-by-case basis.

So it is no guarantee that you can defer it, but if you can, I think the deferral route is the best option.

Many of these deals may have special terms as well. At a minimum VCs will get 1x and at times 2x or 3x of the first money made. That way, VCs can protect their downside while investing in some of the companies that have the biggest potential.

That being said, these valuations are still quite high.

There is Ron Conway facts though

http://twitter.com/ronconwayfacts

Hey Ramit, great comment. I think your educational experience was unique in how applicable it is to what you now do--for a non pre-professional degree.

For someone outside of college, how'd you recommend people learn those topics?

Small typo, the word "with" is repeated.

"Bolder investors will now get rewarded with with lower prices"

Journalists want stories that spread. Making hyperbolic comparisons help make stories spread.

It can be weird having stories with those type of comparisons made but I think it will help Jessica and the indinero team more then hurt.

I once had a way overinflated headline written about myself and since it has helped to open doors for potential jobs and such.

Content targeted to HN can lead to well catered content and in-depth discussions with multiple posts on similar topics.

I think as long as the community doesn't just vote up articles because they pander, content targeted towards HN is a great thing.

If you're post is only on the new section and never makes the front page it will still get a bit of traffic.

http://abiekatz.com/2010/08/20/introducing-a-new-theory-the-...

It got 5 karma points and 29 page views from Hacker News.

So making the front page is very important for getting traffic from HN. I am sure this is the case for any social news site.

Working at a company at facebook or google increases your human capital, increasing one's opportunity cost.

This can make it harder to leave the stable and growing pay check and try to create your own thing. This is not to even mention the growing amount of responsibilities that come with age (mortgage, family, etc.).

This seems like a really cool opportunity for an entrepreneur who is looking to be immersed in another culture.

Any HN readers thinking of applying?

I think you may be taking this story too literally.

The moral of the story is to pursue happiness over extreme financial success at the expense of happiness.

The story also acts against the deferred life plan. Many people endure things they hate in order to make a lot of money. In most cases, this is probably a bad thing... especially when there are better alternatives.

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathon Haidt is great. It intertwines philosophy and psychology while providing a lot of insight on how a life is well lived.

http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Hypothesis-Finding-Modern-An...

Good idea... I am definitely planning on microtesting the different possibilities...

Do you think oDesk and the like is suitable for larger projects or would going with an agency?

Also, did you do anything on your end to ensure that you could get the best work out of them?

If you want a more thorough guide of how to eat for a dollar a day and a personal account, day by day, of two people who did so for a month check out http://www.dollaradaybook.com/it-starts-today

Do you think there could be an MBA program that teaches relevant things to what start ups do? and what would it teach?

I feel in some ways part of what Y Combinator does is like an extremely condensed business school that is relevant to start ups.

YC "spend[s] much more time teaching founders how to pitch their startups, and how to close a deal once they've generated interest." YC also invites speakers to share their knowledge http://ycombinator.com/w9speakers.html

I think the ultimate educational experience for a future start up entrepreneur would combine what Ars Digita University taught (programming) http://www.aduni.org/, web design, the relevant aspects of business, a bit of elementary worldly wisdom http://ycombinator.com/munger.html, and to top it all off the school would require the students to work on a start up as a side project.

Reminds me of Matt Mullenwag's plan for starting a bank: http://ma.tt/2009/08/starting-a-bank/

Jumo is a similar idea to idealist but I think/hope jumo can do it better. Chris did a great job to help organize the movement supporting Obama during his campaign, if he can do something similar for a bunch of non-profits a lot of good could come from his efforts.

It is also a big deal because it is Facebook's co-founder who is doing this. Almost any company that he is launching would get press.

The intent of my message was not to state that all witnessable acts of good must be viewed with suspicion. Rather, my goal was to express how acts of good could also be in one's (or in this case a companies) self-interest. I commend what apple did with their homepage.

Not that I think apple is thinking this (though they might be) but by putting this on their homepage they attract positive attention from the interweb and are cast in a very positive light. This in the long term leads to good branding and more sales.

Heartfelt condolences and good business can go hand in hand.

What made you decide to intern at a small startup versus a larger company? How would you describe your experience at wepay?

He can really bring something new and enter into the mainstream. They are not mutually exclusive.

Getting the "freaks and the fuckers" off the site doesn't prevent the service from doing something new.

I think the idea of being connected to people one-on-one is appealing and don't think the appeal will fade.

If only if there could be more serendipity with who you are connected with... I think that is an interesting opportunity right now.