estromberg

Same. It seems possible explanations are that 1) It is the vocal minority that are annoyed by these or 2) While perhaps effective once for capturing an email address, if you did a longitudinal study you'd find it results in less engagement over time (I remember reading somewhere that slow webpage speeds don't effect engagement during a given session, but rather cause people to not come back over time).

Tumblr is down, here is the cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

You might find this post I wrote a while back useful: http://estromberg.com/post/4778188872/how-to-get-a-job-at-a-...

Totally. This is definitely something I'm seeing on the East Coast as well (Although at a lower rate than those deciding between startup and big co.) The advice I've generally been given is to start a company as soon as possible, because nothing can prepare you for the world of being a founder. In reality, my experience working for a startup has been incredibly useful in shaping how I think about starting my own company. Looking back I feel I was relatively clueless right out of college, and working for a startup first has been an awesome choice for me. But again, I am just one data point.

I generally agree with this. Especially if you have plans to be a founder. Though there is an opportunity cost of learning anything, right? Would the time spent learning to code be better spent learning a different skill that would be more directly applicable to the job you are seeking? I think in some cases, yes.

The "invest in us" page reads more as a gimmick than a real business opportunity. Private companies rarely, if ever, list valuation amounts or concrete prices at which a share can be bought- this makes your company look amateur.

Also, the line "This is an opportunity that could be big enough to IPO, and will certainly have a number of interesting exit opportunities," sounds more like the daily spam in my inbox than a serious business.