thomasilk

It's not hard at all to exclude buyers of the advertised product from the ad and I can't imagine that Amazon doesn't know that. We're doing it for clients all the time.

Probably they just don't care enough about their ads being a few percent more efficient as long as they are profitable.

Banning someone for calling YC out is bad enough, but bad mouthing him afterwards and claiming that he mistreated founders (or YC founders saying that he did) is such a cheap shot.

There is absolutely no history of Jason being known for mistreating founders. The opposite is true. AngelForum, free Launch tickets for founders and so on. He wouldn't get in the deals he's getting in if it were any different.

As it currently stands I'd never enter YC as a founder. Your comment cries of hypocrisy and falseness.

Either you honestly think he's mistreating founders then ban him and tell it like it is (and back it up with proof) or you don't think he's mistreating founders and think the feedback is unsubstantiated (if it exists) then man up and do what's best for YC founders.

Austria has the least mentions but is in 4th place when it comes to upvotes per post. That's what I'd call efficiency ;)

I completely agree. Your comment should be required reading for every "gifted" child.

Additionally, they are probably more talented and therefore have a higher progress rate when they practice which leads to less frustation and more relaxation.

It's easy to be relaxed when you know that as long as you put in some hours you'll always belong to the best of the best while others are constantly struggling with trying to become one of those best of the best to be more successful, get a better paid job (especially in music),...

It literally takes half a second to get what the site does and how to help. Brilliant.

I'd put the mailing list or something similar more prominently above the fold, because more people would regularly return if they'd get a weekly or monthly email with success stories and new profiles/stories that still need funding.

F.e. currently every project is fully funded and I almost fear forgetting about the site.

Anyway great project if you need someone to help with some marketing ideas or anything else from time to time (of course for free), send me a mail (me[at]ilkthomas[dot]com). I'd love to help.

Congrats to Felix and Red Bull! Makes me and so many others proud to be Austrian.

At the moment it looks like he passed it.

No, he probably did this to leave Joe Kittinger one of his world records, because Joe was the essential team member who made this mission possible for Felix.

It's a question of intent not of rounded corners. Smsg and Android had the clear intent to copy Apple, so there should be no discussion about their guilt.

I totally agree on your view on patents.

My comment in another HN Thread:

Is it good for the industry in the short term? I'd say No. Is it the best thing that could have happened to the tech industry in the long term? Yes, I think so. Android and most devices started as a direct response to iOS. All the major players saw that iOS was disrupting the market and there was no time left to invent something on their own, so they simply built a clone. From a business point of view the right decision, Microsoft invented a new UI and new devices with Nokia, but it seems they failed, since they were late to the market and to succeed they would have needed a really disruptive idea themselves. Google had the team and skills to invent something that could disrupt iOS, but they decided to copy it instead and in the process wasted all the brain power of the team that probably has the best chance of finding the next paradigm. What a waste of talent to use all those great people for building a clone.

Almost every single founder would go crazy if someone copied their interface or device design in the same way. Yes the same people that are now claiming that Apple is a threat to innovation.

The jury's decision is the best thing that could've happened to the industry in the long term.

I hope we don't really need to discuss the fact that Smsg's devices and Android at least started as clones.

Is it good for the industry in the short term? I'd say No. Is it the best thing that could have happened to the tech industry in the long term? Yes, I think so.

Android and most devices started as a direct response to iOS. All the major players saw that iOS was disrupting the market and there was no time left to invent something on their own, so they simply built a clone.

From a business point of view the right decision, Microsoft invented a new UI and new devices with Nokia, but it seems they failed, since they were late to the market and to succeed they would have needed a really disruptive idea themselves.

Google had the team and skills to invent something that could disrupt iOS, but they decided to copy it instead and in the process wasted all the brain power of the team that probably has the best chance of finding the next paradigm. What a waste of talent to use all those great people for building a clone.

There is no way for a child to become self-reliant if it's overprotected. I had a 40 min bus and tram ride every day to school when I was 7 years old.

Good article on the topic http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/raising-suc...

SEEKING WORK - Remote work possible ,Linz Austria

Skills: Marketing, Branding (+some incredible partners for other stuff like design or development)

Specific things I can deliver: brand development, video production, social media campaigns, events, guerilla marketing, websites,...

Experience: I've been doing marketing for international as well as national brand since my 15th birthday. I've worked on campaigns for brands like Nespresso and worked as head of marketing on a freelancer basis for an ecommerce shop in Austria and trippled their revenue.

Furthermore, I know how startups work from my entrepreneurial ventures and can deliver very capital efficient campaigns that can jumpstart your business.

It's hard to give you advice knowing almost nothing about your business, but I am pretty sure facebook ads aren't the right strategy for you.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your planned product and brand?

Same offer to you.

"I've been doing marketing for national and international brands if you send me a mail me[at]ilkthomas.com with a short description of your project, I'll send you some free tips. "

Since you mentioned apps, my company QuantApps even offers doing all the marketing for a percentage of the revenues if that sounds better to you. Of course if you prefer just some tips that offer stands too.

I've been doing marketing for national and international brands if you send me a mail me[at]ilkthomas.com with a short description of your project, I'll send you some free tips.

I really hate it when tools use such underhanded techniques, but I get it from a business point of view.

Especially social apps like SocialCam need to become the biggest network in their space to succeed in the end. Being number two in the social space is a far worse than in any other market because of network effects.

It's probably worth offending some users and even loosing some. Especially posting it on your wall, when you click on it, is something that most users don't care about. I've asked some of my not so tech-savy friends and they think it's totally okay.

Something that doesn't work at all is posting something without any action from the user or from a different source than their facebook timeline (for example from an mobile app) without their consent. This can kill your product and will upset nearly everybody.

Only for USA WTF

Hey Chris,

I especially like the third idea. Made some mockups for an app like this a few months ago and would love to have a PRM app :-)

+1 London

When Startups pick a name, they should think about 5 years from now not about if it sounds cool at the moment or is provocative.

A controversial name can help you in the beginning, but it can kill you branding in the longterm. (Exception: For some brands a controversial name can work, but then the whole brand has to go along)

If you pick a name like this one, you have to have the balls to build a brand and company that is controversial and provocative in every little detail.

This is a major problem of many startups.

Branding is so important, especially in the early stages of a company. A bad branding can kill even the best company.

Despite that fact, there are nearly no articles about branding for startups.

It will take a long time till there will be no native apps anymore. As long as the choice remains between the browser experience and native apps, native apps will still have a chance. The moment the first OS finds a new and cooler more native style experience way to access the internet and website, Webservices will win.