Young Minority MIT Grad Needs a Laptop to Code, can We Help Him?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14711651

by pain_perdu • 9 years ago

3 9 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I recently spoke to a young African-American MIT grad who moved out to Silicon Valley a couple weeks ago to work on his startup in an (unfunded) incubator program. Unfortunately, his machine is on its last legs and he's unable to get another one at the moment.

I thought I'd reach out to the HN community to ask for any creative solutions to help this young man out. Some of the other incubator members started a GoFundMe for him (email me for URL) but I'm not sure that's the most direct approach for solving the problem.

Do you have any suggestions as to how we can get this young man a machine to continue his journey as a young entrepreneur?

Desired Specs: "Any decent development machine. Preferably 8gb RAM and MacOS or Linux."

Note: This story can be verified with a well-known VC and other reputable folks around Silicon Valley, just ping me for details.

threesixandnine• 9 years ago

Sory but this looks like the ad for the man more than shout for help.

And this : This story can be verified with a well-known VC and other reputable folks around Silicon Valley, just ping me for details.

I am sure well-known VC can scratch 300 bucks for a few years old Thinkpad that can serve the MIT grad for a year or two until the advertised startup picks up and gets funded.

Call me a cynic...

pain_perdu4• 9 years ago

Not quite sure what you mean by 'an ad for the man' but that doesn't strike me as particularly accurate.

I heard about this young fellow who needs a laptop and so I made a post, there are no ulterior motives here, just trying to help.

And yes, the VC is a billionaire would certainly could afford a machine but that offer has yet to be made so here we are.

godot• 9 years ago

Just wanted to make some suggestions for ideas and not meant to critique -- one can get a fairly good laptop for coding nowadays at a fairly low price; just don't stick with a Mac like what everyone thinks you have to. (which costs $1000+)

I just randomly opened woot.com's laptop section (https://www.woot.com/category/computers/laptops) and there are already a few laptops under $300 with 8GB ram. If he really dislikes Windows, he can install Linux on it like you said. (though Win10 is pretty good nowadays with WSL) Can said well-known VC shell out $300 to buy him one of these?

pain_perdu4• 9 years ago

Thanks! This is a good tip.

bluedodger1212• 9 years ago

Why is he starting a company and moving to Silicon Valley with no money?

Why did you have to indicate him as an African-American?

What does being a minority have to do with doing something so irresponsible?

pain_perdu4• 9 years ago

I can't speak to his exact reasons for starting a company and moving here with little money other than there was an opportunity to participate in this incubator program.

I feel that silicon valley lacks racial diversity, particularly amongst founders. If there is an opportunity to support under-represented groups I thought it was worth mentioning.

brudgers2• 9 years ago

Ebay, e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220-Core-i5-2-5Ghz-...

With http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/thinkpad-x220/CT2294772

Less than a business lunch for a well-known VC.

Good luck.

pain_perdu4• 9 years ago

thanks!

brudgers2• 9 years ago

An option in the Bay area, http://www.crc.org/

Young Minority MIT Grad Needs a Laptop to Code, can We Help Him?

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