On being homeless to fund a startup and dealing with the secret service

http://nextshark.com/austen-allred-on-being-homeless/

by austenallred • 13 years ago

8 6 13 years ago

kmeritt• 13 years ago

You can't teach that.

kevingadd• 13 years ago

This is now illegal in Palo alto. Yay, silicon valley! More seriously, though, props to him for having the backbone to keep at it for even three months. Fundraising is stressful enough with a roof over your head...

PeterisP• 13 years ago

People can do with their money as they want, but one picture from the article reminds me that we as a society would be far better of if our social consensus for young families valued investments in housing quality (and also pretty much everything else) as much more important than a marketing-manufactured tradition of buying&gifting compressed carbon. Just saying.

nanomage• 13 years ago

I would argue they figured out what they wanted outside of the full influence of social consensus.

Live in a car = Fund Startup + Ring to from his supporting partner

Most ppl in the valley with a gf(bf) choose:

Apt + work at someone else's startup + untested supportive gf(bf)

Then there are the pompous ones:

Apt + Work at a fake startup (profitable, lots of employees) + have normal significant other, who says they support but probably wont be there if conditions get hard enough.

The real key is that he had unconditional support to do what he believed in and thought was right.

Do what you believe in, and everything else will work itself out as long as you are persistent.

p.s. I couch surf because i believe in what i'm doing, so i may be biased.

jack-r-abbit• 13 years ago

Pretty much the same story as Kurt Varner from last year. Interesting what people will do to achieve their goals.

But... is it just me or does the "secret service" part of the interview seem way too insignificant to warrant being half the article title?

rholdy• 13 years ago

I've been following this story for a while. I admire the hustle and drive this guy shows. He's obviously committed to making something cool.

The fact that this, and similar stories about this same guy and website have been making the rounds for a couple months is pretty neat. I don't think he planned on his story becoming viral when he was sleeping in a church parking lot, but I think that is a pretty cool, if unintended tertiary benefit.

The story makes a great headline, and that has generated some buzz for the company. Good for them. I hope it works out. I signed up for the beta.

On being homeless to fund a startup and dealing with the secret service

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