CharlesPal

You sir are 100% correct.

tl;dr - The better solution is probably no public loans or grants whatsoever.

Great idea for a start, best of luck!

Isn't this simply the cornerstone of functional testing?

At that level your tests should be executing business test cases. If a functional test fails there is either a corresponding unit test failure or the failure of the interaction between the methods rolled up into the business logic (functional test).

Agreed. I'd like to know the numbers on how much users are willing to pay for an application such as this. Having this metrics helps to determine the quantity/size of features in the application.

Example, enterprise applications are loaded with features and have a much higher price point. On the other side, there are may free applications out there that are much more lightweight.

Which market you choose to target helps determine the price point. That price point will drive the selection of features that go into the product.

Very cool startup idea... Hopefully you can get some good user adoption.

Best of luck!

http://evernote.com/evernote/

Is your goal to run this as a business? If it is you're asking the wrong question.

"What kind of note taking software would you build?" is a question a developer/engineer asks.

When you put your business hat on you need to start asking questions such as "What kid of note taking software would you pay for?" & "How much would you pay for note taking software that does X?"

If your goal is a business & not a hobby (which I assume it is since most people don't borrow 50k for a hobby) you need start asking questions related to generating revenue. You can build the best note taking software ever but if no one is willing to pay for it it will not be a profitable business.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the reason these pop-overs are still used is because they still work.

Users are much more likely to perform an action (ex. subscribe to a mailing list) when it is presented to them in a pop-over. (At least that is what my experiences have been)

If you hate them or not, they do work and until the numbers prove otherwise site owners will continue to use them. The decision purely comes down to the best way to increase key metrics.

In full disclosure - I am the founder of http://RateMyStartup.com - The site lists new starts (and uses pop-overs). I would recommend checking out Nevahold.com directly to give it a chance. It really is a cool concept for a startup.

MVPs are not formulaic, as Ries put it in “The Lean Startup.” “It requires judgment to figure out, for any given context, what MVP makes sense.”

Solid advice

Great startup idea

Ebersman really killed the FB IPO... Once FB matches the PE ratio of it's peers (Google, Yahoo, etc) the stock price is going to the single digits.

Issuing more shares at the last minute only made this problem worse.

Nice work!

"Steve Jobs' successor is making his mark and trying to keep the Apple magic going."

I think that says it all.

Weird, I've noticed the exact same thing. Many follow the site and logo design.

Do you have any examples of a startup that does not follow this standard format?

All set, for a fellow HN reader we bumped you to the front of the queue. (currently about a 4-5 week backlog) http://ratemystartup.com/manage-and-monitor-your-virtual-mac...

Hopefully this gives you some additional well deserved exposure.

Great, we'll look forward to that.

That definitely sounds fair. I would get that pricing page up as soon as possible, users always want to see that.

I'd like to see more on the main page about pricing. You mentioned "Both the core service and the monitoring agent will be Free Software" but is there a charge for the service?

On a side note... This is a great idea, I am the founder of http://ratemystartup.com - If you would like to submit your startup there I should be able to get you up on the site quickly.

Also, this means he needs about £2.5k/month to live.

Building a product based business that goes from making £0 to profiting £2.5k/month in 4 months is definitely an interesting challenge.

This is one of those stories that you wish you could skip to the last chapter so you can see how the book ends.

Spending £2.5k/month to live in London? In your experience, how accurate does that sound?

I'm very curious about this guy's background. He seems to have experience in product development, marketing and customer acquisition.

Having said that... I'm not sure how long ~16k USD (10k GBP) lasts in London but here (Boston) that would not give too many months of runway. Not using consulting for at least a short time he is giving himself a small window for success.

I wish him the best of luck but his approach does seem a bit aggressive.

Can anyone find a link to the actual product?

The only clue appears to be: "The new metering device will be presented at the Sensor+Test 2012 trade fair in Nuremberg from 22 to 24 May"

I noticed a ton of "Rate My Startup" type of posts on here... I thought a site like this should help a bit.

The page looks very good. I would just suggest that you slow down the phone rotation slightly, it's a bit overwhelming when trying to read the text.

"Articulate a Clear, Specific, Compelling Value Proposition"

Great advice. Linking the value prop of any B2B service with a crystal clear ROI makes for a great sales pitch.

The fastest way to make $1 is to make (or save) your client $10.

I've also experienced similar spikes before. It's important to added that everything will slow way down... that includes SSH access.

Even if you think "I'll just jump in there and correct the issues if/when the time comes" you may not be able to if SSH access slows down to a crawl.

Like the post says, the best course of action is to be prepared ahead of time and not trying to make tweaks while the traffic spike is happening.

Starting is easy, Finishing is hard. - http://goo.gl/03XrI

"This is my best piece of advice for any entrepreneur… the first 80% is easy, the next 15% is hard and last five percent is painful."

Stay here long enough and you begin to enjoy the cold winters and hot summers... At that point you'll become a super-aggressive driver, focused on making money right away and someone who likes Puritan laws that aren't enforced evenly.

I totally agree... Especially impressive when you consider the size of Cambridge (~7 sq mi) VS the size of an area like Silicon Valley (~450 sq mi).

That's a pretty amazing amount of nerd density.

Very true, I would like to see the same comparison by someone who has lived and worked on both the East and West Coast.