HN user

NickKampe

94 karma

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/kampe; my proof: https://keybase.io/kampe/sigs/oQgpPEdaxtBZqylsL3oV74_VOB3g2N65uVmzutHYCKU ]

Posts3
Comments40
View on HN
[dead] 6 years ago

The comment section here is the only reason why this should be on the front page.

[dead] 7 years ago

Keep on coming back it works if you work it

GUYS! We thought up a new way of how to describe why Facebook is bad, we'll make it seem like this hasn't been happening since "Likes" came into existence and watch people revolt!

If you're butthurt about your privacy and think big brother is spying on you, don't fucking use Facebook.

> We compete by offering a better work environment (from the perspectives of some), better problems to work on, equity in the company, and more control over the purpose and outcome of your work.

While the spare bedroom of my apartment may not be many people's idea of a "better" work environment, we too offer much better problems to solve then that of other tech companies recruiting developers in our area as well as equity. Since we're such a small, close knit team, each of us certainly has the utmost potential to make giant impacts on a day to day basis, and that we do, but that's practically a given when talking about a startup.

> What you're arguing is empirically false. I know tons of startups in the valley that are founded by people who started elsewhere and moved here. Hardly any move back. Those that do have to because of our moronic visa system or move to Boston, Seattle, or New York.

I never said don't eventually migrate to the valley if it's where you feel your company needs to be to position itself for success. So long as you have the resources to be able to move your entire team and their families, as well as the capital to compete with other tech companies while recruiting - Go for it.

> They are almost all hiring

I'm sure they are, who wouldn't be when you have millions of dollars of other people money to throw around at your problems?

> they manage to find good people (not without a good amount of effort), if they can't afford offices they work out of their living rooms and that's just fine.

Touche, we have had no problems recruiting extremely talented individuals, even given the fact we hardly have any perks nor health/dental/pet benefits.

> they don't travel during rush hour so traffic is a non-issue

Sometimes there's no way of avoiding travel during peak times, so your solution just won't cut it.

> if past performance is any indication of future results (which may not be true, is that what you're arguing?) they will make up a disproportionately large portion of the successful (in the admittedly uniquely SV sense) tech companies of the next few years.

That's not what I'm arguing, overall what I'm stating is that geographic location matters very little depending on the market you're pursuing. Obviously a vast majority of the future successful startups will come from the valley strictly due to the amount of VC money being thrown around. However, don't discredit the amount of misinformation and bad advice being fed to founders, as this only further pollutes the thoughts of many to believe that Silicon Valley is the only place their company has a chance to succeed. They've got much better things to think about then what city they need to position themselves in to possibly increase their chances of success, like their product and the well being of their team.

Facebook was first developed in Massachusetts while Mark was attending Harvard, another top tier educational institute. Dropbox and AirBnB were both YC backed companies, and due to the rules of YC, were essentially "forced" into migrating to the valley.

I'm 22 years old, so I was about 10 years old around the time of the .com crash. Therefore I like every other founder my age never really had the luxury of building a vast network of talented individuals through prior work experiences in a decent economy. Not to say a few of us hadn't worked together with one another in the past, just that the economy has honestly had no effect on us being able to hire on creative talent. Recruiting and training team members has never been an issue for us - We've developed quite the knack for attracting the very best and brightest.

With that said, not one of our team members have completed their degree, and I'd be willing to bet every one of our developers, myself included, are equally if not more skilled then anyone you'd potentially pit against us against from the valley. Our standards are equally as high, as we enjoy working with "A" people, and we don't tolerate anything less. We don't discriminate based on educational merits as they mean absolutely nothing to us, and that allows us to recruit individuals from all walks of life. Also, since we're so close to the University of Missouri (Mizzou) as well as St. Louis and Kansas City, we're able to pick up university educated graduates if we so desire (which so far, we haven't).

We work M-F out of the spare bedroom of my apartment from anytime after noon til early into the morning. Some of our team members live together, and some have families to support. (not to mention we all grew up in the Midwest, and our entire families live around the area) Since we're bootstrapping we're on a very tight budget, so needless to say real-estate is definitely a limiting factor for us, and California is expensive no matter where you choose to reside.

While I do agree that customers, mentors, and employees are abundant on the coast, I'd argue that our geographic location is a blessing. Not only is it superb for our market (Independent music), but the entrepreneurial community in Columbia Missouri is exceptionally strong, intimate and full of helpful mentors, networking events, competitions, and resources.

While I agree that starting a company is vastly different then starting a disruptive startup, other than the valley having a heavier density of VCs what you've stated about supportive startup ecosystems practically not existing anywhere else but in Silicon Valley is utterly false.

Just look at New York, while it's honestly pretty much on par with SV in terms of cost of living, it's got a fantastic startup ecosystem in which many startups burn cash equally as fast.

Step outside the SV bubble, I'd venture to say that two thirds of the states within the continental US have fantastic and thriving startup communities with plenty of talent and venture funding to boot. You just have to know where to look.

As fellow nerds you should realize that with the power of the internet as well as the sheer amount of interconnectivity we now experience, there are virtually no location barriers.

As the founder of a bootstrapped startup, how do you expect to compete with the enormous employee salaries (which I'd like to point out is mostly due to the cost of living) being offered at other SV companies? Not to mention the various perks, such as insurance, meals, and transportation etc. that many SV companies provide. What about commercial real estate? Even in Sacramento, it's just simply not feasible.

First, Kansas City is located in Missouri, not Kansas. Second, the point in time which Google was created was an entirely different era of the Internet, Silicon Valley, and the world in general. Third, Google was founded while Sergey and Larry were studying at Stanford University, which I've stated in my other comments, is one of the most optimal places to start a company.... Nearby or on a college campus.

No, it's really not nonsense at all. I honestly couldn't think of a worse place to start a company than Silicon Valley, other than potentially a third world country with no internet. Extremely high costs of living, constant talent warfare, and absolutely terrible traffic at peak hours. Unless you're venture backed, stay the hell away from the bay.

Reddit was a very bad analogy for us to use. We're so much more, especially for musicians....

All the content is submitted by the artists themselves under a creative commons license. We don't add any content ourselves.

You able to share any track you like, we just don't display it's pretty link in the url, yet.

As our future plans unfold you'll see why we need some of your personal information. :)

Thanks for your suggestions!