jdileo

Appreciate the counsel my friend!

Your point is understood. I submitted to HN because the viewpoints of engineers/founders/builders (aka "my people) was desired.

First, congratulations on being proactive in pursuit of scaling your career trajectory. I'm often amazed that an ecosystem that reveres best-practice and first principals has fostered belief that coaching is valuable only to those who inhabit c-suites or....wait for it....the latest Stanford startup backed by the illuminati of SV.

Securing a coach is both possible and critically important to career trajectory. Further, the FANG SVP that has climbed ladder without benefit of guidance and network such associations yield is rare indeed.

If desired I can make introduction to a couple of people that are well respected, lmk.

I chose to read the prior comments posted, wish I had not done so. The answer to your question has zero to do with ethics, morals, etc. We live quite literally within a surveillance state that becomes more sophisticated and invasive by the day. FANG profit models, undisclosed deals between govt/SV and the omnipresence of video cameras have effectually made the 4th Amendment mute.

You have 3 choices and each of them is absolutely fine and at your discretion: 1. Treat your work as a "bug bounty" and contact each manufacturer for compensation. 2. Choose educate ecosystem via github post. 3. Keep quiet and use for exact purpose you intended.

Most important thing you've said is that "....chance that company will be purchased, but those talks have been going on for several months...."

**Never, ever, ever become more committed to a startup than the founders are. A startup warrants devotion and continued work only when leadership is demonstrably committed to victory.

Pls immediately begin pursuit of finding a position that thrills you!

I've read each of the 26 comments posted thus far. Respectfully, each of them misses the mark by a wide margin.

THIS: Assuming that you're healthy and remain mentally/physically vigorous, answer the below questions authentically:

1. Are you sick and tired of current daily routine and lack of intellectual stimulation? (You're obviously restless, hence posing this question).

2. Have you curated a list of startup ideas that are of interest and within scope of skill-set?

3. Has a restful night of slumber devolved into hours upon hours of visualizing the ONE product that will inspire the drive, discipline and creativity required to build and introducee it to the world?

Go kill it!!

You're objecting to receiving a personalized email from a startup team that is griding to bring a product to market? This email is well written and polite, including praise for competitor.

And you'd like to shame them. Shame on you!

True thanks for the time and care needed to script above. All points clear and logical.

The vast majority of engineers will always view sales as a necessary evil, and thus the percentage whom achieve even base level competency is staggeringly low. In contrast, elite sales people are both driven and financially rewarded to master the nuances and myriad client incentives you outline above. Further, they are high IQ and will work tirelessly from outset to acquire deep knowledge of all required to serve the engineering team, close customers and contribute to P&L.

With rare exceptions a startup is ill-advised to not hire a sales lead from very early days. Involving this high achiever intimately with totality of inaugural customer acquisition is best practice, not doing so is akin to asking an offensive lineman to run a crossing route in the red zone.

Are you referencing the myriad of scam projects/tokens or ecosystem as a whole, including blockchain?

Design and implementation of outbound prospecting campaigns for SMB's. Side note Marco---Italy is amazing, what are you working on?

Agreed on all, thx for the note!

Mark is a treasure and unique to his peer group. If you're a student of startups his blog (bothsidesofthetable.com) is mandatory reading in same class of PG's essays and pmarca's blog.

This month marks the 14th anniversary of the '08 financial collapse, a debacle founded upon naked greed, corruption and cronyism.

In late August '08 I was epitome of rags to riches American Dream, bootstrapped founder of a 100+ person startup boasting 12 consecutive years 2x growth, 8-figs liquid and a signed LOI that represented generational wealth. Easy guess what happened next......

To answer your question Sirspacey, I'm nearly as passionate about crypto/blockchain rendering global feds impotent as I am about loving my amazing wife and children.

Dear friend, grab a pitcher of water and fill the glass to minimum 51%.

Your response, while applicable to the car salesman pushing the useless add-on feature or Best Buy associate shilling a warranty for the crappy laptop you just bought, is a galaxy away from the issue I've raised. Each of us is granted limited time on this earth, I'd urge you to consider only working on software that remedies a problem you truly care about.

Kindly see above reply.

Respectfully, the experience you outline above is a routine example of sales hackery. Does it not ideally underscore precisely why startups/tech orgs strategically error in their woeful sales hiring protocols?

In the U.S. & around the world sales pro's earn multi-six & 7-figure incomes (Read: more than most physicians, attorneys, engineers, etc.), yet most founders fail to recognize their import. For example, startups regularly task a co-founder or, gulp, initial admin hire to engage a prospect list or subset thereof. It is an enormous mistake that yields suboptimal adherence to best-practice and crucially, a flawed data set that a founder may clumsily use to forecast growth, churn etc.

The sales talent required to build processes, identify most promising inbound/outbound prospect funnels, execute script/price-point analysis & closing ratio's, etc. to bring a v1 to market is immense. Respectfully, your friend is woefully unqualified to serve your startup well. A B2B with pricing model you've suggested requires a 10x pro.

Where are you located? Website?

Wow, how do I fix?

Real estate is "real world" in big way. Most American's have majority of net worth in home/equity. As an industry, it remains terribly inefficient with incompetent Realtors costing users (consumers) real dollars. Billions of dollars of real estate each year is transacted using Realtors who do less than 1 sale per month, have limited market knowledge, no credential deeming them worthy negotiators, etc.

What is the "uber of real estate"?

Zillow & Trulia are just content sites that afford advertising opportunities to Realtors. Redfin will never achieve mass because sophisticated buyers & sellers will not---nor should they---trust these industry newbies with such responsibility. (Note: Redfin almost exclusively hires the wet behind the ears)

Interested in HN thoughts on this & it's correlation to Sam's post.

I appreciate your comments, becoming aware of what consumers think about this idea was the entire idea of this post question.

Respectful rebuttals: 1. Criminals and sexual offenders are everywhere (see national registry) and I don't think being concerned makes me a "paranoid parent"....FYI- I have 3 kids.

2. Building this functionality into a cell phone is an exciting thought.........but any criminal can just throw it out the window, it has to be affixed in an "alarm system" type way----I am open to ideas.

3. Business Week and TechCrunch---wow believe they agree---have both suggested that there are significant safety/value benefits to such a device. The real issue is that for kids older than 5 it must be cool and customizable so they like it.

Lastly, infants dont roam but are often abused. (i.e. terrible environments, screaming, not being changed often enough, shaking, etc.) that the parent never knows about because when they stop by at 5:30 to pick-up after work all seems perfect. It is a huge deal!

to be true, a bracelet will not prevent your child from being hit/taken/abused, but it will certainly prevent the all-to-common repeated abuse that occurs from "trusted" babysitters and allow you to find them immediately (gps) if God-forbid they are ever abducted.

I am thankful you are in a safe town. Most in the US, not just rural, who go on the national sex offender registry site are alarmed at how many of these criminals are within close proximity to their house and schools.

PS. I have 3 children and have purchased the watch gps option from a company. It has very real design flaws but I am comforted in knowing my child cannot be taken without me immediately notified and informed with location.

As I said, make it a cool looking "apple-like" device and some of the house arrest images will go away, I think. Google the girls Dugard and Smart and the thousands of others that disappear or are abused each year and the business becomes compelling. I DO NOT wish to be an alarmist but bottom line is nobody thinks it will happen to them.

I am 36 years old and have founded 2 companies. One with a co-founder and the other I gave near-founder equity after 2 years. Both relationships ended poorly.

They say finding a co-founder is akin to finding a spouse. In this country > 50% of marriages fail, what does that tell you?

I believe that for those adequately capitalized they should fund themselves and then hire for skill-set gaps. If you need the financial and technical resources of 2 or more then just be careful what you wish for and take off the rose colored glasses before entering the relationship.

Lastly I would offer that a multi-person team needs a clear and elected leader (CEO), there are far too many decisions in building a company to expect that a democracy can compete.

The above is offered as testament to real-life experience. There are obviously going to be exceptions that have worked out great...and I'm happy for you!

I think this is a very good list, thanks for spending the time putting it together. I am most interested in how leveraging facebook could create a great dating business model. The "connecting people" concept could also be inclusive of careers and leverage Facebook to offer a LinkedIn alternative.

Does anyone know if either of these businesses are already running w/ traction?

In my view Mr. Welch is exactly correct. Life is not the rose colored fairy tale many of the liberal mass espouse as both possible and ideal. Life is choices and choices will always have consequence, especially in a capitalist society that measures results above all else.

And measuring results is right. It is right for the employees who depend on the company to thrive as well as the middle-class family that has chosen to include a particular stock in their 401K or mutual fund.

Be advised, this is not a sexist comment. I have friends that have left the career path to the woman and the father is the primary emotional provider for the kids, and they seem to very much enjoy their decision.

As an entreprenuer and married father of 3 I would also love "work-life balance". It just doesn't exist for those of us who want for our careers and families the best life has to offer. Thank God to my wife for allowing me the time to take care of US.

I am surprised to see that after 10 hours of this item being posted I am the only to respond.

I think the CEO was absolutely correct and should be praised for his leadership in this matter. No company is perfect, Craigslist included, but the 1st Amendment is not dead in the US of A!

Absolutely love this idea.....what a great opportunity for a mental release and brainsharing with like-minds.

This is why I begin driving from NY to SV to permanantly relocate in 4 days!!!

where are you located?

Google, Microsoft, GE, Salesforce.com, etc all have excellent sales and marketing executives who have driven their success and play a key part in relaying customer feedback to the organization. So, yes, you need the rainmaker if you feel you and your partner do not qualify. In my mind the technologist & rainmaker comprise the left & right hands of any company.......you need them both and one only suffers if their counterpart is not supremely talented.

Questions:

What stage is your product? Enterprise or consumer? Are you at $0 Gross Sales or $1+ and building? Are you building TNBT or seek to exit early? Are you bootstrapped, how do you compensate this individual?

Amen, tdavis!

Also, it is my hope that all those who have commented on "craftsman v. entrepreneur" and the glut of "business types" have personally built companies and met the challenges of payroll & bringing a product to market.....but I really doubt thats the case.

thank u, this makes a lot of sense.