jeffreyshaw

I love this tradition; and for the first time would like to make a similar offer:

Anyone who got rejected from YC S13 forward your rejection email to freewine@undergroundcellar.com and I'll send you a $25 gift card for free wine from http://UndergroundCellar.com

I'm not suggesting you drink your problems away, but a relaxing glass of wine can be a nice way to wind down before you get back to those 14 hour hack days.

Not sure what your use case is; but rather than identifying the PERSON is unique, you can identify that their PHONE NUMBER is unique. Require a text message code be entered on screen. Most people have only 1 cell phone; and if push comes to shove their real name is linked to their cell phone in most cases, so they could be found out via court subpoena.

IDology has a service for what you're looking for I believe. It's called KYC or "Know Your Customer". I use it on my site to verify identities before opening bank accounts in their name. For my use, we require SSN, DOB, and address as inputs. It checks credit agency and other public data. If user enters any of this info incorrectly, it switches to OOW "Out of Wallet" method and will prompt user to answer questions only they should know, like "What year did you purchase your Ford Bronco?" If they answer 2 out of the 3 of these questions correctly it assumes they are who they say they are.

Thanks Benferhat for the links.

However, zip-tax is SaaS-only and charges monthly fee. And zip2tax sells the database for $660.

Seeing as how this is not proprietary data and that I am a lean-startup (read: poor), I find it hard to justify paying $660 for an excel file that likely many other people have loaded up in their e-com platform. If you do have it please let me know :)

To further clarify, only need data on USA zip codes. Thanks in advance.

I'm going to show up for an interview anyways.

In marketing analytics there is a saying... "Don't waste time testing things that don't give you actionable metrics".

Meaning... 1 view, 5 views, 100 views... what will you do differently even if you knew this info? Not a thing :)

So spend your time working on your business. Thursday will be here soon enough.

I'd be very interested in following this project if you go ahead with it.

The value would be to identify how Tweets from major corporate and political figures affect related stock prices. For example, how Tweets from @benbernanke affect the trading price of ETF's. The goal would be to try and identify signals that provide statistical significance as well as a lag time from when Tweet was published and stock price reaction. If we can find these arbitrage opportunities we could use an API to auto-trade based on the Tweets...

Very interesting to hear the attitudes towards TV during the early adoption phase of the technology.

You can hear the excitement in the announcer's voice as he describes a TV broadcast.

It reminds me of how I felt when I connected my modem to the computer and dialed onto the internet for the first time.

Keiferski that link you referenced is relating to the interview stage.

I think the purpose of the application demo is to provide a visualization of what you wrote in the YC application. They say they only view demos from the most promising submissions, so if they're viewing it you already piqued their interest. Short of a live working prototype, I'd create a page that can most effectively show 1) how your app will generate revenue, 2) key differentiators of your app from similar ones. Regardless of the demo format, their time per submission is minimal so be clear and concise.

There was no confirmation email sent out. You can check to see if your application was submitted properly by going to http://news.ycombinator.com/apply and if you get the message "Sorry, this application is no longer editable" then you're all good, and will get a response from PG and crew on Monday.

I recently had video content I created licensed for use in a motion picture.

My compensation included a small % of profitability of the film, payable as long as certain milestones were met such as ticket sales, etc.

This documentary video was a huge success virally online, it was bootlegged and shared, and discussed.... in fact it was great; the message in the film was able to spread, and that potentially created a huge impact on our society.

The industry-standard contract I signed had no way to measure the reach of my footage to compensate me accurately. I accepted that when I signed it.

But what if we could measure it?

The MPAA isn't going to do it. They're much too caught up in the way they do things. But a startup that could would be the filmmakers best friend.

Paul Brigner, who was until last month a senior vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America says:

"The more I became educated on the realities of these issues, the more I came to the realization that a mandated technical solution just isn't mutually compatible with the health of the Internet."

If the MPAA could just start to realize how wrong they are. Maybe they could come up with a creative solution? Although piracy is a major problem, I don't think it will be solved with laws or rules, rather, I think the entire industry is about to be disrupted such that piracy won't even be on the radar.

Perhaps films will begin to include a new sponsored content aspect and with proper measurability the filmmakers will be compensated based on the spread of the film rather than exhausting their efforts to try and stop that spreading.

Just because someone doesn't want to pay to watch a film, doesn't mean they can't still provide value to the filmmaker.

Thank you Jonny you bring up some valid clarifications.

Still is interesting to see that times are-a changin' and it appears that the courts are now starting to realize that.

The judge protects copyright infringers and gives reasoning:

"Unfortunately, it would appear that the technology that enables copyright infringement has outpaced technology that prevents it."

It's crazy to see that judges are wising up to the antics of the recording and motion picture industries.

I know PG is looking for a way to radically disrupt the way these giants do things, and I think the current state of our culture and judicial system creates an opportune moment for a new startup to do just that.

It has perhaps been said numerous times before, but you may want to not worry about the negative aspects of something.

You know what I just did? I just wrote down my "To Do List" for my y combinator interview. Book flights, book hotel, design printed handouts....etc. Put it out into the universe that you will get invited out for an interview. Believe that you will get it and you'll be more likely to.

I can't back this up with any sort of scientific or market data but it has often worked for me and other successful people I know.

Maybe even put that to do list under your pillow.

I'd hardly call this a bailout. It's just government continuing to be slow to adopt change (like everything in the public sector). What, you don't think Apple and Google has tried to get that contract? Apple and Google have surely done their cost/benefit analysis and can't come up with an offer attractive enough to compete effectively with RIM. I give my props to RIM.

maybe they should change their name to draganddropbox?

I like that last idea a lot.

I like the feel of the website; it was designed nicely. But I'm concerned about the concept's uniqueness.

How are you more unique than the comparable alternatives that exist? Google HangOuts, Skype, etc?

How will you overcome the fact that major players are already heavily in this field?

How will you make money?

It really depends on how many comparable alternatives exist in the marketplace. Its no doubt that requiring CC's upfront will lead to recurring customers; but how many potential customers are you turning away? I would say for most startups you're not just concerned with revenue, but also adoption. You want your site to be used and talked about amongst social networks in person and online. This is greatly diminished when a customer bails from your site to a competitor before signing up. My advice is that if you are offering a good service that is so good that customers will be unable to find a comparable alternative; offer your signup for free and hook them with your kick-ass product. You're just going to irritate people when you start charging their credit cards and they aren't a huge fan of your business afterall. The only extra revenue you get by requiring CC for signup are tricking people into paying for a service they otherwise later decide they wouldn't pay for. This will only lead to a negative brand image, credit card chargebacks, and diminished market who has tried your product.

Yes this is pretty standard writing; they're just protecting themselves here. What you create at work as long as its unrelated to your job is yours and your company shouldn't have a claim to it. In all reality how will they even know? Your best bet is to focus on your staffing-job while you're at work and be creative afterwards at home.

A pretty fantastic book I just started reading is called: "Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days" and you can get it at http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Early/d...

Gives you in the trenches advice via a unique interview style that really gets you into the mind of these guys when they were just starting.