lbr

Skype => Zoom. YouTube => Loom. Facebook => LinkedIn. AIM / Text => Slack....

TikTok/Insta/Snap => ...What's next?

I've talked to dozens of CEOs about the tools they'd use. Still not sure.

I like this concept. Finding and assessing agents stinks. I've spent a bunch of time looking at places in the Truckee, CA area. Finding the good agent was the hardest part - I wish I had been able to look at their opinions on places, and how they compared to the consensus.

Care less about the social features with random people. But I suppose I do care about yelp reviews, and trip advisor reviews... so maybe my thinking is flawed.

This looks identical to Jarvis: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8094351

I like the idea of helping people for free (as do many people in the thread). But I wonder quality of assistance would be better if people were getting paid. And I wonder if the app would reach more people if it were for profit.

The comments are all great. And I appreciate them. But I suppose I'm most curious about the last question: what would you have a personal assistant do, if you had one?

Sam, Does saying "discuss on hn: link" at the bottom of a blog post violate your voting ring detector or any other terms of service? I couldn't find anything about that.

Now featuring

Marc Randolph - Netflix Co-Founder. Ron Lieboitz - Prez Middlebruy College. Three Y-Combinator Co-founders. And Air BNB Special Agent.

I think the hotel owner would be glad to know that this was going on. I've invested in this hotel front desk agent. If I come back to SF, I'll come back to the same hotel. Tip the same front desk agent. She'll get to know me. She'll help me out. I'll help her out. And in the end of the day 1.) I'm staying at the hotel. 2.) I'm booking through the hotel, not a discount site like hoteltonight or expedia

Interesting that this got flagged. It is about hacking something other that a computer. It's about my opinion that tipping is not a crime. It helps me, it helps the person at the desk, and it helps me create a connection (and loyalty with the hotel). Hotels DO NOT tell employees not to accept tips. Its part of the game.

How did this go from front page, #2. to third page, #72 in a matter of seconds?

And this is the intention. The best case scenario, would be for me to come back to the same hotel. And tip the same front desk person. And then we build a relationship.

-I benefit because I get free stuff. -front desk benefits because they get cash. -hotel benefits because I keep coming back to the hotel (because of relationship i form with front desk attendant).

I worked in customer service for four years. I treated nice people the best (as you suggest). But treated nice people who also tip even better. I don't think being nice, and tipping, are exclusive behaviors.

I'm not sure what that says about me... but. I think humans are reciprocal creatures.

I don't think this will work 100% of the time. But I think it will work enough that it's worth trying. In this case. I paid $20 for a service that typically costs $140. So even if this fails the next 5 times I try - I'll still be ahead.

I think it's quite old actually. So old that few in my generation do it.

It's seen as stogy, or awkward. A thing of Frank Sinatra did at restaurants (with a handshake). Or that you do at clubs or bars. But the point of this article is that you can do it in hotels. And you should.

And, that you should tip the front desk. Not the concierge.

agree. Its amazing that in this day and age its so expensive for internet in some places.

It's true - I paid. But I paid a steeply discounted rate. And it's the gift that will keep on giving this week.

Regardless of how you achieved it, it does sound interesting to me. And if you built it, I would be excited to try it. A MVP could just be a podcast. You could pick the best article from HN every day and read it yourself. See how that goes. Best of luck.

Yes. If honest was the following, then it would be easy: "Hey Jim, I happy to make the intro. But I don't think it makes sense now. My mentor is really busy and this project is still too young for him to be interested." But what if being honest was this: "Hey Jim, I have a ton of huge doubts about your project. To be honest, the idea seems silly and I don't know if you have the skills to execute it. If I suggested that my mentor spend time coaching you, it would reflect poorly on me. It would appear that I was wasting his time. That said, I know little about your project and industry. And I don't have the time required (right now) to intimately understand you and your startup." Is something like that too harsh?

I begin with an outline. Then write stream of consciousness until I get stuck. Then I go back and edit what I wrote.

When I get to the place I left off, I return to stream of consciousness writing.

This style really preserves my voice.

Finally, I try to cut the length down by 50% or more.

Really interesting feedback. Thank you. -Cards sent from Vermont. The postmark is small and bland. -Stamps are USA stamps. Very plain, but elegant. -With regards to your feature, I'd be happy to create that for you. If you send an email to note@scendr.com with a document containing: the letters, the addresses and the dates you want them sent - I could take care of that for you. Let me know.

Thanks, two way to handle payments. 1. You can click buy in bulk - from there you can buy any number of cards. 2. Or is you just send a note. Then we start writing the card and reply with a request for payment. We send the card when you pay.

Give it a try. Thanks for the question.

scendr.com

Makes sending hand written cards easy. Drop an email to note@scendr.com. Writers take care transcribing and sending.

Churns out a good chunk each month. Could definitely scale further if you had the time and energy.

It's very simple. But your description is unclear: >a simple tool for asking quick questions and getting extremely fast answers to that question.

It's really a tool for creating and sharing simple yes/no polls.

http://looker.com/ - up and coming. I've used google analytics and mixpanel. Google analytics is pretty basic.

Looker is really powerful and only marginally harder to use than mixpanel. Mixpanel is slightly easier to use, but much less powerful and flexible.

Become a virtual personal assistant - https://www.zirtual.com/jobs/

"Worth it" meaning worth the equity you give up? Are there downsides other than giving up 2-10% of your company?

Interesting. Certainly easy to waist a few minutes on there. But don't see real value. Don't anticipate returning to the site.

Thanks for the comment. To clarify: We have several ideas we are vetting. We are at different stages with different ideas. Some have prototypes. Some are just ideas.

You are right. There are tons of terrible articles on the web that claim to "have the key to success." Replicating what successful people do isn't the key.

I'm just saying that your comment ("I viscerally hate these articles") belongs on a thread about a crappy article. Not on a thread about great article. This one is by a great entrepreneur and one who interacts with hundreds of smart CEOs. This article is the one others strive to be like. It shares how smart people work - it doesn't tell you how to be successful.

Your comment also belongs on the thread of an article that you have actually read.

there are some awesome companies like zirtual.com

Bill is incredibly smart. And provides interesting advice.

It's amazing to me that you can learn nothing from the article. Or that you think CEOs shouldn't take the time to learn from other CEOs.