ovoxo

I'm black and I've worked with black youth to get them involved with tech and here's what I've found:

Black youth don't necessarily need to find other black idols to look up to. They - much like any other youth - need to feel like they have access to the same tools that everyone else does to succeed. Tools = access, technology, opportunity, mentors, funds, etc...

Typically, these youths assume that others that look like them had access to the same tools that they have/had hence why they "need" to see successful people that look like them. As a result, if you truly want help them succeed in the long run, rather than simply show/tell them about successful black people (who may/may not have had a similar upbringing), help them gain access to those same tools.

LOL @ "It's not a big factor when we're judging applications". Because, it is a factor ... but, not a big one.

Hey Prayag,

Wasn't implying that your service doesn't provide benefits. I actually believe the exact opposite to be true.

What I'm saying is that it doesn't make sense for you guys to do a revenue split based on how many of the leads closed since you would then be 100% reliant on the lead list purchaser's ability to close the deals (and track each dollar received from the leads).

Although this sounds like a decent idea, the challenge with it is that you're assuming a couple of things:

1) The start-up acquiring the lead list has the ability to progress the deals to closure.

2) The start-up acquiring the lead list is able to appropriately break-down their revenue in an easily audit-able/non-modifiable manner to demonstrate which $ came from the acquired lead list(s).

This type of thing may be an option for these guys going forward (once they figure out the kinks), but I think they're doing the right thing right now by charging up-front.

Based on your comment, I'm going to assume you've never worked in B2B sales. "Lead Lists" are not something enterprises want to share - small or large.

Ha! I think the people who downvotted this didn't realize that "mjd" is Mark Jason Dominus aka the guy who wrote the blog post.

They themselves said "..this unreleased version caused issues". That could be referring to anything - including service-overload issues but I don't know why that would be that surprising.

This is exactly why companies like to have tight control of the roll-out of new products. They want to find these types of bottle-necks and glitches in rather controlled environments.

Not sure why you think there's more to the story. It's extremely common for "unreleased" versions of various apps/services to have bottlenecks that the production-ready versions would not. That's typically why they're "unreleased".

Well, that explains why Michael Jordan was such a freak of nature.

Ahh ok. Thanks.

I'm confused.

While the idea of Google knowing every wi-fi password is bad, they already know everything you search for and they also have a very good idea about all the websites you visit. So ...

I have read a fair amount of this thread and I still stand by what I said. Furthermore, for obvious reasons, I don't believe HN is an objective place to discuss the merits of PG's statements past & present.

Look, I respect PG as much as the next person so this is not a slight against him since I feel HN far too often comes to his defence as if protecting their newborn. Having said that ...

I don't understand how a man of his stature and someone in his position can allow himself to make those statements about accents (or anything that sounds remotely xenophobic). I say that because even his blog post says the following:

"A startup founder is always selling. Not just literally to customers, but to current and potential employees, partners, investors, and the press as well ... there is little room for misunderstanding."

That statement doesn't just hold for startups but for anyone in business. His initial statements left plenty of room for misunderstanding. Furthermore, I would also find it very difficult to believe that his inclination towards avoiding "excessive" accents does not also subconsciously lead him to have a slight bias against founders with a "slight" accent. That's how biases work - the threshold for when your brain decides to evoke that bias is not black-and-white.

"5-20 minutes" - Sure. That does depend on where you are though.

"You have no idea who is picking you up" - 99% of the time this is a moot point.

"Often times they wont even show up if you aren't at a hotel" - I've never encountered this in my entire life.

So, you do all realize that this was an investment (of less than 10%) and not an acquisition right? Everyone here is talking about how this plays right into Google's plans - no. With their stake, Google does not have enough leverage to direct what direction Uber should be moving in.

Wait, did you just say that diet soda has "no calories" then proceed to call someone ignorant?

"Not everybody has 5 hours a day or a stay-at-home wife to cook their Whole Foods organic produce into a masterpiece of nutrition." ... you sir must live in the same age that your username implies.

Also, your argument here is silly. This guy's diet is not "above average" in quality by any means and a Chipotle Burito Bol is not a "legit meal" based on what one would consider to be a healthy lifestyle. The amount of sodium alone in those things is enough to make me and some of your organs cringe - literally.

Go to the grocery store. Pick up some raw foods. Cook them on a Sunday night. Put them in the fridge. Pat yourself on the back. You've just managed to prep your lunch/dinner for the week and you did it all without having to find a stay-at-home wife.

The title of this post is misleading because it implies that the USSR believed it was a hot dog stand.

Either use the original title from the article or add the words "it was actually just a" before "hot dog stand".

How did this post's title not get auto-modified?

The individual in me says "Wow, that's a lot of spying". Yet, the larger, money-hungry side of me says "what service/product could I develop to get a chunk of that $80 billion".

Check out Toronto's system. It's fully mapped & bike availability can be viewed based on location: https://toronto.bixi.com/

Ahh ok - great explanation btw.

I'm still curious how this glass is produced. It seems to me that you would be introducing many more potential intrusion points by using physical encryptors since many more parties (people, databases, and systems) will be aware of the details in order to produce the appropriate slab. Having said that, the same thing would apply for any other physical encryptor that would have to be manufactured.

Can someone help me understand something - Manufacturing the "glass" in order to create at least 2 identical copies will require some blueprint. I would assume that this blueprint would be stored in some database or communicated to various parties in some fashion. Couldn't hackers just get their hands on this somehow in order to reproduce the glass without having to actually physically steal the glass?

I'm a Software Engineer in Canada and I have an iron ring but that is because our Software Engineering programs (at least the ones that I know of) are accredited engineering programs - i.e. you must go through much of the same hell as other engineers.

Well, the reason that wouldn't work is because the primary objective of the IPO is to raise $$$ for The Corporation and not the "existing shareholders". The "I" in IPO is the critical part of the equation here since it is this initial exclusivity that lures large institutional investors from wanting to get in before suckers like you and I do. In turn, they swallow up very large amounts of shares guaranteeing the issuing company a large amount of money on the day of their IPO.

Furthermore, the Founders/VCs/Employees just don't have the reach or the technical know-how to appropriately price the stock to maximize their potential gains - the investment banks have both but, as you read in this article, they often use their expertise to their own advantage.

Lastly, the Founders/VCs are in fact able to sell off their shares during the IPO for their own personal benefit so long as there is no clause in their IPO terms stating that they cannot. This will enrich them personally BUT it is highly advised that they don't because the signal they're sending to the market is "cash out early!"

I honestly wonder how many were influenced by movie The Social Network.

If you've ever seen, read, listened to anything from this guy, you know he doesn't use PR people. Trust me, this is straight from his mouth/mind.

The video is not relevant, but it allows him/them demo reelsurf using current events

The more I read about this kid, I'm baffled that a16z would invest such a large amount in the company. The product can be duplicated and currently only has a stranglehold on the rap-lyrics market - i.e. annotation for any other segment is still up for grabs and can be done by a duplicate product.

Having said that, the stability and reliability of the founder must have been taken into account in determining the value of the venture. $15/16 million or whatever the amount was seems crazy high considering how much of a loose cannon he appears to be. Wouldn't surprise me to see them slowly diminish his role.